Churrasco Brasileno (BBQ Skewer Buffet) @ Halia, Sime Darby Convention Centre, KL

Everyone in town has been talking about Halia's Brazilian Barbeque Skewer Buffet which is only at RM20++ per person. We decided to check it out last night since we were free. Our original booking was for tonight but I'm glad we changed over to last night as it wasn't packed with people. Was told by the cashier that they have had full house capacity (approximately 100 pax) almost every night which can be quite chaotic.



The set up is actually quite simple but like what Splashie Boy kept saying throughout the night - "What do you expect for RM20++?" You can choose from the buffet counter for salad greens, sliced capsicums, peas, corn and those yummy jelly tomatoes (they're small but longish versus the round cherry tomatoes). They have a whole array of different dressings for you. There's also corn on the cob and baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon bits and spring onion toppings. What I liked was their little dips and sauces they place on the table for you. You get an array of black pepper sauce, barbeque sauce, brown sauce and etc if you want more flavours in your meat. I liked the tortilla chips they gave with the tomato salsa, guacamole and sour cream dips.

For the flame grilled meat, they serve it at your table in long skewers. Each server will advise you what it is and remove a piece from the skewer to your plate with a metal fork. They served us eight items: chicken breast wrapped in beef bacon, spicy chicken wings, chicken liver, garlic and black pepper striploin, oriental lamb leg, honey glazed meat loaf, Thuringer sausage and fish fillet. My favourite was the fish fillet (seen in the first photo) which was cooked just right and lightly marinated. The chicken wings had a nice kick to them as you could taste the spicy chilli. We also liked the Thuringer sausage which was bigger than the normal skinny ones we get. I also liked the soft honey glazed meat loaf which had paprika sprinkled on it. Not everything was perfect as the chicken breast was tough and quite tasteless while the lamb and beef was slightly overcooked. We kinda suspect that the flame which cooks the barbeque skewers can be quite inconsistent. Some skewers yielded food cooked just right while some was overcooked.

Desserts was a simple bread and butter pudding with watery evaporated milk as cream. I suggest you add vanilla ice cream for added oomph. You can help yourself to the different varieties of ice cream and add the different sauces and toppings i.e. chocolate rice and croquants. There's also creme caramel which was a bit overcooked and fresh fruits. Coffee and tea is not included in the buffet.

Overall, we thought the buffet offered a really good deal for it's price as it served a lot of meats. Although it wasn't the best cuts of lamb and beef, the other items were pretty good. The buffet items weren't lavish like the hotel buffets but you could see they tried to make it up by giving lots of sauces, dips and dressings to people. Another plus point was their salads and vegetables were all very fresh - crunchy capsicums, juicy jelly tomatoes and crisp salad greens.

This is definitely the buffet for you if you can eat large helpings of meat in one sitting as the price of the buffet is definitely attractive. For us, one round of the items was just enough for both of us before we decided to go home. The only thing is with a full house, you will have to wait for your turn with the food skewers. I can imagine the ugly Malaysian who will get kiasu and ask the waiter to give him/her everything on the skewer so they don't need to wait for the other skewers making everyone else irate. Remember to book ahead as even weekdays get filled up with end of the year office or Christmas parties.

Halia

Sime Darby Convention Centre
1A, Jalan Bukit Kiara 1,

60000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel No: 03 - 2089 3688 (this is Sime Darby Convention Centre's general line)

(The buffet is only available from 6 to 10 pm only and until 30 December, 2006. To get there, when you turn into the Kiara Highway from Sprint (Eastin Hotel), keep left and make the first left turning where you will see the KL Golf and Country Club sign, go straight and you will pass by the convention centre, take a right turn at the end to get into the car park. You can either park inside or outside. Ample parking spaces available. You are given free parking if you spend up to RM30)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Brazilian Barbeque + Sime Darby Convention Centre