LOCATIONLlankelly Place is a five-minute walk from Kings Cross station, opposite the Empire Hotel.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAA little laneway in the back of the red light district may sound like an unlikely dining destination but Llankelly Place in Potts Point, which fronts onto Kings Cross, is bubbling with new restaurant openings. One of the more recent additions is KL Kitchen – a little Malaysian and modern Asian restaurant with a big menu and a loud hibiscus feature wall. Having taken over one of the area’s longest continuing restaurant spaces (which had previously done stints as a French, Italian and Korean eatery), KL Kitchen now provides diners with a modern Asian menu that bears a heavy Malaysian bent.
Chef Irine Chin learned her craft from her mother and now offers a selection rich in authentic family recipes. A menu favourite is “mama’s curry” – a yellow Malay curry made in a thick coconut sauce to mama’s secret recipe. If you prefer your curry to be a bit more raw, the slowly-cooked beef rendang can provide a dry, heady flavour. KL Kitchen also prides itself on its Malaysian laksas, which come in chicken, beef, prawn and seafood options. Korean options like
bibim bub give a nod to the restaurant's past while daily, weekly and seasonal specials like
har mee (prawns and noodles in prawn soup), nasi lemak and
bak kut the keep things interesting. If you’ve got a penchant for seafood, you can pre-order chilli mud crab, chilli lobster, scallops and oysters (which the chef will grab from the market on the day of your booking). At present KL Kitchen is unlicensed but you can BYO for $1.50 per person. Alternatively, select from a range of non-alcoholic drinks which includes grass jelly “liong fun”, soya bean milk, chrysanthemum, lychee and longan drinks as well as token soft drinks, iced and hot teas.
Agnes Gajewska, July 2010