Hubba Hubba, Invito Hotel Suites at Bukit Ceylon: A Really Cool Gastrobar!

Rocking to a Hubba Hubba Night!

Walking back into Hubba Hubba a week after The Global Party event was a welcoming sight. I was already in love with the ambience back then and now, Hubba Hubba, The Party Hub feels even better. The funky vibe and décor makes a great play on jiving up the fun and happy mood. The feeling that you know you’re in for a great time with some great company.

After a taste back at the previous event, this round we are hungry for their regular menu. We arrived pretty early and settled in with a round of their awesome cocktails and other happy juices. The music was already slowly jazzing up and the crowd started trickling in. Lots of people gathered at the bar and the al fresco seating to catch the sight of the bustling street. Me, I was just happy in the cool and comfy ambience of spacious seating and cold air-conditioning.

Drinks have always been a forte of every Soul Society restaurants including Souled Out, WIP and Tujo. At Hubba Hubba, the drink list is equally awesome as expected. The seven of us lost count of our drinks, probably because the drinks, especially the cocktails were so awesome.

Here are some of our drinks in no particular order. My awesome cocktail was a vibrantly tangy Passion Lychee Margarita. The flavours of tequila, lychee, passion fruit and lime rocks. You get a bold kick of tangy fruit sweetness with hits of tequila at one sip. This one calls for a reorder.

Since I love cider, I was introduced the Magner Berry Irish Cider. It’s totally delicious and refreshing. I adored the punches of berries with the light sparkling sensation. My third drink, I started to calm down and ordered the Kirk’s Fruit Punch, a mocktail made with orange juice, passion fruit, green apple and ginger ale. I couldn’t be any happier with all the drinks at Hubba Hubba, thanks to their resident mixologist, Ant whom they lovingly called Mr. Mix & Muddle.

Other foodies had pretty sexy cocktails too. A very pretty in pink Cosmopolitan and Lychee Martini for the sexy foodies, Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc and Connor’s Stout for the manly foodies. I am pretty sure there was more drinks but who’s keeping track? Not me for sure… wink!

Hubba Hubba’s menu has fun filled sections from Spoons & Forks, Sticks & Skewers, Fingers & Forks, Plates & Napkins to Drool & Grin. There are lots to please and some of them are pretty creative. Cleverly taking local and international and marrying them turns out well in most of the dishes. Bending all kitchen rules is Chef Kamarul, the chef behind the menu for Hubba Hubba.

No further delay, we dived into the Spoons & Forks dishes of Abriosa Salad and Prawn Cracker Salad.

Abriosa Salad is truly interesting, a funky partnership of crisp greens, briny seaweed, succulent Pacific clams, fresh orange slices and tomatoes all dressed in citron miso dressing. It may sound wacky but trust me, this is a gorgeous salad, especially if you love Pacific clams like I do. The balance of sweet, sour and savory works beautifully.

The Prawn Cracker Salad isn’t too bad with its combo of prawn cracker, pear and mizuna. I think this one lost to the Abriosa salad in terms of heartiness. The prawn cracker was really good though and we all fought hard for the crispy golden prawn cracker happily.

Hubba Hubba sure offers large selections of their Stick & Skewers list. We sampled Chicken with Tare Glaze, Bass with Lime Bakar, Lamb with Lime Chipotle and Eringi Mushroom Jerk.

These were also decent and my favorite would have to be the Lamb with Lime Chipotle and Eringi Mushroom Jerk. Each flavour is bold and moreish. Each order comes in two skewers and is priced from RM7 to RM18.

Feeling adventurous? Go for Prawn Sambal, Prawn Bacon, Beef Rib Asian BBQ, Tripe Chili Soy, Chicken Gizzard with Serrano Tomato and more. Hey, there are even sweet ones like Pineapple Marsala, Banana Rum and Marshmallow!

When Karuma Prawns arrived, I knew it was going to be superb. Looking at the sexy and sultry crustaceans baked with egg emulsion, sauced with balsamic and topped with fish roes on a bed of asparagus, it’s definitely an irresistible sight. The aroma is heavenly too, a sweet oceanic taste with a creamy sauce works like a charm every time. The large tiger prawn was literally cooked to perfection and remained juicy. Did I mention that the crustaceans were served on thin prawn cracker? A drool-worthy dish…

We ordered the Spaghetti Meatball for my little one but guess what, this dish ended up in all our plates! Beautifully cooked, al dente pasta, rich well stewed tomato sauce with hints of heat and moist brown meatballs is best describe in this dish. Comfort food prepared well…

I didn’t expect this but the gastrobar also has Beef Rice Noodle aka Ginger Scallion Beef Hor Fun. The dish is decent with egg gravy and smooth tender pieces of beef. Another comfort food to the list…

From the Fingers and Forks section, we had Prawn Savory Pancake and Tomyam Crab. Neither was what we expected but they were certainly yummy. Crispy and moist fritters with prawns, cabbage, carrot and onion make great bites, especially with beer and cocktail.

Same goes for the Tomyam Crab, pieces of golden fried crispy battered soft shell crab seasoned with the familiar flavours of tomyam ingredients like lemongrass, kaffir leaves and spices. It’s crunchy with a tender inside though I wanted more obvious sourness and heat in flavours. Simply addictive stuff… I’d like to see anyone stop at one piece!

We had two chicken dishes next from the Plates & Napkins list. Jerk Out Chicken and Kashmiri Chicken might come from different continents but it goes to show how versatile Hubba Hubba’s Chef Kamarul repertoire is.

Jerk Out Chicken takes on the flavours of pumped up teriyaki sauce laced with spices. Cleverly using thigh, the dark meat is moist and the skin is delectably caramelized with a tinge of sweetness. I love a good mash and this one was creamy and smooth, going well with the chicken and sauce. There were also some micro herbs to make the dish look pretty too.

The flavours of the Kashmiri Chicken are spot on with its blend of spices, ginger and raisins. The chicken was a tad too cooked for my liking but I like the sauce a lot together with the bread, cucumber and onion raita and a the side salad.

My favorite dish of the night had to be the Lamb Shank Pie. And I am not a lamb shank girl but this dish is marvelous. The pastry was superbly golden, buttery and flaky. Tearing open the pastry, it was a pool of rich brown gravy with melt-in-the-mouth lamb shank meat pieces. The deep earthy and robust gravy is so good, especially with the pastry. Each mop of pastry and gravy with bits of meat is pure bliss of comfort. The dish alone warrants a revisit to Hubba Hubba!

The evening ended on a high note with desserts. Pick your choice of Chocolate Ball or Bailey’s Chendol. Both are creatively delicious. Chocolate Ball is disguise in wantan and fried to golden balls. A bit hard to eat but if you can manage that ball in one bite, you get a super chocolaty layers of cacao sensation with crispiness.

Hubba Hubba does nothing ordinary. So don’t expect their desserts to be ordinary. Chendol is interpreted with coconut ice cream, red bean, cendol, palm sugar syrup and served with a side shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream. Pour on the Bailey and let it take your senses to an oblivion of luscious flavours!

Once again, the Soul Society manages to inject charm and creativity to Hubba Hubba. The hangout gastrobar is indeed really cool and groovy while the food and drinks are pretty much creative and delicious. More hits than misses, Hubba by Ceylon certainly have some really good stuff that makes your heart go Hubba Hubba!

HUBBA HUBBA

Invito Hotel Suites

No.1 Lorong Ceylon

50200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 017-7867611

Website: www.soulsociety.com.my

Facebook: www.facebook.com/HubbaCeylon

Business Hours: 7.00am till late