Dancing Fish, Bangsar Shopping Centre: Introducing a New Menu

For the best contemporary Malay-Indo cuisine in Kuala Lumpur, there's no place that does it better than Dancing Fish. Located in Bangsar Shopping Centre, the restaurant aspires to serve affordable, great “real” food with carefully selected ingredients to showcase the true unadulterated and uncompromised flavours of Malaysia and West Java, Indonesia.

We recently had the pleasure of dining in the bustling, chic restaurant decked with subtle Indonesian cultural decor and tasted some of the dishes from the new enhanced menu such as the Udang Masak Lemak Cili Padi Nenas, Dancing Fish with Sambal Dabu Dabu, BBQ Beef Ribs with Sambal Matah and more.

To start, snack on some Emping (RM7.90), made 100% from melinjo nuts. It's crispy, with a slight bitter taste and goes well with the sambal terasi.

Kedondong with Preserved Plum (RM11.50)

The impressive Appetizer Platter (RM49.80) showcases some of the bestselling appetizers from the menu such as the famous charcoal grilled chicken satay, cumi cumi goreng, seafood sate lilit and spicy green apple salad with salted fish. We especially loved the chicken satay, which was tender and well-marinated as well as the crispy deep fried squid. The seafood sate lilit consists of marinated fish, prawn and calamari paste on lemongrass stalks while the spicy, tangy green apple salad did a great job in refreshing our palates.

A favourite especially with families with younger children, the Javanese Home Style Chicken Soup (RM12.65) is light, comforting and full of flavour.

The restaurant's signature dish is the iconic Dancing Fish (Nila Goreng).  You can choose from a myriad of dips.. we had the Sambal Dabu Dabu (RM53.35) also known as Indonesian salsa. Using red tilapia, the fish is shaped and deep fried so it looks like it is "dancing", and it's so crispy that you can even eat the bones. Definitely a must-try here!

My personal favourite here is the Udang Masak Lemak Chilli Padi Nenas (RM93.50), which comes with five large, fresh tiger prawns slow cooked with turmeric, spices, herbs and pineapples. A classic Malacca Nyonya prawn curry, the gravy was so delicious that it'll make you want to eat more rice (doused in lots of gravy!). At the restaurant, you can choose either the Nasi Wangi Putih or Nasi Kuning Berempah.

To pair with the mildly spicy curry, our host chose the Wok fried kai lan with mixed mushroom and prawns cooked in superior stock (RM19.60) for us.

Tender and intensely flavorful, the BBQ Beef Ribs with Red and Green Chillies (RM79.90) was another winning dish. Australian short ribs are marinated in aromatic herbs and spices and then braised, and finished off over charcoal embers to give it a lovely char.

If you love duck, try the Bebek Panggang (BBQ Duck) - marinated for 24 hours with an assortment of herbs and spices, then grilled over glowing charcoal embers and served with percik sauce (RM49.90).

For desserts, we highly recommend this gorgoeus Sweet Potato served with coconut scrappings, palm sugar and vanilla ice cream (RM13.35). Certainly a delight for all senses.

Durian fans should definitely try the Es Cendol topped with a scoop of creamy durian gelato (RM13.80), for a satisfying end to the meal.

Pork-free.

Opening times: 11.30am to 10pm daily.

Location: Dancing Fish, Lot T120, 121, 122, 3rd Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre, 285 Jalan Maarof, Bukit Bandar Raya, 59000 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2095 6663

Website: https://www.facebook.com/DancingFishRestaurant/

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