Chicken tikka in a pie? Luca restaurant’s new menu highlights both Indian and Western cuisine without engendering confusion. — Photos: Luca
Nearly four years ago, serial restaurateur Leslie Gomez was offered the opportunity to open a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur’s upmarket Bangsar Shopping Centre. He took on the challenge and that led to the birth of Luca in February 2022.
Unlike many conventional restaurants that focus on a particular cuisine, Luca has gone totally against the grain.
“The owner of the mall dined at Frangipaani (another of Leslie’s restaurants that focuses on cherished Indian recipes) so he wanted something Indian but also something modern to offer a wider spectrum of diners.
“So he said why not do Indian and European – like a fusion? But I thought, when you do fusion, it often becomes ‘confusion’ so why not stick to two distinct cuisines – Indian and Western?” says Leslie, who is the founder of The Olive Tree Group, which owns and operates restaurants like La Chica, Rockafellers and Sol.
The eatery is swathed in blue and has a gorgeous, cosmopolitan sheen.
Initially the restaurant served over 70 different kinds of dishes, which meant diners were always spoilt for choice.
But this year, Luca will offer a more streamlined menu (still over 50 offerings) and revised offerings that have had a little facelift.
“I think it’s very much in the sense that you can give a wider range of dishes where you can go with a family of eight and order Indian sharing plates, or go as a single diner and offer an individual meal. When you look at the customer base, we’re catering to a wider audience so that’s why we’re doing little changes.
“You can’t stick to the same menu over a period of time – people get bored and customers just fade away,” says Leslie.
Leslie says when he was offered the opportunity to open Luca, he decided to do two distinct cuisines and do them well. — Filepic
The new and improved focused menu now includes a range of perennial favourites that have been embellished or given new looks. This is in line with the shift towards aesthetic food that pleases both the palate and the eyes.
To start, look at ordering the crowd favourite Spinach Chaat (RM35) which features spinach fritters topped with yoghurt, date, tamarind and mint chutney.
This riotous flavour bomb is filled with crisp-fried spinach and a tangy dressing that straddles the fine line between sweet and savoury.
One of the best-sellers in the restaurant, the spinach chaat is a fun, festive, celebratory affair.
The pomegranate tossed in this amalgamation adds fruity pops while the mint chutney offers a herbaceous overlay. It’s the perfect perk-me-up to get a party started.
Shift gears with a decidedly Western offering in the form of the Crab Bisque (RM45).
The crab bisque is redolent of seafood and is rich without being overbearing.
Served with a charred tiger prawn, crab meat and roe, this thick operator is saturated with the essence and soul of this hardy crustacean and packed into a piping, hot broth that flows seamlessly with sea-faring richness.
The Chicken Tikka Pie (RM48) is exactly what its name implies. Tender grilled chicken slathered in a creamy tomato sauce is housed in a cavernous space whose roof is encased in pie crust.
At the centre of this is a grilled chicken leg sticking out of this warm concoction like a cabaret dancer astride a pole.
Dip your spoon into this buttery core and unearth something you never knew you needed before.
Chicken tikka in a pie? Who would have thought this inspired combination could produce such a culinary masterpiece.
The pie crust here is light, flaky and buttery and this segues into the chicken, which features bite-sized pieces flavoured to chicken tikka gold standards.
It’s a clever juggling of two different worlds that has birthed something entirely new, unexpected and really quite exceptional.
Travel from the wonders of Indian-British influence to Italian terrain through the Seafood Raviolo (RM52).
The large pasta parcel is stuffed with a lobster and prawn filling and surrounded by a sage burnt butter moat that floats around it.
Stuffed with lobster, the raviolo is enhanced by a hedonistic sage butter sauce.
The raviolo is plump and stuffed to the gills with an aquatic bounty and this goodness is garnished by the sage burnt butter sauce which is rich, unctuous and utterly hedonistic.
It’s the equivalent of makeup that enhances the natural features of a great beauty.
Meander back to the Indian sub-continent with Luca’s Butter Chicken (RM48) which has been redesigned so that the tender charcoal grilled chicken is placed over a layer of rich makhani sauce, as opposed to everything being slathered together.
Luca's butter chicken is a gold standard rendition of the dish. — Luca
It’s a cleaner way to enjoy butter chicken and it works simply because every element is executed extremely well here – the chicken is blistered on its surface and tender at its core while the sauce is vibrant and effusive with an undulating sweetness.
Leslie’s personal favourite dish on the menu is the Prawn Biryani (RM62) which features large prawns coated in a rich masala cooked in biryani rice. This is served with a pomegranate-laced raita.
The star here is the biryani which is quite fabulous – each kernel is distinct and suffused with the masala which coats its internal structure. The prawns add fluffy, voluptuous overtures to this meal, which is an expensive – but faultless – version of biryani.
Pistachio, mango and coconut kulfi take centre stage in this decadent Indian ice-cream dessert.
End your meal with the charms of the Vermicelli Kulfi (RM32) which features fried phyllo pastry scattered atop pistachio, coconut and mango kulfi with a Rooh Afza (fruit syrup) coulis lacing the bottom.
Kulfi is the Indian version of ice-cream and tends to be both sweeter as well as creamier than traditional variants.
Here, the clear winner of the ice-cream trio is the mango kulfi – which highlights sweet bursts of mango. The pistachio meanwhile is a nutty delight; while the coconut kulfi is probably the sweetest of the three offerings so stay clear if you’re not a huge fan of saccharine treats.
Moving forward, Leslie says while there are no plans to expand Luca, he is toying with the idea of establishing off-shoots of the brand in the future.
“We want to do a different concept by Luca with maybe a smaller menu in the next two years or so. So it will be something reimagined to keep people anticipating for something new from Luca,” says Leslie.
