Chakri Palace

April 2009

There’s no excuse for not being able to find Chakri Palace. It’s right where the escalators drop you off on the top floor of KLCC. With such a world of choice on that level, you could be forgiven if you haven’t made it into Chakri Palace yet. But I urge you to put that right.

The chirrups of ‘Sawadee-kup’ from the helpful staff as you enter the restaurant immediately put a smile on your face. And you know you’ll never have to wait long for service as the restaurant has a buzzer on your table encouraging you to press a button for service, or make a specific request for water or the bill.

Chakri Palace has to compete against several Thai places in the two KLCC food courts, as well as dozens of other restaurants in the mall, so they have done the right thing by making portion sizes large and kept prices relatively low. Our meal for two, plus drinks, came to RM60.

The green curry had a lovely kick to it. The spices especially crammed into the vegetables, which had clearly been marinated for some time to produce such a fabulous flavour. The sauce was a little too runny for me though, which is an unusual thing to say as normally I like to have something to mop up.

To accompany the curry I went for the pineapple rice. Served in a hollowed out half-pineapple, it contained various vegetables, juicy pineapple chunks and four small, tasteless prawns. The disappointing seafood aside, the rice was terrific and I loved the combination of the sweet pineapple and spicy curry when I mixed them.

My partner’s dish was also perfectly cooked and very tasty. She had glass noodles with chicken, which also had mushrooms cooked through it. A simple meal but even though it was an enormous portion, it was so moorish that it was quickly devoured.

The rest of the menu was extensive and there will certainly be something for everyone. Although, perhaps someone should tell them that chicken is not actually a vegetarian option.

Overall, the meal was very good and I would recommend Chakri Palace to any visitor to KLCC who appreciates good Thai food and wants a step-up from the food court. Matt Bellotti