FLOUR Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur began with a passion. And it has lived on for years due to continued hard work and dedication to the love of good quality and authentic Indian food. The restaurant is located in Bukit Damansara and specialises in northern Indian food. Headed by darling couple Chef Yogi and Natasha, the hungry duo have poured a lot of love, creativity, and sweat into creating what FLOUR is today. You see, it was a love for food that brought the two even closer together, which gave them the courage to start this incredible Indian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.
FLOUR Kuala Lumpur
is about experiencing Indian food differently – if you’re after a Tandoori chicken or Indian food on a banana leaf, then you’ve come to the wrong place. FLOUR is about taking the time to savour every bite of your meal, about appreciating the time and effort that has gone into cooking your meal, and importantly it’s about experiencing a more authentic side to northern Indian cuisine.
FLOUR has taken traditional northern Indian recipes that have been passed down generations and brought them to the tables of FLOUR. And like with most kitchens, there are experimentations that take place and so several unique dishes have also been introduced to the menu.
You see, Chef Yogi is an extremely passionate chef who has taken his role very seriously – no changes are to be made to the menu because it has been prepared exactly how it’s supposed to be. Now if you’re worried about level of spice, fret not – all the dishes has been created at the utmost perfect level of spice that can happily enjoyed without drowning yourself with water. In addition to this, he is in the kitchen each night overseeing every dish that leaves his kitchen.
Plus you’ll find that every single item on the plate is there for a reason – there are no accidents on the plate. Chef Yogi doesn’t simple garnish, and every garnish placed is meant to be eaten as part of the dish… in fact it has been placed there to further bring out the flavour of the meal.
FLOUR has set the bar high for the Indian food scene in Kuala Lumpur – dare I say that this is the best Indian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.
Table of Contents
The FLOUR Experience – A Delicious Indian Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur
It’s early in the evening and we arrive to FLOUR Indian in Bukit Damansara. Thank goodness we had a reservation because FLOUR was full… and it was a Tuesday night. Open for both lunch and dinner, the dinner service is most popular. So popular that the restaurant has two seatings, with both seatings in high demand to experience a delicious feast of flavours.
We are seated at our table, one that’s covered with a velvety black table cloth – perfect for food photography! And it’s not long that we are presented with the…. wait a coffee table book? That’s right, the menu is a beautifully designed coffee table book that chronicles the FLOUR journey and dedicates 2 pages for every dish served on the menu.
The restaurant guides guests right from the beginning about the concept and how to order – a short informational sheet is given with the book that explains a bit more about FLOUR. As every single dish is made to order, it can take between 20 to 45 mins to prepare. In addition, the restaurant advises customers from the beginning that it’s not possible to make any changes to the menu including controlling the level of spice as every dish has been created exactly how it should be experienced.
The Menu at FLOUR in Bukit Damansara
At first glance, it might seem a bit overwhelming; a coffee table book with many pages of dishes to choose from…where to start? The good news is that all the staff have been very well-trained to help guide you every step of the way. Plus the menu includes photos of every single dish, which also helps too.
It is important to note that chilli is not actually used to add heat to dishes. It is simply an ingredient amongst a whole range of spices to add flavour to every single dish. And so what you’ll find is that the dishes are not overly spicy, instead they are all well-balanced and easy to enjoy.
The menu is divided into different courses starting with the hors d’ouerves, to prepare your pallet if you will. The hors d’ouerves items are all bite size portions and a perfect way to start the FLOUR journey. The menu is then followed by starters, which are bigger portions than the hors d’ouerves, but light enough to not fill you up just yet. The starters are there to slowly lead you into your main, because the dishes are not too heavy in spices, but prepares you for the complexity of spices coming up during the main course.
The main course is where the magic happens. An amalgamation of flavours that are so complex that you need to savour every bite and take your time to enjoy each moment. For the main course, many of the curries come with a choice of bread. Unlike other Indian restaurants where the bread is usually ordered separately, FLOUR provides a complimentary set of bread to pair with the curry. And what’s even better – the staff can recommend which bread best suits the curry. Trust me, it makes a difference. I know, I know, I love my naan bread too. But do it, give it a chance and try the different breads that are best paired with the curry, it’s worth it.
The grand finale is dessert – and like Chef Yogi explains, “it is critical for us Indians to end with dessert.” So yes dear readers, no journey at FLOUR is complete without a sweet ending.
Now let’s get deep into the dishes.
A Delicious Feast at FLOUR, Indian Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur
The Ice-Cream Cracker
For hors d’ouerves we began with the ice-cream cracker. Sitting on a thin crisp house-made cracker was a fluffy paneer based cream with hints of anis seed. On the top was a small dollop of tamarind. The slight sweetness of the tamarind combined with the fluffy cream and crunchy cracker was a pleasant surprise. Chef Yogi explains that the tamarind is there to open your stomach, the paneer in the cream is to give you texture, and finally the cracker is to open your tongue. The perfect beginning to a food journey… we were ready!
Mango Chicken
One of our starters was the Mango Chicken, a juicy piece of chicken thigh that has been marinated for over 6 hours in raw mango then grilled in a tandoor. The chicken sits on top of a thinly sliced green mango, which offers a nice balance to the sweetness of the mango sauce that is lightly drizzled onto the chicken. There’s a mild hint of spice and smokiness with a delicate mango flavour – a beautiful starter that is light and easy to eat… especially with a glass of French pinot noir.
Kaleji (Foie Gras)
Not typically found in an Indian menu, but this is a must have speciality of FLOUR and it can be found as a starter. Chef Yogi explains that Indians have actually been eating liver for a couple thousand years, so while it is not always usual to find liver in an Indian menu, there are fantastic liver dishes in Indian cuisine that sometimes has gotten lost over generations.
French duck foie gras is used for this dish and it is lightly seared to maintain a gentle creaminess with every bit. Sitting on the top is a thin slice of ginger and mint leaf, which surprisingly when eaten together with the foie gras really brings out the flavour. I did tell you earlier that no garnish is placed on the plate by accident!
Laal Maans (Venison)
The Laal Maans originates from Rajasthan in North India and is inspired by 10th century Rajput royals who would hunt game meat, which was then used in cooking.
This one was a real surprise for me, because I don’t think I have ever seen game meat in an Indian menu. Using venison, the meat is marinated in a spice mix of chilli and coriander seeds that has been roasted and pounded. In fact chilli is used in this dish not just for the spice, but also to mask the gamey taste of the venison. The meat is then cooked in ghee (clarified butter) in a thick tomato based sauce for at least 3 hours. The venison is beautifully tender and is not gamey. There’s a good spice level without being over-heaty so you can still taste the multiple layers of flavour in this dish.
Mutton Korma
The recipe used for this dish is said to be the same recipe as over 500 years ago eaten by the royal family.
Modern kormas use cream, however at FLOUR they use yoghurt to lighten the dish. The yoghurt used is similar to Greek yoghurt, which is a bit more sour and lighter yet still very creamy. This gives the korma a lovely ever so slight tang, yet beautiful light creaminess. Basically it felt like we could eat quite a lot of this dish without feeling overwhelmingly full…or as some might call it, go into a food coma.
Paired with the mutton korma is kulcha bread, which is a Indian flat bread using nigella seeds. Once you dip the bread into the sauce, it really brings out the flavour of the sauce even more.
Methi Chicken
Ahhhh this one is what dreams are made of. I could have easily eaten this all to myself and more! A looks can be deceiving, this might look like a simple chicken dish, but it is an extremely complex and difficult dish to master. The sauce uses fenugreek leaves as the star of this dish, however the trick is to balance the sauce so that the fenugreek leaves doesn’t create an overpoweringly bitter taste. And so to balance this, an onion sauce is used.
This curry recipe is unique to the FLOUR menu and is an absolute winner in my book. Ohh and you MUST has this with the lachcha bread – a multi-layered flat bread which beautifully soaks up this delicious sauce.
Ajwaini Baingan (Eggplant)
I have a real soft spot for eggplant dishes on an Indian, so the Ajwaini Baingan was a welcoming sight on our table. FLOUR uses mini round eggplants for this dishes, which has a slight bitter taste, yet was not overpowering. The eggplant is served over a lovely masala sauce, which pairs deliciously with the mutton biryani (coming up next)!
Mutton Biryani
Biryani, an absolute staple in any Indian menu. And just like the dishes before, this one was well-balanced and paired nicely with all the main dishes on the table. The rice was perfectly fluffy and was well-spiced without being overwhelming. Coming together with the biryani was a masala spiced yoghurt, which tasted beautifully when eaten with the biryani.
Gulab Jamun
Just when we thought we couldn’t eat any more, we had made room in our bellies for the grande finale – dessert. Popular to most Indian restaurants is gulab jamun, however not all gulab jamun’s rank equally. It was love at first bite for me – the gulab jamun was not overly sweet, it was fluffy and nicely soaked in its house-made syrup.
To create the gulab jamun, milk is heated and reduced for 6-8 hours until it becomes a paste like texture. It is then rolled into a ball and then fried in ghee. Finally it is dipped in a rose water and saffron syrup. Unlike traditional styles where the gulab jamun is served in its syrup, FLOUR places these milk balls in a ‘ying & yang’ like sauce. Half the sauce uses tamarind giving it a slight sour sweetness, whilst the other half is a milk sauce using the same milk paste create for the milk balls.
What I loved about this dish was that it was not sickening sweet and you didn’t just taste the syrup. The flavour complexity worked all the way through the dish make this an oh-so-perfect ending.
Chocolate Truffles
But wait, there’s more!
FLOUR have created their own version of chocolate truffles. The square chocolate is soft in texture and uses 77% cocoa which hits you at first bite and then you feel the cinnamon and saffron spices come out with every chew. The round chocolate is a harder texture and uses white chocolate that has been combined with rose water and green cardamom. And finally, watermelon is added to the plate to add moisture to the overall dish.
It was extremely unique to see chocolate truffles on an Indian menu. Whilst the technique might have been more on the French side, what made them ‘Indian’ were the spices used to create the chocolate.
Wine to Pair – Bourgogne Pinot Noir Cuvee Saint-Vincent
Paired with the whole dinner was a bottle of French pinot noir – the Bourgogne Pinot Noir Cuvee Saint-Vincent from the Burgundy region. This is a more full-bodied pinot noir using grapes from vineyards in the Côte de Beaune area in Burgundy.
On the nose oak is very much present, along with berry aromas of ripe cherry and plum, with hints of vanilla and clove. Then on the palate, this pinot noir is flavourful with deep notes of berries such as cherry and strawberry, as well as spices such as clove and nutmeg.
Because this is a richer pinot noir, it pairs beautifully with all the spices in the food at FLOUR. The best way to really understand the pairing is to take a bite from a dish and then swirl some of the wine in your mouth. This way you really can feel the complexity and multiple layers of each dish.
The Verdict
FLOUR hands down is one of the…wait correction, the best north Indian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley. The quality of the food, with its deep rich flavours will have your tastebuds running wild. I’d definitely love to keep FLOUR a secret and have it all to my own, but it’s too good not to share the love.
Reservations are an absolute must especially for dinner because it gets extremely busy. They have two seatings for dinner, one at 6:30pm, and the next one at 8:30pm, and both sessions are equally busy. To book it is best to contact them via +60 12-960 0053 – you can call or WhatsApp them to arrange the booking.
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No compensation was received for this review, however we were guests of FLOUR. All opinions remains my own and I only promote products/services that I love.
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I'm Soraya, travel & food blogger and sunshine chaser at Hello Raya. You know that travel bug? I have been well and truly nipped, infinite times.This is my online nook to share my lifelong experiences of travel & food in hopes to inspire you to explore our beautiful world.