[Kuala Lumpur] Thai dinner at Erawan, DC Mall

KL’s top-rated Thai restaurant, Erawan, has moved to larger premises in Damansara Town Centre’s new DC Mall. Still the same very efficient mainly-Filipino crew. Appetisers and mains are superb. Mango with sticky rice, though, bombed out spectacularly - an unexpected glitch in Erawan’s armour.

Trakool Yodsuk aka Chef Korn helms Erawan with a steady hand, staying close to the classics most of the time, but also experimenting with newer ingredients and more inventive combinations occasionally.

Erawan’s new premises has doubled its capacity, whilst its newer, more accessible location attracts the affluent crowd from nearby Damansara Heights and Bangsar:

Appetisers:

  1. One of Erawan’s most popular appetisers is the much-talked about, fiery-hot Royal Lotus Petals Delight - edible lotus petals served with condiments (peanuts, dried shrimps, coconut shreds, diced galangal, etc.) in a house-made, tongue-numbing, chilli-spiked tamarind sauce.

  1. Banana seafood spring rolls, filled with banana, tiger prawn, crabmeat and water-chestnuts, served with plum dip. These were incredibly delicious, sweet banana interspersed with savoury prawn and crab.

  2. Watermelon with salmon floss, crisp-fried shallots and salmon roe.

  3. Glutinous rice with salmon floss, toasted coconut shreds, crispy shallots and kaffir lime leaves. This was singularly the tastiest combinations of flavours and textures I’d had in a while. I’d come back here again just for this.

Main courses:
5) Tamarind-glazed duck-leg, served with roasted pineapple. The duck was a tad overcooked and dry, though the sauce was marvellous. It was quite a let-down, considering Chef Korn’s much-vaunted culinary skills and his reputation for meticulousness.

  1. Green curry with chicken - tasty, but the herbs seemed dialled-down to suit local Malaysian palates than Thai ones. Still, extremely high standard of cooking and hard to find outside Thailand.

  2. Tropical Fruits Red Curry, with pineapple, rambutan, lychees and tofu. It’s as exotic and as tasty as we’d expected. Best bowl of fruits I’d ever consumed :smiley:

  3. Green Curry Vegetables, with long beans, aubergines, tofu and pea eggplant.

Desserts
9) Satiated from the main course, we opted to share one dessert - the Thai favourite: mango with stick rice. It turned out to be the worst dish we had that evening - bland sticky rice that was over-cooked and gummy, and rather average-tasting mangoes which lacked both sweetness and fragrance. A total let-down.

I’d return for some of Chef Korn’s marvellous dishes. But hopefully the other dessert options fare better than the mango-sticky rice fiasco.

Address
Erawan
Lot L1-17-18, First Floor DC mall
Plaza DC Damansara City, 6, Jalan Damanlela
50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Operating hours:
Lunch: 11.00am to 3.00pm ( Last orders 2.30pm)
Afternoon tea: 3.00pm to 6.00pm (Last orders 5.30pm)
Dinner: 6.30pm to 8.30pm (First sitting), 8.30pm till late (Second sitting. Last orders 10.00pm)
Tel: :+60 3-2788 4181

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Hey, Peter. I can’t recall you throwing round so many superlatives before. Must be damn good

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Best Thai in KL/Malaysia, John. Cannot compare to Bangkok/Thailand, though :smiley: