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Casual Dining – Nook & Mai Bar @ Aloft KL Sentral
[Casual Dining Restaurant]
Now Aloft KL Sentral is a hotel that I’m rather familiar with as since it’s opening earlier this year it has been the venue for event after event including STYLO. As most events usually came with the buffet lunch at Nook I was also familiar with the lunch menu but was curious to see what they would offer on their ala carte menu.
So off I went (again!) to Aloft KL Sentral to visit Nook and have a visit to Mai Bar after dinner.
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Aloft KL Sentral is super strategically located right beside KL Sentral making it very accessible indeed! Parking is a breeze as well as the hotel has many floors of car park and I’ve never experienced a totally full car park there.Nook’s menu is created by Executive Chef Steven Seow and his team, is a combination of flavours, textures and freshness. They are very proud of their Sarawak Laksa, which is creamy and spicy (I’ve tried it before during my many visits to the hotel for events and launches and even Andy Kho who hails from Kuching says it’s not bad!), made with paste specially ordered from Sarawak, Nook’s Beef Burger, Nasi Lemak and Chicken Rice.The interor of Nook is bright, cheerful and modern making it an inviting place.
The interior of Nook is bright, cheerful and modern making it an inviting place.On one side of the restaurant was the high-table eating area that actually kind of reminded me of the first class seats/ pods in an airplane.The main buffet area had some really cool lights hanging above it,.
Modern and simple and you know sometimes (like in this case) it works! You don’t always need to overcomplicate things.Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice – RM18.00 and 3 Layered Tea – RM12.00. I’ve actually tried the tea before in Kuching and this one was not bad. Apparently the owners of the hotel are from Sarawak hence the Sarawakian influence on the menu.Funky Chunky Mushroom Soup with grill garlic herb focaccia – RM18.00. I actually have a thing for mushroom soup so I can’t help but to try it everywhere I can. This one was definitely NOT from the can. Thick and flavourful with bits of mushrooms in every mouthful made it a joy to eat. Estelle enjoyed this one too. In fact she finished most of it hahaha!Salad Nicoise with tuna, french beans, boiled eggs, potatoes, artichoke, tomato and thyme-honey dressing – RM16.00. I never used to care much for greens but after a period of dating a girl who was quite obsessed with vegetables guess some of it rubbed off on me and I find myself eating my greens these days. This salad was quite fresh and crunchy, the dressing was not too heavy while being flavourful and slightly sweet actually. I liked the garlic bread too!My partner in crime for the night.Soy-Honey Glazed Cod Fish with sauteed mushrooms, kailan shoots, and crispy leeks – RM35.00. A really Asian or should I say Chinese twist to a cod fish dish but it turned out pretty good. The fish was fresh and delightfully covered in the sweet and savoury soy-honey sauce while the veges reminded me of a stir-fry vege dish in a Chinese restaurant. This East meets West combination somehow went well together though.Peppered Black Angus Striploin Steak with french beans, steak fried and creamy pepper sauce – RM50.00. Oh how I love my steaks. This one came with a slight Asian touch (ie. french beans), crispy thick fries and a very flavourful black pepper sauce which I drizzled carefully as not to overwhelm the natural flavours of the Black Angus. Liked the cafe de Paris butter on top too but I needed to watch my cholesterol levels so I added it sparingly.I asked for mine to be medium rare and I think they got it pretty close! Nice and pink, tender and juicy steak which was slightly seared on the outside (your pan must be really hot to do this otherwise it’ll come out all wrong).A+ Ice Kacang – RM16.00. Wow! I’ve never seen ice kacang served this way before but actually it makes sense as some people like more syrup, some like less, etc. etc. and this way you could control how much of the syrup/ milk you have in your ice kacang! This one was fully loaded up with the cendol, jelly, groundnuts, etc. etc. and topped with a scoop of ice cream! Very nice indeed!Estelle playing nurse!After dinner we walked over to the buffet line to check out the food and this caught my eye.As well as this pretty and colourful little dessert!After dinner we headed up to the Mai Bar which is located on the rooftop of the hotel. Mai Bar is a Tiki themed bar on the rooftop, and has an indoor aircon section and an outdoor section which borders the swimming pool. The décor features an elongated “lavalicious” bar in black, lit with red LED lights, representing the pacific rim, with vibrant red and dark wood seating, and tiki themed paintings.Australian artist Tony Twigg’ sculptural artwork “Five sticks in any order”, inspired by fishing trap can be seen in Mai Bar. 165 of these sticks have been applied to 26 pivot doors (on the right side of this photo) that open towards to the swimming pool.Mai Bar’s cocktail menu, is created by Joseph Boroski, a mixultant, owner of bar consulting group – Sip Slowly and the founder of BAR:School, a complete bar and cocktail training “bar-university” for bartenders and cocktailians. The cocktails created are infused with local twist to traditional cocktails, She had the Somersby cider – RM23.00 while I tried the Malaysian Princess Mai Tai – RM35.00Mai Bar’s signature cocktail, the Malaysian Princess Mai Tai contains silver rum pressed with blueberries and kaffir lime, topped with golden rum, pineapple and orange juice, and served in a Tiki-themed mug. OK the kaffir leaves (which you’ll normally taste in beef rendang) added quite an interesting twist to this drink but it was very refreshing!Lemon drops! I like how they added some caramelised sugar to the top of the slice of lemon.And since Hennessy Artistry HALO was coming up we decided to have our own little HA with Hennessy Apple and Hennessy Berry!A panaromic view of KL Sentral and it’s surroundings and we even managed to spot the KLCC Twin Towers which were lit up in pink to mark breast cancer awareness month.
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If you’re feeling a little peckish, Mai Bar serves their Chef’s special gourmet tapas such as cured salmon with pretzel sticks, minced lab quesadilla and deep-fried falafel.
For those of you who enjoy cigars, the Mai Bar is also home to the Freek Lounge – a cigar lounge.
Mai Bar is open from 12 noon till 12 midnight from Sunday to Thursday and 12 noon till 2.00am on Fridays and Saturdays.
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Nook and Mai Bar are in Aloft KL Sentral which is located at:
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More than 16 years of media, marketing, and management experience with various media owners and publishers. View all posts by Tim Chew
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