Meat-free dining doesn't have to be bland or boring. In fact, we had a really wonderful meatless meal at Botanical a few months back. I happily accepted an invitation to go back last week and review some more dishes from their menu.
Botanical by The BIG Group
The restaurant is fairly busy at lunch time. I see that they have a 3-course set menu on offer for RM45++ but we didn't go for this, instead we tried some items from their recently revamped a la carte menu. We were first served a warm olive foccacia with balsamic-olive oil dip in a brown paper bag.
The last time we were here, we thoroughly enjoyed the Pear & Avocado Salad so I certainly looked forward to trying their other salad creations. The Watermelon Lychee Salad (RM20) consisted of deep fried cubes of salt and pepper tofu, watermelon, lychee, red cabbage, coriander, mint and a spicy dressing. This was light and pretty refreshing with a spicy kick to it - the dressing had a very Thai feel to it. Love how colorful and visually attractive this dish is too.
My favorite dish of the afternoon is the Burnt Butter Wild Mushroom & Brie Cheese Salad (RM24).While the watermelon lychee salad was sweet and spicy, this wild mushroom salad was savoury - a nice contrast. If I had to go meatless for a week, the one thing I could eat everyday would be mushrooms. Love that they have a nice "meaty" texture and tastes fantastic when seasoned properly. Brie happens to be my favorite cheese, and I also love rocket leaves so this is a definite winner for me. It had all the right flavours and textures for me.
The Pasta e Fagioli (RM20) is traditional meatless Italian dish of "pasta and beans". The version here is made with macaroni and cannellini beans with a saffron sauce and a crusty cheesy top. It is served with mushroom truffle toast. This was a rich, hearty, and comforting dish.
Love the cheeeseeeee!
I do love Thai pineapple fried rice, I've even cooked it at home so I was amazed that they did a really good version here without any meat. The rice has been fried with tom yum paste, pineapple cubes, and four-angled bean. It is served with sambal, emping and a fried egg, inside a hollowed-out pineapple halve. The first mouthful was pretty fiery. I think the portion size is just nice too.
Pineapple fried rice (RM20)
For dessert, we enjoyed the apple crumble tart (RM12) served with vanilla ice cream and the black forest cake (RM14). The black forest cake is impressively tall, with layers of chocolate sponge, mousse, jelly and cherries. We finished off with a pot of T42 chamomile tea (love the pretty dainty teacup) and iced latte (RM10).
The restaurant's inside seating area. See here for more photos of the outside seating area with a garden setting.
Opening Hours: 11am-10pm daily
Location: Botanical by BIG, 1F-28 & 1F-K2, First Floor, Bangsar Village 2, No. 1, Jalan Telawi Satu,
Bangsar Baru,59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 03-2287 6566
GPS Coordinates: 3.129996, 101.670957
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If I tell my mother about your review on this restaurant, sure my vegetarian mother will fly over there, of course we will be her driver. Thanks for those wonderful infor,actions.
ReplyDeleteOoooo...love that cup and saucer. So regal!!! Hmmm....the egg was pan-fried, not the way I would like it fried most of all.
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to be vegetarian at least once a week if I can have this :P
ReplyDeleteThe above food you had...all looks so good!! From starter till dessert...
ReplyDeleteyeah mushrooms would definitely be the meat substitute I pick too. That and artichokes!
ReplyDeleteI was looking for fake chasiu. hahaha.
ReplyDeletebut the mushroom looks very good.