Damansara Kim’s friendly neighbourhood bar celebrated its second anniversary last month by launching a slew of new cocktails, tapas-style dishes and mains – a move that sees it evolving from a simple cocktail bar into a gastrobar serving up playful fusion dishes.
‘We’re constantly working on our menu, taking feedback we get from our customers, and removing items that aren’t moving. In coming up with the new dishes, we really wanted to showcase our mains – almost everything is new except for the smoked duck aglio olio and pork chop – and expanding our tapas menu significantly,’ said its Operations Manager Khai.
In keeping with the bar’s focus on local ingredients and flavours, most items in the menu feature a Malaysian or Asian twist to popular bar snacks and pub grub. Among the 20-odd new tapas-style offerings are the Hainanese chilli chicken wings (RM25++), where deep-fried chicken wings are drenched in chilli-garlic sauce; sambal pork albondigas (RM23++), Mexican-style meatballs braised in tomato and sambal sauce; a Melaka-style Roti John (RM16++) made with an umami-rich trio of anchovies, sardines and bacon; and vegetarian tempeh ‘meatballs’ (RM15++) served with spicy tomato sauce.
The new mains, meanwhile, feature a number of burgers, pasta and rice dishes like Bombay fried rice with rasam prawns and masala chicken (RM38++); Pasta Masak Lemak (RM26++), their take on nasi lemak with linguine cooked with coconut milk and served with bacon bits; pork chop served with curry leaf mashed potato and kesum coleslaw (RM29++); as well as lamb (RM28++) and pork (RM26++) burgers.
New drinks on the block
Eight cocktails were also added to the already extensive list of house cocktails, including a couple of drinks made for calorie counters (although, if you’re coming to a bar looking for healthy drinks, you probably need to reevaluate your diet plan). This includes the LC1 (mango-infused white rum, green Chartreuse, pineapple juice, celery and cucumber; RM32++) and the Joozy (vodka with egg white, honey and a mix of apple, orange and celery juices; RM30++) – both of which will help you ease the guilt if you’re drinking after coming from the gym.
‘One drink that’s becoming a favourite is the Babi Lu Mary (RM40++), our take on the Bloody Mary we introduced during Chinese New Year – it’s made with bacon-infused tequila instead of bourbon, and topped with a slice of our pork belly bacon,’ said Khai. Having tried it, the drink’s not for everyone, but if you dig savoury cocktails, this version is slightly sweeter and more well-rounded compared to the traditional Bloody Mary. A more pleasing choice is the K Rock (RM25++), which is made with 1.5 shots of vodka and carbonated fresh coconut water – it’s a drink that’ll keep you happy and hydrated all night long.