My futsal buddy (don’t judge a person by his look, he’s a much better player than me) Shiang has been asking me for a dinner at his family restaurant Tram Car for quite a while. I finally managed to find time and two pretty ladies and headed there some two weeks ago for dinner.
Tram Car is actually run by the same people who ran the old Cable Car at Jaya just down the road (now Jaya 33)
Tram Car, the “new” Cable Car
Grace, Eiling, and I met Shiang at the restaurant on a Thursday night and business was pretty brisk. The restaurant is located just opposite the big Toyota showroom and service center at Seksyen 19 so you actually have a choice of pretending to be a pontential Toyota buyer and park your car there for free, or by the road, or pay for it at Jaya 32 for a safer choice.
Escargot, prawn cocktail, soups
We started off with garlic breads, salad, and a dozen escargot. The garlic breads were actually pretty nice, but I only had a bite in order to save my stomach for more. Escargot is always one of my favorites and I think I must have had close to half a dozen snails to myself while the girls finished the rest. I like the cream sauce that goes with it.
garlic bread, pandan sago dessert, salad
Next came three bowls of soup, sharks fin with crab meat, oxtail soup, and French baked onion. I find the soups pretty thick, and if I try to finish the whole bowl I probably could fill my stomach pretty good with the accompanying garlic bread and salad without going for the main course. They are, however, pretty flavorful though.
The nicest appetizer we tried was actually the shrimp cocktail. Generous portion of prawn on fresh vegetables with home made thousand island dressing and topped with ebiko. The dressing tasted very sinful and I think the ebiko is a really nice touch.
baked fish, steak combo, seafood platter
I think I was already half full when the main dishes came. Eiling got the baked fish (which is covered with white sauce and mushroom, plus a baked potato), Grace had the seafood platter, and I went for the the steak combo.
I took a bite of the baked fish (kurau filet), though aesthetically not very pleasing, I must say it actually tasted pretty nice. The steak combo I had was very rich, with two huge tiger prawn that are absolutely delicious, and a piece of steak that proved to be a bit too much for me. The seafood platter was not bad at all either, according to Grace.
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grace, shiang, eiling
Tram Car priced themselves rather reasonably. The soups are from Rm 6.90 to 11.90, baked fish, seafood platter, and mixed grill are RM 17.90, 27.90, and 45.90, a dozen escargot for RM 26.90. Well, you get the idea.
Other than western foods, there are plenty of local delights like fried rice and various noodle dishes too. There are also lunch specials at RM 14.90 (and lunch can be quite packed)
Map to Jaya 32 at Seksyen 19, PJ
If you’ve been to Cable Car before, Tram Car would be very similar.
More photos at here.
Address:
B-11-01, 32 Square,
No. 2, Jalan 19/11
46300 PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.111131,101.631936
Tel: 03-7958 8588
Ever since I came back from the States, I’ve been having a tough time finding good steak. The “western food” hawker stalls are usually pretty good with their chicken chop and perhaps fish and chips, but the steaks are about as thick as a notepad and tasted equally disappointing. I’ve also tried some of the restaurants like cafe chinoz at KLCC but the steak was not exactly up to standard, I couldn’t even finish the filet mignon there. I’ve heard that Le Meridien’s Prime Grill serves very good steak, but the price is a bit out of reach. I’ve almost accepted the fate that I shall just forget about having steak, until I went to Gaucho Grill at Chulan Square last week.
excellent interior, chef Kamaruddin and yours truly
Gaucho Grill is one of the very few Argentinian restaurants in Klang Valley. Chef Kamaruddin explained that Argentina is actually the 2nd largest consumer of beef in the world, just after US (with 7.5x more in population). Vegetable is not exactly popular, the south Americans love their meat. Gaucho Grill imports all their meat from herds raised by gauchos (cowboys) of Argentina.
starters: garlic bread, seafood soup, escargot, mixed crunch
The three of us that attended this review session by foodstreet were first served with some really nice garlic bread, Escargot, their Sopa Oceano (seafood soup), and the rather large portion of Mixed Crunch.
The seafood soup has the texture between that of a minestrone soup and pasta sauce, very thick and packed with the sweetness from the scallops, prawns, and mussels that swim in it. It was good. The Mixed Crunch is a dish of finger food that would go very well with beer. Crispy prawn with garlic mayo, mussels, fried mushroom, onion fritter, salmon floret, bruschetta of tomato and feta cheese, and seared scallop with balsamic oil, it was actually pretty hearty for a starter.
main: t-bone steak, salmon and half lobster, beef tenderloin, lamb rack
Next came the four main dishes for the day, we had the La Boca (T-bone Steak), Peublo (Prime Steer Beef Tenderloin), El Codero (Lamb Rack), and El Rey de Mar (Salmon and half Lobster). Two beef, a lamb, and a seafood dish, perfect!
Both the T-bone steak and tenderloin were some of the best beefs I’ve had for a long time. While our dishes were prepared in medium, I personally would like it in medium rare for an even juicier experience. The T-bone is a whopping 450 gram (1 pound) of steak served with rosemary butter. No other sauce is used to distract the natural taste of beef. It was really good.
For the most tender cut served at Gaucho Grill, the good chef prepared the Peublo, a very thick cut of prime steer beef tenderloin that is served with mushroom gravy, zucchini, and fries. The meat was very tender and juicy it brought back my filet mignon (the good one at States, not the lousy version at KLCC) experience.
juicy meat, almond crumble and choc madeleine desserts
As good as the beef dishes were, the El Codero (lamb rack) was equally delicious. Three pieces of very juicy and tender ribs (280gm) served with ratatouille and pesto, I don’t think I’ve had lamb this good before. Even better than the marinate Jaime’s mom made during one of our BBQ sessions.
Other than red meat dishes, we had the El Rey de Mar (roasted salmon and baked half lobster). The salmon was roasted just nice and lobster, well, it was how lobsters taste like, very succulent and never disappoint.
We managed to sample 2 desserts after all these food, the Choc Madeleine is perfect for chocolate lovers with apricot on moist choc, ice cream, and warm choc fudge. The Panna Cotta is similar to creme brulee, but served cold with dark cherry and raspberry stew. The desserts are made in house as well.
Chulan Square is adjacent to Pavilion KL
Steaks are priced at around RM 68-80, desserts are RM 13-16. There’s also a very good deal for set lunches on weekdays between 12-3pm, for RM 26 you get soup, salad, ice lemon tea, and a main dish (rib eyes, burgers, etc).
The food was really good, and I have no doubt I will go there again. 
More pictures of this place at my flickr set
Address:
Block B, Lot 5 Chulan Square
92 Jalan Raja Chulan,
50250 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148518, 101.716114
Tel: 03-2145 4268
The first time (and incidentally, the last time) I went to Jack’s Place was sometimes in 2005. The reason it took me so long for this second visit was not the lack of quality in their food during the first visit, but rather my general absence from the malls in weekends since working at KLCC. Why head to the mall during weekends when I am walking in one every on single working day? Anyway… I shall not digress
as I ponder what to order..
The ambiance at this little restaurant is actually very nice. Not very brightly lit, but gives one a sense of relaxation, I prefer it to the rowdiness of Fridays or Chili’s. Since it was an afternoon, we took advantage to order from the very reasonably priced set lunch menu. I got a NZ Rib eye, medium rare, and the hot chick ordered a Dory fish set with the option for lobster soup instead of the standard mushroom cream.
I also asked for my steak to be served on a normal plate with the sauce separated instead of the sizzling plate. This is to prevent the meat from getting cooked all the time while I’m trying to have my lunch. I also believe that good steak should not be tainted by some “brown sauce”.
this medium rare was a little too rare, but juicy nonetheless
Our two main dish didn’t take long to arrive, but the server actually forgot to serve the soups until I reminded him. We ended up only getting the soup more than half way into the meal. I guess the service standard in Malaysia still has a long way to go.
While pretty juicy and actually rather tasty, the medium rare here emphasized the word rare way too much. You can probably see it in the picture above on how pink the meat was. The Dory fish (and chips) was a pretty good dish too, but the serving size was a bit overwhelming.
While the mushroom soup was pretty average, the lobster bisque was actually very nice. There were chunks of lobster meat to chew on while you savor the rich creamy taste of the soup. Pretty good for only an additional RM 4 upgrade from the standard set lunch.
the hot chick wasn’t complaining
Including a 10% service charge and the standard 5% government tax, the bill came to around RM 55. Pretty reasonable for a satisfying lunch. Jack’s Place does offer a pretty extensive menu that can be found here. The lobster and crab stuffed mushroom appetizer is not to be missed if you are prepared to shell out some RM 18 for it.
Address:
F346, First Floor Rainforest
1 Utama Shopping Centre (New Wing)
No.1 , Lebuh Bandar Utama Damansara
47800 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.150050, 101.615939
Tel: 03-7725 1433
