Review: La Maison Restaurant, Silka Maytowers Hotel & Serviced Residences

Happy New Year 2014!

I finally have some time to put up my blog posts :D I sure hope this year will be a greater one for each of us as we step into a brand new year, one with renewed hope & passion in everything that we do :)

Much has happened since my last blog post, but I don't think I've the bandwidth to capture it on this blog (work is still quite a roller coaster ride). So, do continue to enjoy reading my food adventures this year!

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Overall comment: Decent variety, but efficiency of service & taste of food has room for improvement.
Halal: Yes

Silka Maytowers Hotel & Serviced Residences is strategically located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, walking distance from/to the Merdeka Square, Central Market, Chinatown/Petaling Street, the KL Tower, the Petronas Twin Towers, and the Lake Gardens. It boasts of 193 rooms and suites, providing affordable yet comfortable accommodation for business & leisure purposes.

The hotel building

photo taken from Silka Maytower's website

View of the swimming pool (day time)

photo taken from Silka Maytower's website

View of the swimming pool (night time)

The Deluxe Room

photo taken from Silka Maytower's website

The Studio Suite

photo taken from Silka Maytower's website

The Studio Suite's Living Room

photo taken from Silka Maytower's website

Lift area (photo taken late December 2013)

The moderately sized hotel has an in-house restaurant, La Maison, which serves freshly prepared breakfast, lunch, & dinner. It also offers 24-hours room service for those who would like to satisfy their cravings in the middle of the night or at their convenience, without having to go down to the cafe for a meal.

Reception (left) and restaurant (front)

View of the restaurant/cafe

The restaurant serves only à la carte dishes at most times, except when there are groups staying at the hotel. During such times, the restaurant will prepare a mini buffet area, serving a soup, salads, & desserts for all to enjoy (it's paid-for by the groups anyway...heehee...).

I was quite fortunate to review the restaurant's dishes when there was a large group staying at the hotel for a conference. Woots! More dishes to enjoy :D

Tomato soup

I didn't find their tomato soup very exciting. It lacks the "personal touch" i.e. herbs & spices & texture. I would much prefer it to be thicker, perhaps more chunky (with some bite) & some fragrant herbs in the creamy soup. This one feels somewhat 'direct from the can'.

Salad section

Unlike the other larger hotels, Silka Maytower Hotel's salad section is very small. At the very least, I must say that their vegetables are fresh. It would be great to have at least 1 or 2 additional types of salad dressings to accommodate the variety of palate of the guests.

Dessert section: "Sweet soups"

The dessert for that day was green bean soup, cooked in the typical Malay-style that has coconut milk. Perhaps La Maison could include the list of major ingredients on their "dish titles/cards", so that the guests would know what they're eating ;)

Dessert section: Cakes & fruits

Decent variety of cakes, fruits, & puddings. I didn't try 'em out, but I thought it looked pretty good. Haha.

At present, La Maison is having a lunch promotion called the Silka Lunch Savers. For just RM19.90++ per set, you'll get to enjoy 1 of their 9 tantalizing dishes (3 types of pasta, 2 types of chops, 1 type of noodle dish, 1 type of rice dish, & 1 type of sandwich), along with free-flow beverage of the day, plus an array of appetizers, soup & desserts from the buffet line. The lunch promotion starts at 12:00p.m. - 2:30p.m. With the generous serving of food for lunch, I sure hope that you won't doze-off when you get back to work!

The restaurant is also opened for those who would like to have a tea break or a light meal of chicken pie or the cappuccino cheese cake (current promotions; RM12.00++ per serving of either variant).

Here's what we had for dinner that night:

Revitalizing Juice (RM12.00++ per glass)

I wanted to have the concoction of cucumber, celery & green apple, but they ran out of celery. So I ended up having something that's not on the list i.e. cucumber, orange, & green apple. Doesn't taste too bad, but as you can see, quite a lot of water (and syrup) was added to the glass. You'll have to tell them if you do not want syrup added to your juice, or it'll be added by default.

Seafood Aglio Olio (RM22.00++ per serving)

Fresh prawns, squids & mussels tossed & sauteed with olive oil and spaghetti with a dash of garlic

My friend had this, which I didn't do a taste-test. But the sight-test tells me that it's somewhat dry & I wish the mussels were larger! So tiny....

Spaghetti Carbonara with Turkey Ham (RM22.00++ per serving)

 Rich cream sauce of eggs, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, sliced turkey, and mushrooms served with penne pasta*

I was quite disappointed with their carbonara. The reason why I ordered the carbonara was because of the "rich cream sauce of eggs". Actual carbonara uses eggs as the "cream", but this one tasted like the actual cream itself. 

They didn't have penne that night, so they suggested that I take the fettuccine, but they came out of the kitchen again to tell me that they ran out of fettuccine, so I just asked to have the spaghetti. Hmm...the kitchen really needs to be stocked up with such ingredients! How can they run out of "dried pasta". If they make their own fresh pasta, it's a different story. 

I found this too creamy & thick that I couldn't finish the whole plate of pasta. The spaghetti was over-cooked & too soft, so it gave a rather cloying feel halfway through. The mushrooms were canned button mushrooms, which didn't have "class" for a hotel's pasta dish.

Grilled Chicken

The kitchen is apparently more popular with its grilled meats i.e. salmon, steak & chicken. Our friend ordered the grilled salmon, which took a very long time to arrive. Upon requesting for his food again, he was told that they ran out of salmon, so he settled for the chicken. I failed to understand what's happening in the kitchen as chicken doesn't take THAT long to be grilled. I didn't do the taste-test for this dish, but I wasn't too excited when I saw the dish as it lacks creativity. I guess presentation & layout of the dish does help. Haha.

Perhaps having dinner here wasn't too good an idea compared to having the Silka Lunch Savers. If you happen to give the lunch set a try, do let me know how's the food & service. I sure hope that kitchen crew will do way better during lunch hours, when business is peak & the crowd turn-over is quicker.

Much room for improvement :)  

May the year 2014 bring greater opportunities, revenue, & excitement to La Maison!

La Maison Restaurant
Silka Maytower Hotel & Serviced Residences
7, Jalan Munshi Abdullah
50100 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia.
Tel: (+603) 2692 9298
Fax: (+603) 2692 9991
Email: reservation.maytower@silkahotels.com  
URL: Silka Maytower Hotel & Serviced Residences
GPS: 3.154084, 101.698235
Restaurant's business hours: 6:30a.m. - 11:00p.m.


Welcoming the brand new year 2014,