Weekend Lunch A la Carte Buffet @ Rama V Fine Thai Cuisine, Kuala Lumpur

Weekends are best spent in the company of like-minded friends and good food. Even better if the food and wines keep flowing... you know what I mean?

Rama V has recently introduced their weekend lunch a la carte buffet for RM68.90++ which includes all-you-can-eat quality Thai cuisine (from a special menu) and free-flow drinks (beer, red wine, white wine, fruit punch, soft drinks, coffee and tea). I mean how many a la carte buffets can you find in the city which offers free flow alcoholic drinks at this price..?

Eat and be merry for RM68.90++...

A plus point is that this is an a la carte buffet, meaning food is prepared fresh to order and have not been lying outside in the buffet line for hours. They do have a system in place here to avoid food wastage. For example, for every 1-5 pax, you can order up to 8 items at a time and when your order arrives, you can place another order. The special menu for this buffet is pretty extensive, with 8 types of appetizers, 8 types of salads, 7 types of soup, 15 types of mains, 12 types of vegetables, 3 types of rice/noodles and 10 types of dessert! An excellent variety for this price.

It's our first time here at Rama V so we left most of the ordering to our fellow diners. And what a feast we had! 

We started off with the Mieang Kam, a traditional Thai hors d'oeuvres - the name can be interpreted to "eating many things in one bite". We placed some of the sweet sauce on the "daun kaduk" before placing the ingredients on the leaf - ginger, shredded coconut, shallots, lime, dried shrimp, cili padi and peanuts. Wrap it all up and pop the whole thing in your mouth ;) I certainly enjoyed this. 

Pretty platter

Who knew leaves could taste so yummy?

Free flow Tiger beer..

Or white wine... (there is also red wine on offer but we didn't try)

Fantastico...

The spicy crispy catfish salad served with sliced mango sauce (yam pla duk fu) was really good. The sauce was poured on top of the salad and then mixed together to combine the spicy-sweet flavours beautifully together.

Spicy Egg Plant Salad Salad with Shrimp (Yam Pra In) - didn't get to try this since it was all gone by the time it reached our end of the table and I was too lazy to reorder LOL. But it looked very beautifully presented - love the colours. 

This went down very well with our group of diners, I think we must have ordered at least 6 plates of this. The pik kai tod, chicken wings stuffed with minced chicken and mushroom and then deep fried til golden brown, crispy and effortless to eat. YUMS!

The chor ladda is synonymous with Rama V, these blue flowers (handmade) can only be found here. The mini dumplings are certainly very pretty, and is topped with coconut milk and stuffed with minced chicken and peanut. Steamed to perfection, these little parcels were a treat for both eyes and mouth.

The Thai money parcels or Thung Ngen Yueng are beancurd sheets filled with minced chicken and shrimp and then deep fried. I noticed that one of the popular ingredients used here is minced chicken, as seen in appetizers and some of the salads.

One of the great thing about the food here is that it is nicely spiced and not too spicy. You won't be scrambling for a glass of cold water to put out the fire on your tongue, that's actually how we like our Thai food. We tried a few of their soups, Tom Ka Kai (spicy chicken tom yam soup with coconut milk), Tom Yam Kung (spicy shrimp soup seasoned with lime juice and hot pepper), and Tom Yam Pla Chon (spicy king fish soup flavoured with lemongrass). My favorite was the tom yam pla chon as the fish was very fresh and tender, and was excellently paired with the mildly spicy soup.

Tom Ka Kai

Tom Yam Pla Chon

Hubby calls this the Thai version of char koay teow, pad thai is significantly less oily than CKT and just as yummy. Remember to squeeze the lime on top as it does make the dish taste so much nicer! I like the use of the raw beansprouts as it gives this dish a nice crunch, I had numerous helpings of this although rule no.1 of buffets is -- avoid carbs at all cost! LOL.

The gaeng ped pol linchee (roasted duck red curry with lychee) caught my attention when I was flicking through the menu, and I made a mental note to order it later. Well, I didn't have to as my fellow diners already did so and it was a huge hit with everyone. Loved the slightly sweet curry and the addition of lychee just works so well.

Another deliciously creamy curry, the green curry beef. Yum, I love all the curries here, even made me wish I had a bowl of white rice to soak it all up, but remember rule no.1 of buffets - no carbs or they fill you up! ;P

Pandan chicken (kai hor bai toey), gloriously fragrant from the use of pandan leaves that wrap the fried chicken meat which is moist and tender.

Nuer Pad Prik Thai Orn - sauteed beef with young pepper, chilli and oyster sauce. Tender beef.

Must order some greens to balance it all out. Pad Nor Mai Farang - what a name for stir fried asparagus with garlic.

For desserts, we enjoyed the pumpkin custard very much. Creamy and rich, just the kind of dessert that we like. Also tried the candied bananas in hot coconut milk and fresh mango with sticky rice.

Pumpkin custard

Candied bananas in hot coconut milk

Steamed tapioca in hot coconut milk

Chendol, Taro and sticky rice in coconut milk

Water chestnut dumplings with jack fruit in coconut milk

Mango with sticky rice

We had a little wander around the restaurant after our meal, the restaurant is luxuriously appointed and from where we sat, we got a nice view of the garden outside too. Serene and beautiful, I enjoyed walking around and snapping photos of the flowers and turtles that occasionally popped up to say hello.

Chandeliers

Restaurant interior

More lights

Beautiful outdoors with a pond in the centre

Little chalets that house the private rooms for dining

Verdict:  We have a friend visiting soon from Australia, can't wait to bring him here to try out the food, certainly great value for money.  A great way of sampling the range of authentic Thai cuisine that Rama V has to offer at an affordable price. 

Full set of photos available to view here. 

Opening times: 12 noon to 3.00pm (last orders 2.30pm for this a la carte buffet)

Location: Rama V Fine Thai Cuisine, 5 Jalan U-Thant, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2143 2428

GPS Coordinates: 3.154957, 101.724043

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*Thanks to Andre and Danny for the kind invite.