The return to the Market Hall restaurant @ The Pavilion, KL

Following my previous article on the Market Hall I’ve been meaning to return for some time however up until recently certain events seemed to have conspired against me. When the restaurant opened there was a fair amount of buzz and although I no longer hear so many people talking about it, my previous review is one of the most popular pages on this site judging by the number of hits that it receives.

Finally on the 2^nd May we managed to return for dinner. Due to it being a public holiday the restaurant was pretty quiet and were promptly shown to our table.

I had been looking forward to trying the lamb balti pie and several minutes after the order was taken the waiter returned to inform me that it had finished. To say that I was disappointed was an understatement and I fail to understand why sufficient pie’s can’t be made.

After some deliberation the daily special was recommended which was basically a lamb stew in a tomato based sauce with a poached egg in the middle. My wife ordered the winter risotto and we had an appetiser of cheese filled spring rolls and side orders of herb roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli.

The service was prompt and the issues highlighted in the previous review didn’t occur which is pleasing.

Complementary bread with dips is served.

A little while after ordering our food I noticed a blackboard containing fish dishes which we hadn’t seen due it being partly obscured by a light fitting. There is no mention of this is the menu , no prompting by the staff so I wonder how the majority of customers notice this.

The starter was an interesting concoction of spring rolls filled with ricotta and gorgonzola cheese and for me it seemed to work well and certainly made a change from the more common style of spring role.

Our main courses arrived together with the side orders which is a rare occurrence in restaurants in this part of the world and is something I prefer when eating western food.

I have to say that I’ve never seen a lamb stew like this one. The sauce was very red and the egg in the middle was most unusual. So how did it taste?

The sauce tasted like a bowl of tomato puree or perhaps a jar of pasta sauce and had a very strong tomato taste. This was overpowering and rather too strong with no real taste of any herbs or spices. The lamb was fairly tender and very lean but couldn’t really be tasted due to the over powering sauce.

The egg seemed to go ok however I could imagine that some people maybe put off my this. The dish to me was a complete let-down and although I had no problem finishing it I would not order it again.

I'm not a risotto fan so it would be a little unfair for me to fully judge this dish. To my wife and I it looked a little uninspiring and the taste was not quite what she was expecting.

The vegetable side orders were simple and tasty and made a nice accompaniment to my bowl of tomato sauce (lamb stew).

 
Although we like the setting we felt that the food was a let-down this time especially after the good food served the first time we visited. Perhaps we chose the wrong dishes but I’m not so sure.  

I will visit again at some point however with so many restaurants in the Klang Valley it may be a while before I’m back.

Food/Beverage 6
Ambiance 8
Value 7.5
Service 8.5

**NOW CLOSED**

Market Hall & Bedroom
Lot 6.01.03 & 6.01.04
Level 6 Pavilion KL Shopping Mall
No. 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
+603.2141.9622
http://www.markethall.my/
http://www.bedroomkl.my/