Dubrovnik, Solaris Mont Kiara

A friend from Penang found himself stranded in KLCC & decided to call me for dinner.

As usual, I asked 2 questions.

Q1: What do you want to eat?

And..

Q2: What’s your budget?

With these 2 prerequisite questions answered, I can safely say I have yet to fail being a good food host to all my friends who visited KL 😉

Now, normally the answer to the 1st Q is the much dreaded Anything laaa” or “You recommend“.

For me however, I love it when they give me such answers. Imagine the possibilities! It’s like giving a painter a blank canvas & unlimited supply of paint!
Nepalese? Chinese? Indian?? Jap? Roadside? Hotels? Shack? Seafood? Pork? Vegetarian?
You get my drift.

Hence Q2. This eliminates most places and makes my work much much easier.

But but but, IF it is a Penang-ite, it is slightly more pressuring than normal 😉
I would pore over my little hill of food guides, go through my “to eat list” journal and of course, check out my fellow foodies blogs.

This friend however, wants dinner in 30mins and “something I can’t get in Penang“. Add that with the fact that he runs a restaurant in Penang, he cooks and he loves food.
*sweat*

Since budget is not an issue, I picked up him up and whisked him to the only Croatian restaurant in Malaysia.

Penang sure don’t have – check.
It’s something different – check.
Good reviews so far – check.

Ahh.. the perils of being a foodie.

ambiance

Service was great that night. Seeing me struggling with my camera, the waiter kindly obliged my request to inform me once each dish is ready. He will leave the dish on a table near the kitchen with the best lighting, waits for me to take my picture and then brings the dish to our table outside.
Sweet!

Our complimentary bread.

starter

This bread has what you might call a fine crumb. In other words, it’s dense and soft. There are no large air pockets like what you’ll find in traditional baguettes and it went really well with the very slightly piquant salsa-like sauce.

Any place that proclaims “wood fire” pizza got my interest by default. And my order secured.

pizza2

Vegetariana RM22.00
It sounded so good on the menu! “Tomato, capsicum, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, sweet chilli and mozzarella cheese.
All my fav stuffs (except for capsicum but serve ’em to me grilled and slightly charred, I’ll eat it all!)

pizza1

Maybe that’s the way pizzas are done in Croatia.. or maybe I’m just spoilt by the thick cheese served by our local pizza franchises but this was quite a disappointment aside from the presence of charred aroma from the wood fire.

The crust was thin (not paper thin) and the texture slightly chewy. I do not doubt that it was made fresh in-house, one would be able to testify that from the first bite but the toppings was so scantily scattered over the dough!
The tomato paste was thin, and I would have preferred the vegetables grilled beforehand. Laid on the dough fresh, it lacked flavour.

Lamb Croatia RM48.00
Lamb steak cooked slowly in lamb jus & green pepper sauce, broccoli and pommes dauphine potatoes.

lamb croatia

Naked, un-marinated thick cutlets done medium rare. The insides were nice and pink but the sides of the cutlet was slightly tough.
It came with 2 different sauces, one peppery one which was rained over the lamb and another in a small glass.
I much preferred the one in the glass; a creamy green peppercorn sauce which was wonderful with the meat.
I even ate my chicken with it!

Ragusa Chicken RM40.00
Traditional baked herb marinated chicken leg, mushrooms and Rosti potato.

ragusa Chic

Nothing to shout about, the meat was well done with the requisite attributes of moist, tender and so forth. But that was all to it.
It says herb marinated in the menu but I didn’t taste any. Sauce on top was undisputed-ly mushroom based.
But the rosti was to die for! A thin slab under the chicken, it was rich and smoky from the roasted skin. Man, I just love potatoes served with the skin! Especially mashed potatoes.

Blueberry Smoothie RM18.00
Fresh blueberries, apple juice and yogurt.

smoothie

A wonderful concoction; thick & luscious with the undeniable presence of blueberries as I could taste the rough texture of blended fruits.

The total bill came up to RM130 with 10% service charge of RM13 so final amount is RM143.00
Not a cheap meal but then, you are paying for the experience of a cuisine not normally found elsewhere.

I have read much raves of the other dishes so perhaps a few more visits might alleviate my appreciation of Croatian cuisine??




This Post Has 28 Comments

  1. UnkaLeong

    The perils of being with a foodie indeed 😛

  2. SimpleGirl

    U are really a good food guide!

  3. ai wei

    sounds… so-so only hor? then i will not put croaatian cuisine in my makan list first 😛

    btw, do need to save up a budget if really wanna dine in here

  4. J

    I'm with you on this – am completely confused by the fact that there are some very good reviews of this place VS my experience eating there (and yours…)

    I guess maybe this place is a bit inconsistent?
    (Capable of culinary genius but just not all the time? haha… oh well)

  5. ~Christine~Leng

    I've not tried any Croatian food either. But have already heard the food here was mediocre. Anyhow, still thought that I might drop by this place someday 😉 hehe.

  6. foodbin

    the Vegetariana pizza is too tempting.

  7. J2Kfm

    eh this is so cool. they really accommodate to your photography needs eh? 🙂

  8. gill gill

    any signature dish?? some how review is just for guidance, anyhow you still have to try at your own risk 😛

    Hey, must intro your restaurant's friend to me when you are back ya!

  9. Sean

    i think u made a good choice! yeah, the food might not be quite up to expectations, but i guess that's because all of us initially believe that croation food is something really exotic? i haven't really had anything incredible at dubrovnik, but it's still a place where u can relax, enjoy yourself and just have a comfortable evening with a friend. 😀

  10. msihua

    Do they specialise in Pizza's? I feel that paying so much for pizza is a tad ridiculous though!

  11. thenomadGourmand

    Unka: Ah..put a fussy eater with atr fussy eater & u'll hv hell on yr hands 😉

    simplegirl: Ohh..I take pride in my "work". LOL!

    ai wei: Yes, got to really save up & go a group, then can staple more stuffs.

    J: yes, I think we have too high standards 😉

    christine: Yup, or perhaps we had too high expectations??

    foodbin: I lov my vege pizzas but this was too lacking in the taste dept..

    J2kfm: haha..any eating establishment by now would know to be wary when a guest whips out a camera!

    gill gill: Yup, we ordered the signature lohh..but they got other signature dishes as well..just that 2 of us couldn't eat that much.

    Sean: Yup, totally agree. It doesn't suit our Asian tastebuds I think. The flavours are not strong and our dishes came across like "western" food – ie Chic Chop, Lamb chop!

    msihua: Nope, not what you would call specialize, since there's only abt 8 types of pizza on the menu.
    The prices are a bit on the high side for this place, so yeah..

  12. 550ml jar of faith @minchow

    Ooh I like it when service staff goes out of their way to assist with photography… same thing happened at Michelangelo's down the road; the staff actually adjusted the light dimmer so it'd be bright enough for me to take pics! I had to miss the blogger evening here last night… darn it!

  13. yikming

    Hi, hahah, I like the 2 question , it's the most frequent question asked and being polite we ususally say anythinglah or no idea to Q1. In Penang there is a Restarant call , No-Eye-Deer for those who can't decide. Coratia crusine..hmm must try..

    yikming

  14. qwazymonkey

    Haven't made my way there yet, but then again with 50-50 reviews hanging out there, I rather spend my money elsewhere.

  15. ai wei

    agree agree. have to go in groups so that we can try more 🙂

  16. Nic (KHKL)

    i must be the only one left to have not tried this place..haha! the set lunch deals are pretty cool. hmmmm…cant wait for my semester break. 🙂

  17. taufulou

    har..u already went this place 1 ah..
    where can..then last nite should banned you loh!:p

    was nice to meet you..lol~

    weii..u dont kua cheong loh..1 month 50..

  18. New Kid on the Blog

    which part of Mt Kiara? I lost my way few weeks ago in Mt Kiara ….

  19. burpandslurp

    I know who to call when I come down to KL now! 🙂

    My third question would be: Are you treating? If not, no go!

  20. Allie

    Have not try croatian cuisine yet. Will keep that in my makan list when I go KL. 🙂

  21. CUMI & CIKI

    eh, i was gonna say.. so FAST one?!

    haha

  22. thenomadGourmand

    yikming: Yes, Laotian laksa right??

    550ml: aiya..why couldnt u come??

    qwazymonkey: Yup, it was so-so. But maybe i ordered the wrong dishes??

    aiwei: I got a 20% disc voucher 😉

    Nic: No laa..i'm sure u are not the only one. Unka havent been either! ;p

    taufulou: Saw yr archives! got one 50 posts!
    Eh..since i hv dined there be4 as paying customer, my reviews are more trustworthy no??

    NKOTB: haha..Solaris specifically.

    burpandslurp: Of course it will be my treat! Anywhere u want!

    allie: Well, at least Pg got Bulgarian 😉

    C&C: Hahaah..

  23. Wilson & Rachel

    Very nice place to dine. Food was amazing!

  24. PureGlutton

    Looks like a nice place…but maybe the food was a bit inconsistent eh!

  25. vialentino

    wah…never time pick me up for dinner too…..dun mind to call u…but the bill A-A yeah…hahaha…just kidding.

    i din came across croatian restaurant in malaysia before…urs is the first one i read …. but rm 143…hmmm…

  26. thule a.k.a leo

    this outing is different from the one you went with FBB right??? When was that???

  27. thenomadGourmand

    Wilson: Yup the food we had during the review was great.

    PureGlutton: I think it depends on what u order!

    Vialentino: Hmmm..whn are we gonna meet up n makan ahhh??

    thule: Yup different! That one was last Thurs!

  28. Huai Bin

    Wow, you're good. Okay, I must go out and eat with you one day. My treat.

    Q1: Rare "wild eats" (as in very, very rare game from the jungle)

    Q2: RM 300 but I want to take photos of the animals too.

    =D

Leave a Reply to Allie Cancel reply

Related Posts

hotels near klcc

Top 13 Hotels Near KLCC

The sights and sounds of Kuala Lumpur is an experience you would never forget. There are certain cities you should definitely visit and Kuala Lumpur

Worldchefs Congress & Expo 2018

To commemorate 90 years of gastronomy excellence–the World Association of Chefs Societies is returning this July, stronger than ever! If you’re looking for a place to