The Red Victorian
December 28, 2010
The Red Victorian's quirky decor makes it one of Changkat Bukit Bintang's most singular settings, though some might find it kinda kitschy. Do 19th-century ornaments belong in (A) a restaurant, (B) a museum, or (C) a haunted mansion?
The menu here features a mishmash of mostly Western recipes. This "Summer of Love" salad was supposed to contain cucumbers, red onions, boiled eggs, pineapples & shrimp, but the cucumbers were replaced with lettuce, while the shrimp was absent until we requested it (yep, missing ingredients are a pet peeve for us). Not a bad recipe, but forgettable.
Onion soup with beef bouillon & red wine. Flavorsome enough to mop up with the bread, though it could nevertheless have been richer. OK, that's nitpicking.
Sea bass with fennel & linguine. A thick slab of moist, meaty fish, with reasonably well-prepared pasta. Simple but satisfactory.
Pan-fried sliced calf liver with tomatoes, onions, garlic & bread. Chewy, strong-tasting offal. Not exactly a crowd-pleaser, but liver lovers should be OK with this.
Potato pancakes. Basically rosti, but pretty much perfect. Chunky potatoes _ crisp on the edges, soft and fluffy inside. Not greasy at all, the 'pancakes' worked fabulously with the creamy mushroom sauce.
Vina Maipo Cabernet Sauvignon (Valle Central, Chile). Medium-bodied and balanced.
The Red Victorian,
Lorong Sahabat, Off Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.