Chocha, 2020

tl;dr: Ketawa comes to KL, and Chocha comes into its own.

Thoughtful food, deft execution, interesting ideas – Chocha has morphed into one of the most interesting spots in town.

It took a bit of a journey to get here though. Way back in 2016, we said it was potentially one of our favorite places in KL, what with its delish range of teas, great cincalok fried chicken (and kinda promising other dishes), and gorgeous interior. Fast forward to 2017 and food wasn’t quite as good as we hoped it’d become, and the food quality was wildly inconsistent with each visit. By 2019, we’d go a lot more frequently to Botak than to Chocha (that’s a whole different story, though, with the latest iteration of drinks being nice but slightly too sweet).

So imagine our surprise when we saw the new revamped menu featuring lots of familiar bits and bobs from Ketawa Lunch Club @ Rumpun (hey, we only had like 3 IG posts about it). And by pulling from and riffing on some of the best moments of Ketawa, the new chef and new menu have the makings of a real hit. Now to work on expanding into a full menu, and having rotating specials for regulars. And call me regulargae or foodgaeregulareats, because I’m out to slam my MCO-enlarged ass down into Chocha’s chairs over and over again.

And let’s get this out of the way: if they can replicate the Ketawa experience in a condensed, consistent, concise menu at Chocha, they have the makings to be one of my favorite restaurants in town.

Anyway, we ordered the whole currently-available menu, so here’s a full marathon run through of the dishes:

Coconut bread and fermented coconut oil

I don’t mind the bread (think a slightly harder-outside, and less-gummy-inside version of the coconut buns we grow up eating) but the highlight for this was the coconut oil at Ketawa. Missing the strong punch of coconut oil this time, so maybe the fermentation didn’t work out for the batch. A real shame, because this has the potential to set the stage for the meal and it didn’t quite pan out that way.

Tenggiri pate, eggplant chips

Mild. Quite subtle. It does grow on you, though it risks being overwhelmed by any other flavors at the table. Could do with a few more elements to either double down on the oiliness / fishiness, or add a different layer of flavor. Eggplant chips were nice and crisp but ultimately could be replaced by any other crispy dipping vehicle really. Could be interesting if this had an additional eggplant sambal to go with the chips and pate?

Yam mille feuille

All technique, baby. Sheets and sheets and sheets, but combined with the near-opposite texture of biting into a yam cake. Love that contrast, thanks to the crispiness outside. Delicious dish.

Tempura banana blossom with sambal cream

The banana blossom is having a bit of a spotlight moment right now (hey, even Pizza Roma has it on a special) and I’m happy for it. I’m even happier for the sambal – it’s delicious! Pairs great with the well-fried tempura. And it’s great to go with drinks, eh?

Which reminds me to remind you to not forget about the drinks here. Because Chocha certainly hasn’t forgotten about them. Your choice of libations are extensive here. Go with a bottle of wine first (there’s a whole host of natural, biodynamic and sustainable wines to pick from), follow up with a sake (the Korin Yuki Junmai is a biodynamic, absolutely gorgeous sake), and maybe round off the night with a few cocktails from Botak – though I’d suggest you ask them to tone down on the sweetness. But take a look at the ingredients going into them and tell me you aren’t excited. Bunga Raya, for instance, mixes tuak with hibiscus kombucha and mangosteen. Come on!

Chicken feet

So good we ordered it twice. Boneless! Deboned! Delicious! Gelatinous! Soy caramel outside.

Bitter gourd, cucumber, pomelo, black bean

Interesting combo. Felt more like a side dish though that needed another component to go with it as an anchor. Enjoyed the flavors without being too enthused by it. Definitely gets you thinking though.

Cured jenahak, kedondong

Again, very interesting, but not my thing.

Local flowers, vegetables and leaves, jackfruit seed cream, cincalok dressing

Familiar! The jackfruit seed cream was good again, but I was really pleased they had the cincalok dressing this time. I previously said it was crying out for something like a strong fig sambal etc, but this cincalok works! It’s delicious. Nice variety of vegetables too.

Mushroom, salted duck yolk, curry leaf, mustard seed vinaigrette

Tasty beer grub. Not a knock on it, but this does bear resemblance to something you’d get from Table & Apron etc. Cooked well, has just enough of local elements to make it both tasty and accessible, without being too exciting.

Deep fried kembong, budu mayo

Budu mayo bit too mild, but holy shit that kembong is fantastic! Probably my favorite kembong dish ever. Light years away from over-fried over-dried kembong, the flesh was perfectly, just perfectly cooked. Salivating just thinking about it.

Abalone with XO butter

Yum. Really good. Sabah abalone, slightly smoky, thick but not overwhelming XO. Can’t ask for more, really.

Tamarind glazed marinated duck, pickled mustard leaf

Duck was a misstep IMO and we gave feedback to the chef on this and the goat dish (more on that later). Essentially nothing too special with the duck, meat was overcooked for my liking, and some parts were excessively sour. To be fair, it looks like the plainest / most normcore item on the menu, and it certainly turned out to be.

What I wouldn’t give for this to had been swapped out with the transcendental smoked chicken from Ketawa instead. I do hope they look at reworking this dish because there’s so much promise and good technique in the other dishes and it’s disappointing for that to go to waste in a Main Plate.

Wild patin, mango sambal, roselle leaves

Another familiar sight! There were more variety of leaves at Rumpun but this is fundamentally the same dish – except, guess what? They stepped it up a notch, neff. Previously said mango sambal too mild – much stronger here. Said skin not crisp enough – properly crisp here at Chocha. Can’t fault the cooking of the fish at all, it was excellent. One of the highlight dishes of the night, really, this and the kembong. Just a joy to eat.

Winter melon cooked in dried shitake broth, Chinese celery

I admire and appreciate what they’re doing and where they’re going with this, but personally didn’t enjoy it. Most of the table did. Which is good! I like it when places push the boundaries and don’t try to cater to everyone (which usually translates to just dumbing it down to the common denominator). Bold and pretty unique flavor pairing here. I personally much prefer the texture and flavor of the braised winter melon at Chipta, but eh apples and oranges.

Heirloom red rice, chicken wing and skin, sweetcorn

Langit to the fore. Y’all know I don’t usually like mushy rice but damn does it work here. It’s like a mix of rice pudding and risotto, thanks to all the starch. The chicken wings are delicious by the way. Perfectly done. And the chicken skin as well! Wow. Not overly crispy like they can sometimes get, just crisp enough to still enjoy the chewiness of it. Lovely. Some didn’t enjoy the sweetcorn in it (overly sweet apparently) but I liked it. They might look at changing the variety etc of the sweetcorn to get something a bit less sweet and more uhm corny.

Regardless, very solid dish in my opinion! After the patin, this is easily my favorite main dish.

Goat char siew

Unfortunately can’t say the same about this. The star of this dish is the accompanying spring onion and ginger relish – blisteringly fiery and sweet and just begging to be paired with dishes other than this char siew. I like goat but I’m wondering if they did a char siew just to make it more accessible and avoid the curry route. I mean, yeah, it’s not game-y (which is not good for me since I like game-y goat), but it’s also way too sweet. This dish needs work, and preferably a rework IMO.

Only two desserts on the menu. Both good.

Chocolate from Pahang, fig ice cream

Tasty. What it says on the label. If you’re familiar with Choc Concierge, and the recent boom of local figs etc, you’d roughly be able to guess how it tastes. It’s good, not great.

Rice custard, jackfruit, coconut

Preferred this. Tasty! Not amazing but I can’t say no to jackfruit and rice custard.

I do think the desserts are a bit more straightforward than the other dishes though. Would be good to see them bring in a pastry chef that can really develop it further and extend the menu to another layer of depth from the desserts section. I mean, I generally love Sitka‘s desserts so would obviously love to see Chocha step it up with desserts at that level.

Overall thoughts on the meal? Already summarized it above. Great, with greater potential. Imagine if they reworked the goat and duck, expanded the menu with more experimental dishes, and beefed up the dessert department – we’d be in for a real treat with Chocha. More to come then!