Once You Get a Taste of Opium,
You’ll Be Back for More…
Utterly
cool and provocative, Opium is the
latest bar cum restaurant to hit the scene at Changkat Bukit Bintang recently.
Under the umbrella of the Werner’s Group,
Opium is the latest offspring of Werner Kuhn’s El Cerdo, The Steakhouse, The Whisky Bar, Black Forest and Dining in
the Dark.
Modeled
to the ambience of the 1930s to 1960s era, the restaurant cum bar is gorgeously
decorated with an aura of Shanghai finesse. The moment one steps into Opium KL, you’ll be transported back in
time. Each room at Opium evokes
different emotions. The main room where the long bar is featured also has a row
of wooden booths swathed with red drapery, evoking a sense of boudoir sensuality.
Art pieces of classic Chinese women paintings added the old school ambience. The mix of raw cement and bare bricks with
all the aged furniture is truly clever as it gives out a sense of old charm
injected with a modern touch.
The
next room over features a long communal table setting with a wall of cabinets
storing old traditional rice wine jars. The room is segregated with a huge two
door arch coupled with brass knockers that led to the Rose Room. A room with a wall filled with rose petal texture and a
grand opium bed completed with a large rectangle mirror and mounted opium pipes
are grandly displayed in the Rose Room.
One can choose to dine here as there are small dining settings in the
room.
We
dined at the private room that evening. A room that is decorated with modern
posters of art mixed with classic old furniture. The room evokes a sense of
elegance and opulence that made me felt like I was dining in a secret hide out.
What I can’t help but to admire was the large art piece of a woman posing
provocatively on a lounge chair while smoking that is facing the private room!
The
open air patio makes it perfect for many to catch the bustling street filled
with locals and tourists. Taking on a modern approach, the exterior showed off
more bodacious modern touches of chairs covered in hot pink and sea green
colors. The rest are mostly wood panels, posters, wooden fencing and raw cement
flooring to keep the design modern, bold and attractive.
Food
and drinks at Opium are just as audacious
as its interior. Tagged with Eat Drink
Man Woman as its slogan, Opium
is set on serving up a food experience just like it is portrayed in the famous Ang Lee movie. Serving up Asian Oriental
cuisine, the menu is almost as theatrical as its interior. I like the tight
menu packed into one piece. One page food and the other page drinks. Since we
had a big group of foodies that evening, we got to check out most of the food
and drinks on the menu!
At
Opium, one simply must try their Signature House Cocktails, Twisted Classic
Cocktails and Opium Special
Mocktails. These giggle juices are served up in bowls, unusual round
earthenware, unique cocktail cups on a wooden try and completed with tiny cups
of titbits for snacking. Even water and beer is served in the traditional
Chinese way… in a rice bowl. So get use to going back to the Chinese roots and
drink up from a bowl.
Concubine’s Batida (RM28) is like drinking a Pina
Colada without the coconut milk. Cachaca, lime juice, fresh pineapple juice and
sugar made up the ingredient list. Thoroughly refreshing and vibrant in
flavours, it makes me want to do the cha cha!
Peking Man (RM32) had us curious as the
signature cocktail had vodka, puer tea, longan, lime juice, orange bitters and
egg white. The raw egg white makes the cocktail creamy and lightly muddled.
Creatively delicious…
These
two are really pretty and appealing. Red
Lantern Margarita (RM32) is a twist up on the classic one prettied up with
pomegranate while the Five Fragrance
Mojito (RM32) had the additional element of five spice in the classic
mojito ingredients.
The
Opium Specials are non-alchoholic and equally just as tantalizing as the
cocktails. We had the Mango Asam Boi
(RM15) and Calamasi Apple Ginger
(RM15). They are just so delicious and refreshing. One gets the full fruity
effect from both mocktails. Sweet aromatic mango juice pumped up with preserved
salty and tangy asam boi. Vibrant fresh apple notes are kicked up another notch
with citrusy calamansi and ginger that makes this vibrant mocktail so good!
Food
menu is sectioned to All Day & Night
Snacks, Naughty Noodles, Main Dishes, Poppy Flat Bread and Sweet Stuff with a few salad and soup
in between. All Day & Night Snacks are small bites and comes in Crunchy Bites or Steamy Bites. With staggering choices of over 20 selections, these
are perfect for light eaters, beer drinkers, cocktail enthusiasts and
practically the entire foodie community.
We
took on Lemongrass Sticks (RM12), Ikan Bilis Fritters (RM12), Lamb Patties (RM18), Grilled Chicken Wings (RM15), Salt and Chili Squid (RM15) and Chicken Satay (RM18). I just realized
we didn’t have any steamy ones. I guess it gives me another excuse to return to
Opium then…
We
all loved the Lemongrass Sticks,
made from minced chicken, squid, lemongrass and other ingredients. Deep fried
to perfection, these beancurd wrapped dumpling is savory and delish. Served
with a side of spicy chili sauce, I would gladly hog the whole basket to
myself. Chicken Satay is well seasoned,
grilled to juicy perfection and served on a mount of raw red onions, cucumber
and ketupat with peanut sauce.
Salt and Chili Squid, classic Chinese dish of crispy
deep fried squid with a good dose of salt and pepper to flavour the dish, is
further pimped up with oil torched green chili, dried red chili and Szechuan
peppercorn. What makes this dish even more favorable was the whole cloves of
roasted garlic… super addictive snack. I believe we fought for the roasted
garlics that night!
Lamb Patties was unexpected as it came with a
generous sprinkling of cheese. Braised lamb patties were well-seasoned and
tender but the camembert cheese gave this an element of surprise in flavours.
Oh, did I tell you that this is served with a sambal mayonnaise sauce? What a fusion combination!
I
did like the Ikan Bilis Fritters as
it was really tasty and crispy but the ikan bilis used was a tad too hard.
Nevertheless, this was still polished off since we enjoyed the light crispy
fritters that had really yummy notes.
Last
of the snack pack was Grilled Chicken
Wings. We loved this to bits. Absolutely finger-licking yum! The wings were
grilled beautifully and the marinade of spices with chili and lemongrass is the
bomb. It tasted almost like the Western buffalo wings but the twist of local
spices rocked the flavours even better. Must order….
There
were only two salads and a soup on the menu. Hey, good stuff doesn’t need
numbers. They just need to be delicious. We had Fern Leaf Salad with Grilled Prawns (RM24) and Peppery Lamb Soup (RM18). Taking on the kerabu, the Fern Leaf Salad is a kerabu concoction
of paku leaves, shallots, coconut, ginger flower, sambal and lime juice. This
one came with two large grilled prawns. Spicy, tangy and sweet, its what a
kerabu should be. The Peppery Lamb Soup
was decent in my books. The soup flavour was delicate and had small cubes of
vegetables and lamb. I wanted more robust peppery note to give this a boost in
flavours. Still, my other foodies enjoyed the delicate flavours of this
happily.
With
a name like Naughty Noodles, one
can’t help but to order it. Out of four Naughty Noodles choices, we settled for
Curry Spaghettini (RM28), Opium Wantan Noodle (RM28) and Crispy Duck Noodles (RM28).
All
three rocks individually in my books! Curry
Spaghetti has thin spaghetti noodles in an unctuous and glorious creamy
curry laksa with lots chicken, prawn, tofu puffs and vegetables. The coconut
curry laksa reminded me of Katong Laksa ala Singapore style. I loved the dried
shrimp and spices in the creamy laksa broth so much so that I kept going back
for spoonfuls of the laksa. If I am back at Opium, I am so going to reorder
this dish.
Opium Wantan Noodles is another dish that literally
threw us off for a moment as it didn’t resemble the classic wanton noodle in
appearance. What we got instead was a dish covered in crispy battered spinach
and oyster mushrooms with a side of shrimp wantan soup. Thin egg noodles lies
beneath the mount of fried spinach and mushrooms doused with soya sauce and
sautéed minced chicken. I must say that the modernized wantan noodle is really
scrumptious. It tasted just like it said, wantan noodles but the additional
crispy spinach and mushroom with minced chicken gave this dish a very memorable
flavour and texture. Quirky, delicious and definitely naughty…
The
Crispy Duck Noodles fared really
well in flavours and textures too. The crispy yee mee noodles are smothered in
an eggy rich brown sauce and topped with slices of smoked duck. It’s hearty and
comforting and plus the fact that I happen to like duck a lot, I enjoyed this
dish.
Main
dishes come with an option of Lotus Leaf
Buns or Poppy Seed Rice. We got
to savor all 6 main dishes with the buns and rice. All main dishes are served
in cast iron pots with a side salad.
Beef
is prepared two ways here. Reigning supreme in the beef quality is Wagyu Rendang (RM38). The high quality
cut of wagyu beef is slowly braised ala Rendang style with coconut, lemongrass,
spices, turmeric leaves and kaffir lime leaves. Dressed up with coriander and a
pretty edible flower, the wagyu rendang flavour is divine. Creamy with a heady
balance of spices, the beef is as tender as it can be. Some may say it might be
a waste to use wagyu but I think the high fat content in the wagyu makes the
rendang even more delectable in flavours.
The
second beef is Beef Brisket & Tendon
Stew (RM35). Beef brisket and tendon are braised for hours in a special
spiced soya sauce till tender and robust. Grilled eryngii mushrooms added
texture and earthy notes. It has a rich depth of soya sauce flavours enhanced
with star anise and cinnamon. The dish reminded me of home cooked comfort food
perfect with steamed white rice.
Another
braised dish also took form as Braised 5
Spice Duck (RM35) where duck breast is beautifully slow cooked with a 5
spice sauce till tender and tasty. The duck is moreish and goes really well
with the lotus bun or poppy seed rice. What I enjoyed even more are the pieces
of melt-in-the-mouth radish braised in the same sauce!
Stewed Chin Baung Chicken (RM35) has a very unique aroma and
flavour. Chin Baung or Kenaf leaf belongs to the hibiscus plant and is eaten
quite widely in some Asian countries. Here, it is stewed with chicken and
chili. A little hint or sourness, the dish has a wonderful herb aroma of the
leaf. This one definitely needs the poppy seed rice.
Seafood
is next and we had Creamy Butter Prawns
(RM42) and Cod Fish in Curry Sauce
(RM38). The Creamy Butter Prawns
will always be a favorite of many. It’s a perfect rendition of the popular
creamy butter sauce that is now widely consumed in many seafood places. This version
is so creamy with a good dose of garlic and chili flavours. Lots of curry
leaves are added for aroma. Make sure to mop up the sauce with the lotus buns
just like how everyone savors it.
Cod Fish in Curry Sauce has chunks of cod fish cooked in a
yellow creamy coconut curry sauce. The curry sauce is not spicy in heat but
rather mellow with a delicate note of spices. Its rich and paired best with rice.
By
now, we were stuffed! Then desserts came in the form of Cheesy Banana Fritters (RM18), Opium
Ice Glass (RM18), Sago Gula Melaka
(RM15) and Melon Ice (RM15). The
foodie gang went after these happily despite being full. Cheesy Banana Fritter is crispy fried banana served with grated
cheddar cheese and banana ice cream. It’s light, crispy, sweet and salty with a
hot and cold sensation on a plate.
Opium Ice Glass resembles our local Ice Kacang but
has a twist on the ingredients. Shaved ice is accompanied by cincau, waterchestnut, basil seeds, mung
bean paste, corn and peanuts all doused with a mixture of coconut milk and gula
Melaka. Ice cream crowned the dessert beautifully. Sago Gula Melaka and Melon
Ice are more classic desserts which are favored by many. These are served
in glasses for easy enjoyment.
Opium certainly has a point to proof in
the F&B industry here in the city. Its bold, unique, creative and fun
injected into one restaurant cum bar. Opium
is loud and gorgeous in many ways and yes, it looks like the word is out as
lots of customers were certainly having lots of fun at Opium the night we were
there. Kudos to the Werner Group for a truly unique dining experience in the
heart of the cosmopolitan city!
OPIUM
50 Changkat Bukit
Bintang,
50200 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Tel: +603 2142 5670
Business hours:
Sundays to Thursdays:
4pm – 1am
Fridays to Saturdays:
4pm – 2am
