Sometimes the genesis of something new can unfold through the trappings of something old. Because sometimes what’s old is also what’s familiar, comforting and beloved.
This is exactly how local eatery Huckleberry in Kuala Lumpur’s upscale Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC) came up with its new “Sundown at H” menu.
“In terms of our family business, we started with Mezze – which was all about sharing plates and Mediterranean dishes. There was nothing like that 16 years ago and it was a really lovely way for us to create food that we were familiar with and liked to cook a lot at home.
“Mezze doesn’t exist any more but the concept bled into Birch (a popular KL restaurant that has since shuttered).
“At Huckleberry, people love the salads, burgers, pizzas and coffees but we felt there was a huge gap in terms of what we wanted to put out there for the community,” explains Sasha Sabapathy, a shareholder at Huckleberry.
To fill this vacuum, Sundown was launched – reintroducing diners to the Mediterranean and Arab fare so beloved in Sasha’s family. The menu is only available for dinner at Huckleberry’s BSC outlet from 5pm every day.
Sasha says the idea behind the many small plates and platters that form the structural underpinnings of the dinner menu is to encourage communal dining and sharing, offering an experience that will hopefully foster closer bonds through food.
“When we travel overseas, we always lean towards eating Arab and Mediterranean food. And when I was talking with Mum about it, we loved the idea of doing a menu like this because it is familiar to us as Malaysians. Of course, it doesn’t use the same spices and aromatics, but it is flavourful food that punches you in the face.
“We started playing around with that and we wanted to bring in dishes that would encourage sharing,” says Sasha.
Before the final menu came together, there were six or seven tastings with family members and friends of all ages in order to determine what would work best with diners.
To start your communal experience here, explore the rich smorgasbord of small plates, like the Coriander & Chilli Hummus (RM20) which features a roasted chickpea-laden hummus interspersed with charred, luscious red peppers and coriander.
The hummus is a smoky, silky operator with herbaceous underpinnings from the coriander in the amalgamation. Its core strength is in how it combines seemingly disparate ingredients and gets them not only to play nice, but to actually like each other well enough to form a cohesive team.
For more offerings from the vegetarian denomination, try the Charred Corn (RM22), one of the break-out stars on the menu that features blistered corn, grilled halloumi, avocado, cherry tomatoes and coriander pesto, finished with chilli and fresh lime.
This riotous, lively constellation of flavours and textures is another team sport that requires a healthy dose of team spirit. And this right here is an example of a team effort done right – the corn is allowed to shine where appropriate while the other players are given equal opportunity to stand out in individual mouthfuls. It’s a cheery, sunshine-streaked meal that delivers far more than is expected of it.
Up next, sample the Charred Lamb Kebab (RM25) which features charcoal grilled lamb skewers with sumac-pickled onions and fresh herbs. The flavour and char on the lamb is excellent and it delivers potent spice-riddled undercurrents in hearty, wholesome jolts that excite the senses. The only downside is that some skewers also provide a rather chewy eating experience that might be a tad onerous to masticate for people with older, less hardy teeth.
The Grilled Saba Mackerel (RM30) meanwhile features – as its name implies – the aforementioned mackerel alongside surprise additions like pickled cucumber, salted grapes and a dill chilli yoghurt. It’s a stealthy creeper hit that comes at you slowly from all angles – from the charred beauty and rich aquatic features of the fish to the acerbity of the pickled cucumbers, the pop of salty-sweet connotations from the grapes and the apogee of this culinary offering – the yoghurt, which delivers a tangy, lightly fiery finale to the meal.
From the big plates, there is plenty to whet the appetite, including the Shawarma-Spiced Cauliflower (RM38). The dish is an ode to Yotam Ottolenghi, the London-based chef and restaurateur who popularised Mediterranean food and salads in Britain.
Here, the meal features roasted cauliflower marinated with shawarma spices (typically cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom and paprika), served with a chickpea yoghurt, coriander pesto and pomegranates.
It’s a wild collusion of ingredients whose bond is tethered by the cauliflower, which is fantastically spiced and roasted to perfection. The other players add vibrance and an effusive, celebratory quality to the dish that makes it seem like you’re at a festive party where the all-round theme is “fun”.
Perhaps one of the best things to come out of the Sundown menu is the Char-Grilled Striploin (RM68), served with black garlic butter, pomegranate chimichurri and fresh herbs.
The beef has been charred to an art form, retaining blistered edges and meat that is still sumptuous, fleshy and tenderly malleable at its core. The black garlic butter is dangerously good – serving up unctuous, earthy notes that impart rusticity and richness to the meat. The chimichurri meanwhile does a stellar job of showcasing herbaceous overtures that give the meat a distinct, sexy edge.
Moving forward, Sasha says the idea is to let the new dinner menu really mature and find its place with diners before looking at expanding it to the brand’s other outlets.
“I would like to see the menu expand to our Damansara Heights outlet but for now, we are really focusing on getting the menu out there at BSC and making it a part of people’s dinner plans,” says Sasha.
Huckleberry
G108 & GK2, Bangsar Shopping Centre
285, Jalan Maarof
59000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2011 0066
Open daily: 5pm to 10.30pm (Sundown menu)
