KL City Restaurant @ Lebuh Ampang, Kuala Lumpur

Whenever I hear off or come across Indian restaurants in alley ways, I am always excited to try out that place as those no frills restaurants usually serve some good food at very reasonable prices. Today when I was in Lebuh Ampang, I came across this restaurant called KL City Restaurant that had a unique tunnel like entrance that leads to a much larger restaurant at the back. Curious, I decided to try them out for lunch.

KL City Restaurant in Lebuh Ampang

Sign at the entrance

The Tunnel-like entrance leading to the restaurant

It was way past lunch hour and still there was a decent amount of crowd heading to this place. There is a huge sign on the front entrance of this restaurant but you would see that the main road facing tenant is a newspaper vendor. On the right, there would be a small door leading into a tunnel-like entrance. Just walk in for about 50 meters and you would come to a broader space where the restaurant is.

Interior of the Restaurant

Interior of the Restaurant

All their staffs are from Tamil Nadu, India and so are most of their customers. To my surprise, there was a huge number of Malay customers in the restaurant when I was there. I was all excited to try the food as I was anticipating great food here. The layout is a no frills design yet it was comfortable and clean. The staffs attended to me quite fast and ordering was a breeze.

Basic Banana Leaf Meal @ RM 5.00

When they served the basic Banana Leaf meal, I was disappointed. It was nothing much and the vegetables looked not appetising at all. Like other Tamil restaurants, they have both the usual rice as well as par boil rice and the set comes with three very simple vegetables served in very stingy portions. Besides, there were no Papadams, Pickles and the other usual items that are served commonly.

The above vegetable was just above average. I had asked them for more but the waiter seemed to be avoiding me after that. I guess, they are instructed to serve limited quantities of vegetable per serving. This vegetable was quite watery and I would only rate it at 5.5/10 .

The Long Beans again was just above average. It was slightly overcooked as well. I would rate this vegetable at 5.5/10 .

This was a disaster. Even when serving, the vegetable was almost like just being dumped onto the leaf and I was really annoyed by the way they served, as if I was a charity customer who was eating for free. The taste, just okay. I would only rate this at 4.5/10 .

Chicken Curry

As for the gravy, they had Sambar, Fish Curry, Chicken Curry and Kurma. I decided to try their Chicken Curry for a start. The Chicken Curry was terrible. It lacked the usual spices and tasted so weird. I would only rate their Chicken Curry at 3/10 .

Sambar

Being disappointed with their Chicken Curry, I then opted for their Sambar. Luckily, their Sambar was decent. It was not excellent but it was nice. I would rate their Sambar at 6.5/10 .

Mutton Varuval @ RM 5.00

Their Mutton Varuval tasted good but the meat was a little hard and stiff and had a lot of small bones in it. The portion above may seem huge but do note that it is mostly bones and you must be very careful while chewing it or you may have small pieces of bones cutting through your throat. I would rate the above at 6.5/10 .

Fried Fish @ RM 4.00

I wanted to try their fish as they claimed that it is freshly fried upon request. I asked for Tenggiri Fish but it was sold out and they only had the above small fish. The waiter had told me that it was just fried upon request but when it was served, it seemed as if it was fried two days ago. The oil used was stale and had a funny smell. The fish too was soggy and moist and not crispy and they were breaking as if the fish was purchased a month ago and was kept in the freezer for such long periods. A total disappointment and waste of money! I would rate their above at 2/10 .

Chicken Rasam

Rasam is served on the house with every Banana Leaf meal. They have two types of Rasam prepared daily, Chicken Rasam and the usual Rasam but customers can only opt for one type with each set meal. I opted for the above Chicken Rasam. Honestly, it tasted very odd and was more like Chicken Soup with herbs than Rasam and there was a very weird aftertaste to it. I would only rate this at 3/10 .

On the whole, I was totally disappointed with the meal. The price was not cheap, the food was terrible and the service was just average. With this kind of food served, I am  still surprised why so many people come here and that too in Lebuh Ampang. Has the food quality in Lebuh Ampang dropped so badly over the years? Lebuh Ampang used to be the best place to get excellent Tamil food and today after 15 years, I am visiting a restaurant here and am utterly disappointed. I would definitely never visit this restaurant again.

Address: No. 34, Lebuh Ampang, 50100 Kuala Lumpur.

Opening Hours: 0600 - 2200 Daily

Telephone: +603 2078 2217