Tamarind Spring

Sometimes you need a break from the hawker food in favor of enjoying gourmet delights in the jungle. The place for that turns out to be - Tamarind Spring. Yesterday morning I had an email from the Baker inviting me to join her and her new friend M-bas-E for lunch in Ampang. I told Mr. Happy he was in charge of holding down the fort and he abruptly turned into Mr. Grouchy. He insisted he had been planning to take me to Tamarind Spring for a special occasion. Well, you snooze you lose! I wasn't going to wait another minute. Plus, I hear the place transforms itself for dinner, so I'll be anxious to go again.

Luckily, M-bas-E has a car. She picked us up at Suria-KLCC and we drove to Ampang. The entrance to Tamarind Springs is relatively non-descript and sits above the KDE golf club. When you enter the grounds, you step into a tropical oasis. The restaurant is entirely open air and beautifully constructed. Lunch was pretty quiet, but I'm told reservations are required for evening. I could have spent all day here just looking around.

The food was good, but it's the atmosphere that sells this place. You'll feel like you're on vacation in KL when you dine here. It's a must see for visitors or a special occasion. The price of a main ranged from about RM20-RM30, a bottle of the cheaper wine was about RM120 (not cheap at all, but in KL alcohol is s'pensive!).

We started with a host of hors devours followed by wagyu beef (RM 45), fish curry with wild bananas, and eggplant in coconut sauce. We also enjoyed some icy lemon-lime drinks. All told our bill came to about RM240. We've got family visiting soon, and we'll definitely add this to our list for sightseeing.
If you're going for dinner (bookings start at 6:30) try and get there before sunset to enjoy the views. If you drive a bit past the restaurant you'll see a posse of monkeys that cruise this area. It's fun for a tourist to see, if you live here you could probably skip the primates and make a beeline for the food. Enjoy!