Malaysians generally has a strong affinity for our northern neighbour, the Land of Smiles.
We love Thailand’s distinctive culinary offerings, her beaches, her lands and her people’s hospitality.
I love Thailand too, and for the very same reasons.
Undeniably the best cuisine is found on its homeland, and it is understandably challenging to rival the experience of enjoying the best of its produce prepared on Thai soil itself.
Still, not all hope is lost as there are eateries in town that managed to do its wonderful cuisine justice.
Mango Chili is under the umbrella of the Mango Tree group from Thailand.
Ron, the current master franchise license for Mango Chili Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia ensures that his team adheres strictly to the original recipes from the main kitchen in Thailand to preserve the quality and authenticity of its dishes.
My first impression of Mango Chili was “What a happy and fun place!”.
The café exudes warmth, the staffs are ever smiling, helpful and were genuinely helpful with our orders.
The décor and colours resonates cheer and I love the lively colours, quirky crafts and decorative items, original artwork and simple custom-made wooden furniture.
A bright yellow Thai tuk-tuk (a popular motor-powered local vehicle in Thailand) is proudly displayed in the al fresco seating area.
I chose to sit outside, as the large outer promenade was pleasantly cooling and airy.
We begin with some of their recommended dishes; an amazingly tasty grilled marinated Thai herb chicken with a side salad and a Pad Thai.
The sweet flavours of the Pad Thai came through first, followed by spicy-salty and sour last. It was very appetizing and the flavours were evenly distributed throughout the noodle.
And of course, who in their right mind would complain about the generous, large prawns that came with it?
For something soupy the M.C Beef Noodle (RM19.90) – rice noodles in beef soup with beef brisket and thinly sliced beef topside is a fabulous choice.
The broth packs a good balance of intensity yet lightly flavoured, the meat tender and the thin, white flour noodles are similar to those served in Bangkok.
Last but not least, the generous portions apply to both ingredients and noodles.
In fact, for the price paid, Mango Chili ensures patrons leave sated and satisfied as most of their dishes (or at least the ones I’ve tried) could almost feed 2 pax.
The only dish that was not in my favour was this Fried Green Curry Rice with Egg (RM11.90) which was bland and that’s unexpected since green curry mix are quite flavourful.
For the sweets, Mango Chili had teamed up with BakedKL to come up with 2 mouth-watering desserts.
Take your pick from the Madagascar – chocolately moist gluten free brownie with nuts and organic sugar served with homemade ice cream (choice of gula melaka or kopi kau) or the Browned Butter Red Velvet (choice of passionfruit or strawberry cheesecake ice cream).
Both are priced at RM12.90 each.
Similarly priced at RM12.90 is the The Passion; a set of half a passionfruit and a scoop of tangy sweet passionfruit.
We went Thai and ordered the Thai Red Ruby Water Chestnut (RM6.50), which came with an ice cream.
Drinks that visit was 2 mocktails; one with pomanagrate and lemongrass and another with mango and passionfruit; both refreshing with just the right amount of sweetness.
We couldn’t rate the desserts highly as we found all of them too sweet. But we would definitely recommend going for the main dishes.
Set lunches are offered as well, and they are expectedly good value for money.
Keep in mind too that Mango Chili runs a “Food for Good” initiative where every meal (minimum RM20 spent) sold equates to a meal donated to an underprivileged child.
Mango Chili’s owner Ron is passionate about doing social good, and Mango Chili even employs most of its staff from communities in need.
Next, Ron hopes to integrate part of Mango Chili’s supply chain with farming communities. They are looking into buying direct from farmers in rural and Orang Asli settlements and by doing so the farmers will reap a higher profit as there are no middle party involved.
Conclusion:
Food is good (avoid desserts), prices are decent, location is pretty central and while you feast, you’re feeding another deserving human too.
Mango Chili, keep it up!
Mango Chili, Nexus Bangsar South
Address:
NEXUS Bangsar South City,
No. 7, Jalan Kerinchi,
59200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Phone: tel:+603-2242 3737
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.mangochili.my , https://www.facebook.com/mangochili.malaysia
Hours: Monday – Sunday, 10am – 10pm.
