With a founder and a chef who are both Hainanese, the Hainanese chicken chop, Hainanese lamb stew and Hainanese fried noodles form the ideal introduction to The Heritage, which seeks to highlight the Malaysian Hainanese community's colonial-era culinary legacy. The chicken chop, prepared grilled or fried, offers nostalgic comfort, completed with roast potatoes and mixed boiled vegetables, rounded out by an onion gravy (RM23). It's a filling portion, so we passed this time on the lamb stew, which sounds even heartier, a three-generation-old recipe thickened with white radish, water chestnuts, ginger, fu chok, black fungus, fermented bean curd, goji berries and red dates.
While cocktails might not be linked to the Hainanese, The Heritage offers some engaging choices with Malaysian inflections. Butter Her Gin (RM28; butterfly pea and bunga kantan-infused gin, lychee liqueur, kaffir lime leaves, egg white) and Koko Kau Kau (RM31; dark rum, house-made coffee liqueur, Milo, frangelico, gingerbread syrup) both prove playfully pleasing, but a couple of upcoming cocktails sound even more fun and fascinating - a Hainanese coffee cocktail (vodka, Hainanese coffee powder and condensed milk, served with toast bread) and a Hainanese chicken rice cocktail (pandan-infused rum, cili padi, ginger and sesame oil, served with a slice of chicken).
The Heritage
24G, Jalan Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur. Daily, 11am-12am. Tel: 03-2011-7687
This post first appeared on eatdrinkkl.com