Executive Set Lunch, RM50, At Urban, Istana Hotel

It's been awhile since I stepped into the Istana, and I'm not referring to the one where His Majesty resides, but the hotel, once an iconic epitome of luxury and 5 stardom... fast forward like 15 years, (I remember there was a famous Italian restaurant there, and a discotheque, (the youth of today would probably ask, what's a discotheque?), a swanky new casual dining place called URBAN exists on the lobby level.

We were invited to taste the executive set lunch, (which we actually had for dinner), priced at RM50 net, for lunch time only.  You get a starters, from a choice of 3, mains, from a choice of 5, and dessert from a choice of 3.  And coffee and tea.  Which in this day and age of the shringgit, is actually rather good value for money, if you are looking for comfortable surrounds and fairly reasonable pricing.  Hey, let's face it, walk into any semi decent joint, you're easily forking out RM30 for lunch per person.

To start, the Caprese salad, which was a simple salad with buffalo mozzarella, leaves and tomato...

or the Salad Nicoise, which has seared tuna, a hint of leaves, actually a generous portion of seared tuna, green haricot Kenya Beans, Anchovies and egg...value wise, I think this salad definitely is the winner.

Or the Caesar Salad, which looked the most pedestrian of the lot, with a few leaves of presumably romaine, croutons, shaved parmesan and the Caesar salad dressing.

For the mains, the Ballotine of Chicken and Truffle, which looked good,  and would have been my first choice had I not been meated out over the previous few days.  Mushroom Puree, Asparagus, Pommes Mouseline, Golden California Raisin and Morel Jus.  However, as pointed out by several insta followers, the meat in this shot does look rather rare.  These were the dishes for shooting, I can assure you the real deal (Mr Pure Glutton sitting next to me offered me a slice) was properly cooked.

Spicy Chilli Prawn Pasta... I had a sample of Sharon's, and it was good.  Very aromatic actually, you could smell the chilli and oil, always a good combination.

I had the threadfin fillet, (Kurau), which was nicely seared, and skin was nice and crispy, though I generally do not like my food drowned in sauces.  The tangy hollandaisical sauce did complement the fish well, although its actually celeriac puree, with a chardonnay orange butter. The ball was a crab meat beignet.

Since we were such nice guests, we had a lovely raspberry palate cleanser, which was really very good, but no, it's not part of the set lunch.

Classic Beef Burger,  which looks enormous, and would be far too filling for me at lunch, not to mention the generous serving of french fries that accompanies that gargantuan patty and bun.

There is another main, for the vegetarian, Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagna, fresh tomato, sweet pepper, courgette, olives, eggplant, fresh mozarella, capers, olive oil and fresh herbs.  I love it when they tell you all the ingredients like that, which basically means you can replicate it at home.

For desserts, a choice of Crispy Custard, which is essentially a creme brulee, I love the fact that it has real vanilla beans in it,

Silky smooth baked custard, with a lovely layer of perfectly caramelised sugar.

...or for the chocolate lovers (there always HAS to be a chocolate based dessert), the Urban Chocolate Fudge,

Exotic Fruits With Basil Sorbet ...Hmmm, righteeho then, I guess papaya is exotic in certain parts of the world, esp in Europe.  But that aside, the other berries did look rather.  Exotic, I mean.

For reservations, call 03-21419988 x 3691