The hip, young designer team who owned Wondermilk in Damansara Uptown - Dzurina Dzulkhaini, Ena Hadzir, Haliza Halim, Ifzan Ibrahim, Nurul Hanis and Yati Dzulkhaini - are also behind Little Rimba, their first foray into the affluent neighbourhood of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, fondly known to KL-lites as TTDI.
Kuala Lumpur is a diverse multi-racial city which consists of roughly 45% Chinese-Malaysians, 43% Malay-Malaysians, 6% Indian-Malaysians, plus a sprinkling of other ethnic groups. The TTDI neighbourhood has always been a trendsetter for the Malay market, and businesses target the influential upper-middle class Malay society here - if it succeeds here, it will succeed anywhere else in KL. So, it’s a surprise that it took Wondermilk’s trendy all-Malay team that long to finally drop anchor at TTDI, 18 years after establishing itself in Damansara Uptown.
The new Little Rimba is actually a smaller version of their second outlet after Wondermilk - Rusa + Rimba at Sunway Ginza. It’s got its trademark floor-to-ceiling glass windows, bright breezy decor and traditional Malay foods, some given a small twist.
We opted for its traditional Malay options:
- Lontongku Sayang
Lontong is a traditional Malay breakfast dish of compressed rice cubes, topped with a milky, coconut- and turmeric-rich vegetable curry. In Singapore, it will also be topped with serondeng (spiced meat floss) - but the version here in KL has kuah kacang, a peanutty concoction similar to dips served with Malaysian satays.
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Nasi Lemak Cinta with Ayam Goreng Berempah
The classic nasi lemak combination with sambal chilli, crisp-fried ikan bilis (anchovies) and groundnuts, slivers of fresh cucumber and half a hard-boiled egg. A piece of spiced fried chicken (not traditional, but had gained traction in Malaysia in the past couple of decades) completed this pretty substantial breakfast plate.
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Roti Boom with Kari Daging
Roti boom is a mini-sized, ultra-rich version of the Malaysian roti canai, and was purportedly introduced to Malaysia by Naan Corner in Ampang Jaya. Naan Corner owner, Parwiz Kausar, 45, is the self-proclaimed inventor of the roti boom (which, despite its spelling, is pronounced “roti bomb” by locals), and has been offering it for the past 25 years, together with a spread of Pakistani and a myriad of other Malaysian dishes. The version here at Little Rimba was pretty good, but it was the beef curry which was truly amazing - piquant, tasty and very addictive.
The dessert option we had here: the cendol nangka, fared less well - it came across as pretty bland and the shaved ice was not as fine as those from good eateries elsewhere.
The other dessert, Sago Gula Melaka, was fine. Pretty average-tasting, as the palm sugar used itself was not of very good quality.
But I liked the Milo Dinosaur, a chilled malted chocolate drink which I first had back in Singapore, at Katriyya (formerly Thohirah) on Jalan Kayu, many, many moons ago. A rather nostalgic drink concoction, and it more than made up for the disappointing cendol nangka.
Overall, a rather pretty little place. The food is very much hit-and-miss really, whilst the prices are perhaps double what they should be. But then, they are targetting the very affluent upper-middle class Malay market here.
Address
Little Rimba
1, Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 7
Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-77336177
Opening hours: 7.30am-6.30pm, Tue-Sun. Closed on Mondays.
