Rock Salt Grill & Coffee, AEON AU2 Setiawangsa

What is the first dish that comes to your mind when Arabic food is mentioned? It's none other than the different types of kebabs mixed with different spices. While it is the main highlight, I was glad to have a chance to also sample a variety of other unique Arabic food which I have never came across before.

The restaurant is quite spacious with dining sofas to provide a more comfortable experience aside from normal cushioned dining chairs. No fancy decorations here, it is the food that matters :D

We started our meal with Supra soup. This is a much lighter version of soup kambing. Don’t be fooled by the clear looking broth as it is concentrated with flavours from the lamb (still slightly pinkish in the centre), carrots, capsicium and potatoes. Lamb is easily shredded, very tender for the fork as a result from the long cooking hours. Containing just the right lamb smell that seems to be required here, the lamb flavours seeped through the broth very well.. There is hardly any oil on top, increasing the health factor. Unlike some of the soup kambing served in mamak places out there, the thick layer of oil already puts me off. Highly recommended tummy warming soup before meal.

Melt-in-your-mouth lamb meat that you can't afford to miss it

Hummus

Healthy appetizer made from channa (chickpea) mixed with garlic, lemon and olive. It has adequate thick texture and easily spreadable on the naan bread (photo below) meant to be enjoyed together. Taste wise it has light aroma from chickpeas, natural yet delicious. No heavy seasoning is required as it is already as good on its own.

 

Spread some hummus goodness on it and you are good to go!

Fluffy dough that is well grilled, sprinkled with sesame seeds on top that contributed extra fragrance. The base of the naan is nice in brown colour, not to mention the crispiness enhanced overall texture. Do enjoy it while it is still fresh from the oven as the softness is lacking after left cool for some time.

 

Caesar Salad

I was skeptical about the thicker and extra Caesar salad dressing coated on Romaine lettuce judging from the appearance. But I am glad that it is still light for the tastebuds, not cloying at all. Aside from the creamy dressing, the hint of sourness increases the appetite instantly. Not a salad dressing that I usually have, but I instantly fell in love with it. The garlic naan bread served beside is worth mentioning, incredibly fragrant from garlic and nicely crispy.

Family Mixed Kebab

A platter boasting with varieties of poultry mixed with spices, great for sharing among friends and families.

Lamb Reshmi Kebab- Grilled lamb minced meat served with Pakistani original spices

Lamb Gola Kebab- Grilled lamb minced meat served with light spice

Chicken Shangri-La Kebab- Boneless chicken in green mild spice

Chicken Malai Boti- Boneless chicken grilled in yogurt and cream mild spice

 

There is not much differentiation of apparent flavours from the same category of poultry, as the level of fragrance from the spices contributes only fair hint.

For the lamb category, there is light presence of lamb taste/smell compared to the lamb in Supra soup earlier, further accentuated by the types of spices used, light and not overwhelming in taste. Even though minced meat is used, there is still slightly bouncy texture remained like meatballs. They were well seasoned/marinated, making it very good on its own.

For the chicken category (light green in colour), although breast meat is used, the texture is surprisingly tender enough. It has light smokey taste to it, similar to our very own Malaysian satay. I find that it is a slightly underseasoned, but maybe that’s just me.

Lamb Mandi

Carbs worth for calories!

Mandi is essentially long grain rice used in this dish. First scoop of rice tasted and I was sold, there is a special fragrance coated on every single grain of fluffy rice. Just can’t stop having it again and again, have to set my diet plan aside at the moment =P The lamb is another winner in this dish, given its tender and easily shredded meat, does not have overwhelming lamb taste as well. All in all it is an excellent dish deserving for praises, must try!

Chicken Butter

Not the usual chinese style wet butter dishes that you normally have. This dish is essentially boneless chicken cooked with butter curry containing mild spice. The butter curry resembles rendang gravy in terms of taste but again, very light in spices. Overall this is a decent dish and rather special to me as a first timer. This also went well with mandi served together.

Peshawari Chicken Karahi

This dish is modified by the chefs from dry version to extra gravy dish.  Again, I have to describe by comparing this with ayam masak merah. It has a hint of sourness from tomato I believe, that complements well with pre-fried chicken cutlets. On the downside, the gravy is oily. Since it contains extra gravy, the following garlic naan is meant to complement this dish.

Garlic Naan

This is another naan that has perfect texture in my books. Fluffy in the centre and crispy at the bottom, along with fragrant garlic toppings. Again, I adore this non-oily naan surface compared to mamak style garlic naan. It’s just way too oily sometimes.

 

 

It's always good to end our meals with something sweet, dessert it is! We were treated with some pavlova, essentially made from beaten egg whites, which requires skills such as controlling temperature in order to make this right. This pavlova fulfils criterias such as crispy on the outside and airy in the inside. Best to go with whipped cream and fresh fruits like apple, blueberry and strawberry used here. If you like your pavlova sweeter, this is for you.

 

Take a closer look at the layers. Don't you want a bite now? =P

If I were to nitpick, I prefer the texture of the cream to be smoother, probably because the cake is left in the fridge for quite some time already. Overall, it was still a decent dessert worth trying.

 

Hot Mocha

Decent coffee art. From the first sip, it was very bitter as this does not come sweetened. The coffee aroma was not strong enough, in fact overpowered by stronger chocolate taste. Temperature wise it was alright. Two of my friends also sampled cappuccino and hot chocolate, no complaints from them.

 

 

Address:

G30 & G35, Ground Floor,

AEON AU2 Shopping Centre,

No. 6, Jalan Taman Setiawangsa,

AU2, Taman Keramat,

Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.

 

Opening hours:

10am - 10.30pm (Daily)

 

Contact Number:

03-42666532

 

Facebook page:

Rock Salt Grill & Coffee