It's a shame that arepas aren't part of KL's culinary conversation; along with tostones & other Venezuelan staples, they're arrestingly delicious. For a far-too-rare taste of South America in our city, put El Maiz on your list of venues to visit - chef Fabiana Zambrano, outlet managing director Luis Arias & supervisor Gaby Perez, all Venezuelans who've lived in the Klang Valley for years, are enthusiastic about introducing the cooking of their homeland to Malaysians. Start with the arepas - griddled cakes made with Venezuelan corn flour (true to the name El Maiz, Spanish for The Corn), plumply stuffed with, say, tender pulled chicken & yellow cheese (RM20) for a meal that's richly, flavourfully chew-worthy. Buen provecho, indeed.
Those tostones! Twice-fried unripe plantain slices, thickly crisp, beautifully topped with robust pulled beef, shredded cheese & a garlicky-citrusy guasacaca sauce of parsley & chilli peppers (only RM18 for two pieces; order them) - they may well make some customers contemplate a flight to Caracas for more. Single-plate meals are available - the Asado Negro features rice & fried sweet plantains with carnivore-baiting chunks of beef stewed in sugarcane (RM42) - but there's more that merits further investigation, from traditional soups & salads to empanadas & tequenos. Pretty good wine is offered for RM16 by the glass.
El Maiz Venezuelan Cuisine & Latin Deli
A-G-1, Ground Floor, Menara AmpleWest, Jalan Puncak, Off Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.
Open 10am-3pm, 5pm-9pm (Mon-Sat); 9am-3pm (Sun). Tel: 03-2022-1733
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