Sunday, May 24, 2015

Ramadhan Buffet 2015: Nook, Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral

Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral is one of the established and well known hotels located beside KL Sentral. It's just a minute walk to Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral from KL Sentral Station. To get to Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral, look for the escalators which connects NuSentral Shopping Mall with KL Sentral. Once you go up the escalator to Nu Sentral, you'll see Sushi Tei outlet on your far right (if you're lost, look for Sushi Tei outlet). From Sushi Tei, walk straight till the end and you'll reach Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral Hotel. So easy right?

Nook is the main restaurant in Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral with unique and futuristic interiors overlooking the KL Sentral building. This upcoming Ramadhan month, Nook is offering a special 'Chef's A-List Malaysia Feast' Ramadhan Buffet where one can enjoy authentic and traditional Malay delicacies, barbecue & seafood delights and many more. This Ramadhan buffet also offers international cuisine which means you can taste the best local and international dishes.

Special thanks to Nook, Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral and Ivy for the invitation to this this superb Ramadhan buffet preview. 



Here's what you can indulge in this 'Chef's A-List Malaysia Feast' Ramadhan Buffet 



Appetizers 

Kerabu dish is the well known kind of appetizers that you can expect to see when having Malay cuisine. It often consist of vegetables and sometimes meat marinated with various kind of citrus juice or sauce, chili, desiccated coconut, onions, torch ginger flower (bunga kantan) and so on. 


At Nook, it features 4 types of traditional Kerabu dishes which are Kerabu Kacang Panjang (Long Beans), Kerabu Nanas (Pineapple), Kerabu Mangga & Sotong (Unripe Mango & Squid) and Kerabu Taugeh (Bean Sprouts).  

Kerabu Mangga & Sotong 


 Kerabu Taugeh


Kerabu Kacang Panjang


Kerabu Nanas

I love this Kerabu Nanas (Pineapple) because the pineapple is juicy with a sweet and sour taste. The big chunk of juicy pineapple goes well with its companion - torch ginger flower, onions, chili and parsley.

There's also Malay style salad; Ulam-ulaman which consist of various types of raw vegetables dipped in some spicy sauce. There's a choice of cucumbers, tomatoes, leafy greens (such as Ulam Raja), four-angled beans, long beans, petai, Jantung Pisang (Banana Flower) and so on.


Another interesting thing on the appetizer station is this Indonesia Pecal or also known as Rojak in Malaysia. It is beautifully presented with a platter style and its vibrant colours will catch your attention to grab a bite of it. The rich peanut sauce is a match made in heaven with its condiments.

This Indonesia Pecal (Rojak) received a double thumbs up from my dining partner. It's a must try!

Acar lovers, your craving will be satisfied too with these 3 types of acar selection. 



Besides the authentic Malay appetizers, Nook also features international appetizers and salads. Thus, you can enjoy a fusion kind of salads at the same time. Jam-packed your meal with lots of delicious vegetables to balance your meal.

Potato Salad


A classic coleslaw with raisins :)

 A must have at every salad station. Mix your own salad with dressing of your choice. 

Pick your own dressing!



The appetizer selection looks very appealing with the multicolour food scene and it makes you munch your vegetables happily. Healthy. Delicious. Happy! Nook just nailed the concept of a good appetizer station. 



Cold Plates

Now, it's time to pamper your tongue with slices of cold meat! At this Ramadhan buffet, there's a selection of premium turkey and chicken hams, salmon gravlax and huge cold prawns. 

I love this! Squeeze some lemon on this Salmon Gravlax and it's ready to go into your mouth. 

Peel off the shell and you'll found some treasure inside!

Then deep your delicious prawns with one of these sauces. 


Soup

There's 2 types of soup available which are Sup Ketam with Jagung Manis (Sweet Corn Crab Soup) and Sup Ekor dan Kentang (Oxtail soup). 



Mains

Now now now.. Your main meal is served. 
At Nook, there's a wide variety of savory mains and to try them all, you gotta take a max of 2 scopes each (depends on your stomach space). Not kidding!!!


Introducing Nook's Signature Kambing Kuzi (Stuffed Whole Lamb Kuzi). 
It's delicious and juicy. Love it. 



Kari Kepala Ikan simply means fish head curry. This huge pieces of fish head cooked in fiery red curry. I tried the curry instead of the fish and the curry goes well with the rice. Grab more curry!!

Sambal Udang is whereby prawns are cooked with sweet and spicy sambal sauce, petai, chilli and onions. Prawns are good and sauce is great. 


Ikan Bilis is anchovy and it's cooked with tempeh (or tempe - different words used in different countries) and sambal sauce. Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans and is bind into a cake form. 

Dear crab, you look delicious there, can I have a bite? Love the rich curry sauce infused with crab meat. I want more crab claw!!! 

All the dishes above comes with great sauces. Thus, you gotta pair them with some fragrant white rice. Be caution not to take too much or else you won't have enough stomach space to try others. 

You'll form a plate of 4 dishes with rice by now. 


It's time to have your second type of rice for the night. This Nasi Hujan Panas (direct translation is Hot Rain Rice :P ) HAHAHA!!! Okay, it's just a name okay ~ ~. Well, the only way you can easily identify this Nasi Hujan Panas is the colour of the cooked rice. The rice should look colourful and is cooked with butter. It's suitable to be served during events and festive because the rice looks colourful and attractive. 

Beside this Nasi Hujan Panas, the Ayam Percik is quietly sitting beside the rice for you. This looks more like Ayam Percik cooked in curry to me. If you go to Bazaar Ramadhan, Ayam Percik is a grilled chicken but here it's already cooked with curry. I would prefer if they grill the chicken longer though but overall its good. 

Here comes the 3rd type of rice that you need to scope and place on your plate. It's Nasi Biryani and you can smell the fragrant spices from far. I absolutely love this! 

Anyone loves brinjal or eggplant? This eggplant is cooked with thick and fiery curry sauce. 

A Ramadhan buffet is not complete without some classic rendang tok. You have Daging (Beef) Rendang Tok here. 

More vegetables on your plate please with this Dalcha Sayur or simply vegetables curry. 

Introducing Nook's Signature Betis Lembu Rendang (Beef Rendang). My dining partner gave her thumbs up for this too. 


More dishes to accompany your rice supply; Ayam Goreng Berempah with Sambal Colek. It's Fried Chicken where the chicken was marinated with some special sauce before being deep fried in hot oil. The skin is indeed crispy. Go for the wings and drumsticks! 

Now, it's time to try some western cuisine. Do you miss your pasta after all the fiery curry?
We have Speghetti carbonara in the house. Creamy and cooked to perfection. 

I love this! It's lamb stew and the mutton is really soft - not those that gives you a hard time to chew. 

Nook also features chinese cuisine on its buffet menu. Last but not least, your 4th type of rice that is available in this buffet; Hainanese Chicken Rice!

There's some really delicious chinese stir-fry dishes too. I'm surprised to find that the taste is good! Taste just like home-cooked chinese dishes. 

Steamed Soft Tofu with Soya sauce

Stir-fry Kung Pao Chicken

Salted Prawns. I think we should call it Salted Egg Prawns instead of the name o the dish card. 

Beancurd Skin with Yam. Love this! Love this one!


Dim Sum

There's mini dim sum too. But I think you can skip these :P



Porridge

If your kid need some porridge, you have it here. 


Sarawak Laksa

Nook's signature Sarawak Laksa and it tastes so-so good!

You can pick your noodle and condiments from the counter. Then, pass them to the chef in action to cook it for you. 


Bakarlah Station

Some BBQ Seafood anyone? And there's some dipping sauce too. 



Satay

Available in either chicken or beef. Yum!


Roti john

A classic Ramadhan Bazaar delight. Save your trips to Ramadhan Bazaar! This Roti John comes with egg and veggies inside. You need to add your own meat patties (from other dishes) to make it tastier.



Snacks

Grab fried fritters and munch your way throughout the catch up session with your family and friends. 




Or maybe some otak-otak too?




Roti Canai & Thosai 

If you're craving for some roti canai or thosai, your wish is fulfilled here at Nook. 



If you need some extra kick to your food. There's some special sauces waiting for you. 


 Drinks

Look at the vibrant colours on the drinks station. From sirap bandung to orange juice, coffee, premium tea and even special juices-in-a-bottle. There's never short of drinks in Nook. 

I love the fresh soursop juice! It's refreshing and cools your body down after eating all the curries and fried food. 


Dessert

Among all the food stations/corners available at Nook's Ramadhan buffet, I love their DESSERT station the most! They have a great variety of Malay desserts as well as western style cakes and puddings. Just by looking at the vibrant and outstanding colours of the station itself gives you word "WOW"!

Just look at the assorted Malay kuih-muih below. There's more than 10 types of kuih-muih to choose from. I feel like I'm visiting a stall selling kuih-muih at Bazaar Ramadhan. The difference is that these food are part of the Ramadhan buffet at Nook and I don't need to pay extra to enjoy them :)


 Right next to it is the Western style desserts which consist of cakes, puddings, pavlova and so on. I personally recommend to try the pavlova, chocolate log cake and the colour puddings. And did you see the two syringes there on the dessert table? It's filled with syrup and squeeze it in your shaved ice dessert. There's also some premium dates, kuih bahulu (I love this too) and Raya cookies on the table.


Not to forget this Bread Butter Pudding with Vanilla Sauce too. It's that tasty!

If you are craving for some tong sui dessert, there's red bean soup, pengat pisang and bubur kacang hijau (green bean soup) too. 



 And I found my childhood dessert here; Ice-cream Potong with 7 flavors to choose from: durian, yam, red bean, chocolate, cendol, corn and strawberry. This is so cool!


There's also A+ Ice Kacang available and I just love the way they display those colouful condiments. So artistic yet modern feel!


It's not the end yet. You gotta see this fruits station! From fresh fruits to pickled ones and you can even make a fruits rojak! One more thing, did you noticed the packets of cut fruits on display? They are actually for you to take away (or dine in if you want). Why? I've got info from the team that they noticed that customers aren't consuming fruits when having buffet because they are too full for it. Thus, they got this brilliant idea to have packets of cut fruits for customer to take away and consume it later. Thus, you will have all the good nutrients and vitamins in your meal too. I've also read before some articles that it's not advisable to eat fruits right after your meal as your stomach needs sometime to digest the heavy food that you had from the start of your meal. 
Bravo to the Nook's team to have such a thoughful idea for the benefits of its customers. 




 I truly enjoyed my meal at Nook's "Chef's A-List Malaysian Feast" Ramadhan Buffet. 
Great food presentation with vibrant colours, wide variety of cuisines available and the most important one - delicious. I also love the fact that they offer Malay, Chinese, Indian and International cuisines because your dining partners, family or friends might have different cup of tea when comes to eating and you would want them to have something they like to eat when dining together. 

And I think this is the only place (among all the buffets I went to) where you can enjoy 4 types of rice on one plate. In total, there's white rice, nasi biryani, nasi hujan panas and chicken rice. 

This is my rice platter during the meal. 

My appetizers! 

My Roti John, Satay and Otak-otak. 

Crab, lamb and Fish all on one plate =)

Desserts! I'm satisfied


I left my heart at their Dessert station!! I miss this now!




This Chef's A-List Malaysian Feast Ramadhan Buffet is available from 22 June to 16 July 2015 at Nook, Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral.

Pricing:
22 June to 16 July 2015: RM110 nett/person

Early Bird Price (for bookings or buffet ticket purchased before 21 June 2015):
RM90 nett/person for below 30pax and RM80 nett/person for 31 pax and above.


Nook is located at Level 1, Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral and is open daily from 6.30am to 12am.
For more information, please call +603 27231154 or e-mail to 03758@alofthotels.com
You can also visit Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral website or their Facebook page here.

Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral is located next to KL Sentral. KL Sentral, one of the main transportation hub in Klang Valley with interchange to KTM line, Kelana Jaya line, ETS line travelling to the North (Ipoh), Monorail line and some upcoming ones. If you have been here 5 years ago, it looked entirely different today with high skyscrapers, hotels and even shopping mall surrounding it. Do make a visit to Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral today.




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