Al-Amar @ Pavilion KL

Pavilion KL is not only know for its glam, fashion and expensive cars.. (most ideal place to apply for a jockey position) but it is also the home to many exclusive known or unknown local and international delights. On the highest floor of this mall exists some of the rarest and most exclusive restaurants one could find. Most of the names you've never even heard of, but are incredibly famous if you look up online. This particular post is about the consecutive winner of Malaysia's best restaurant and multi-award winning Lebanese restaurant, Al-Amar.

Located quite strategically at the centre of the most top floor of Pavilion. With a lot of room to roam around infront of the restaurant, it is pretty hard to miss. Operational hours: 10am to 2am daily.

The classy inside seatings. The restaurant is well themed with red coloured Lebanese decorations (from lights to furnitures) You can tell that most items are imported overseas. There are many types of seatings, so survey around before you choose your table ;)

The outside seatings. Would definitely opt to sit outside if we came at night.. for the view and the breeze of KL town. It is also facing down towards the main outdoor compound of Pavilion. If there are any concerts going on down below, this would be a good place to take a peek and avoid all the dangerous human traffic below. OR if you simply want to enjoy the Shisha service provided by the house.

The head chef (in black) is the one who actually made this restaurant famous. He frequently participates himself in MIGF (Malaysian International Gourmet Festival) and won quite a number of awards such as 'Best signature dish' for Hommos, Mixed grill and Fattoush. KL Timeout has also awarded Al-Amar as 2009 and 2010's Best middle eastern restaurant in Malaysia. Not only that, it is also one of Malaysia's Best restaurants of 2009. Simply head to the wall and check out how many individual awards and restaurant awards they have won (pretty sure they have a few trophies hidden too =P)

Hommos. RM16. Mashed chick peas with sesame seed paste and dash of lemon juice, topped with olive oil. One of the restaurant's award winning signature dish! It completely deserves the title as this one stands above the rest compared to all the hommos we've tasted elsewhere before. For those who are not familiar with this dish, it might taste a little weird at first but easier said, it tastes a little bit like cheese. Good thick texture and goes very well with the bread. A+ for presentation and a must try dish!

Pita bread. Complimentary. This is the bread you eat together with the Hommos. Very soft and plain, yet after a few bites mixed with the Hommos, you will beg for more..

Chicken chawarma sandwich. RM18. They have been called many names chawarma/shawarma but to us Malaysian, it is simply known as kebab (which to them 'kebab' is skewered meat :P) The kebab is quite dry but there are pickels and an unidentifiable object which tasted like french fries to add to the flavour. The bread itself is fluffy and easy to chew.

 If you are a heavily sedated (no pun intended) lebanese kebab fans such as us, you would know how to eat them in the best way possible.. with GARLIC CREAM SAUCE!!!!! The kebab gets 10x better with this little beauty right here. FYI garlic sauce is a very common condiment to go with any dish in a lebanese cuisine. (Like chilli sauce to Malaysians) You could even eat it with your rice! This is the one thing we always ask for at every middle eastern restaurant we go to =)

Fish kebbeh. RM18. Fried fish bowls stuffed with glazed onions and pine seeds served on a bed of tajin. Nothing says 'exotic food' like a bunch of weird ingredients cooked together to form a meal. The shell was salty and the onion filling was sour. Eaten together with the gravy, it makes for a pretty balanced and okay appetizer. It was worth the try, but not for a repeat order.

Lamb kabbseh. RM44. Steamed marinated lamb with basmati rice cooked with tomato and spices accompanied with  their specially made sauce. This here was a dish worth to eat! It had A LOT of thick and big lamb chunks that were amazingly soft and delicious! The rice was good enough to eat all by itself and sometimes we got a surprise sweet flavour from its raisins. A delightful dish indeed and our personal favourite from the shop!

Chicken kebbeh. RM38.  Kabbseh or khabsa or kabbsa generally means a meal served with rice. This one is good as well for those who can't eat lamb. A succulent quarter chicken that is well marinated and goes fantastic with the rice. But IMHO it simply cannot top the taste of the lamb ;)

Standard mixed grill. RM58. One lahem mechwe skewer (beef cubes), one chic taouk skewer (chicken breasts cubes) and two kafta skewers (hollowed lamb meat). This shop is well known for another type of mixed grill, which we were not able to afford during that visit. It is twice (or more) the price of this standard mixed grill. This meal is good for those who enjoy a little creativity in preparing their own meal. You can basically eat it any way you want! Roll together with the bread and mixed with fresh onions and tomatoes inside and finish it off with a dip of garlic sauce or just eat them one by one. 

Lamb cutlets. RM49. Marinated in 7 spices and olive oil sauce. Not the optimal quantity of food we would like to be spending that much amount of money on. But as far as fine dining dishes are priced, this tasted magnificent due to its marinade. Tasted similar to the marinade found at Seremban 2 Seafood Steamboat and BBQ's lamb if you ask me.

Half grilled chicken. RM27. A wholesome plate for big eaters. It was a normal dish.

Achtalieh. RM15. A cream cheese pudding bathed in traditional sugar syrup and decorated with chopped pistachio nuts, almonds and pine nuts. IMHO, this dessert tasted rather plain.

Baklawa. RM12. These are traditional Lebanese sweets. A top recommendation from the restaurant's staff. Clearly much better than the one above as it had more taste (sweet) and a crispy outside texture. A joy to eat =)

Dishing it out: If the environment does not give you enough reason to visit this restaurant, maybe dining to the food prepared by a highly qualified gourmet chef would! This is Middle Eastern / Lebanese cuisine fine dining at its best! Prepare to be amazed by the level of culinary artistry on some of his gourmet dishes ;)
If you'd like to skip all the exclusivity and just grab 1 or 2 items from their menu, you can do so by visiting their Al-Amar Express which is located across the street from Pavilion at Farenheit 88.

P/S: If it is your first time visiting this restaurant, we can imagine it would be pretty hard to go through the menu. It took us a while too, eventhough we've been to many non-exclusive yet still expensive middle eastern restaurants =P hopefully this post will help you to get a glimpse of what is good to order.



Coming back for more value: MAYBE for their signature mixed grill and other gourmet dishes.
Crowd: YES
Cleanliness: CLEAN
Service: VERY GOOD efficient staff (mostly foreign), fast service, food served in a flash! (till we had trouble catching up to take pictures of each)
Category: HALAL/PORK-FREE

GPS Coordinates: N3.148237,E101.713413


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If you'd like to know the COMPLETE ADDRESS of the restaurant, please click on the "Location" tab below. (After Facebook comments and right before Blogger comments, its in between!)

Tel: 03 2166 1011

 ..and that's our "DISH" of the day!!!!!