Dining Out @ Indulge, Tropicana City Mall, Petaling Jaya

1. melons standing on attention, 2. the gorgeous salad, 3. cheery interiors to bring a smile for Monday

"If you believe in the power of magic......" That song keeps playing in my head the whole morning from Alan Parsons Project's Don't Answer Me (if you do want to listen to it, see my blip.fm) I guess all of us don't believe in the power of magic but definitely the power of great presentation and cheery colours. Indulge at Tropicana City Mall seems to have got those two finer points, down to the pat with its sunshine yellow interiors (cynics will probably call it too jarringly yellow) and their beautiful plating of food.

miso cod on a brushstroke of orange sauce (menu says lemongrass foam but didn't see any around?)

A great place to chase away those Monday blues today....Indulge is run by Chef Pele Kuah who used to work in Mandarin Oriental Hotel and The Rennaisance Hotel. Hence you find little touches on the plate usually found in fine dining - that artistic sweep from a brush for the sauce, the beautifully turned and cut vegetables until they resemble flowers and leaves and etc.

1. yellow like the Digi Man, 2. grilled lamb cutlet, 3. masterpiece of vegetables, 4. goulash in a mash potato ring

I especially love the Melon Salad (RM16) - a combination of rock melon and watermelon balls drizzled with reduced balsamic vinegar and a salad to win my heart over. I'm always partial to great salads and this one was pretty good with assorted leaves, finely diced green apples, walnuts, sundried tomatoes, orange segments and strangely enough, bits of canned lychees. Splashie Boy had the Duo of Lamb (RM35), lamb done two ways to give you a contrast of textures and flavours of the lamb. Beautifully plated, the orange lamb goulash was encircled in a mash potato ring, while you had a very small portion of lamb cutlet on the side. Vegetables here are served to look like a beautiful masterpiece. Tastewise, we preferred the goulash more to the lamb cutlet, which had a slight gamey taste and was a little too fat for our liking.

My Miso Cod (RM35) was a sight to behold, with a bright orange brushstroke decorating the plate on one side. Served on top of a wasabi potato mash (not much taste of wasabi though), the cod was a nice thick slab but I thought it lacked the juiciness I usually like in my codfish. I especially loved my vegetables and even found a cucumber cut to resemble a leaf.

Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience and for both of us, we felt the best dish was the melon salad! Although it scores top marks for plating, food taste felt a little short I reckon or maybe we had such high expectations of this place to taste like fine dining, since the food looks similar to fine dining. Nevertheless, we definitely won't mind returning for their other interesting items like pastas, the grilled beefsteaks with various sauces, the salmon with vodka cream and etc. They also serve a value for money set lunch for RM12.90+ served with ice lemon tea but only for Monday to Fridays. For more bigger pictures on the place, see my Flickr set.

Indulge

L1-12
Level One
Tropicana City Mall
Petaling Jaya

Tel: 03- 7710 6112

(Pork free. I don't think it is halal since they have vodka cream in their dishes? Place is located next to Esquire Kitchen and near the escalators. Parking in the mall during the weekends is getting a little painful now with the opening of the cinema. From July 1st, parking will be charged also.)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.

Tagged with: Western Food + Petaling Jaya

Others who have also eaten here:

• ling239 who ate the value for monies set lunch
• Malaysian Insider who got me hankering for this place
• Happy Happy who had a great time here with his family.