If you are looking for a cosy yet stylish restaurant that captures the flavours of Malaysia, Nipah at EQ is the place for you.
While Nipah’s daily buffet offers a generous variety of Malaysian and Western delights, the chefs focus on the quality of the dishes over the quantity of choices. And from this writer’s taste-of-view, the quality translates into “super delicious dishes!”
I was impressed with the robust flavours of the local dishes. On my recent food outings, I have noticed that some buffets seem to ‘water down’ the spice of our local dishes to suit unfamiliar palates.
But at Nipah, the curries, satay, curry laksa and roti canai are all bursting with flavours that really excited this experienced Malaysian palate. For a foreign guest, the taste of the food at Nipah properly represents the magnificent flavours that Malaysian cuisine can offer. (It should be noted that the Chef de Partie of Nipah recently earned the Gold Medal for his Nasi Lemak at the recent Global Culinary Challenge Malaysia in 2019!)
On Sundays, the buffet expands in size and allows guests to enjoy sizzling meats and vegetables fresh off the hot grill. We went on a Sunday, so we enjoyed the buffet in its full glory. The meats for the satay and grill section are excellent quality. The marination is subtle and the grilling professional, so that the full essence of the meat itself is released and you can really enjoy the tenderness and juiciness of the cuts.
The grilled vegetables are also very delicious, grilled in buttery marination. And among the local and western dishes across the buffet, there were enough vegetable options to keep my vegetarian pallet very happy and stimulated.
Nipah offers an iced shellfish bar featuring freshly-shucked succulent oysters, mussels, yabbies and prawns. If you are a seafood lover, you should not miss this. There is also a cold salad section, and I was impressed to see that there was fresh duck pate, in addition to homemade meatloaf, smoked chicken, duck and tilapia slices. I particularly enjoyed the angel hair capellini with pesto, as well as the roasted pumpkin and long bean curry mayo.
And the desserts are fabulous. Again, I have been let down recently by the lack of flavour of some buffets’ dessert sections. They look good, but don’t seem to capture the rich taste I expect. But at Nipah, I was not disappointed with any of the desserts I sampled – and I sampled a lot! I was particularly impressed with the home-made ice cream. I had the lychee ice cream - it tasted like I just opened a sweet fresh fruit that was made from cream! It was delicious.
I also really enjoyed the baked cheesecake – creamy, fluffy but still having a nice rich consistency. The torte caprese was also to die for. And I was so happy to see a pecan tart – which is one of my favourites but also not always common in Malaysian dessert trays. Nipah also offers a delectable variety of traditional Malaysian kuih, including two of my favourites, kuih seri muka, and kuih lapis merah. These also did not disappoint.
Nipah at EQ offers 5 star flavours at pretty reasonable prices, the tastes and quality of the local dishes are quite exceptional. I would definitely recommend Nipah at EQ as a delicious location if you have a penchant for local food and want to enjoy it all in a comfortable and stylish setting.
Equatorial Plaza, Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Phone: +603-2789-7839
Email: dineateqkl@kul.equatorial.com
Opening Hours (Monday – Sunday)
- Breakfast: RM68 per adult (06:00 – 10:30)
- Lunch: RM88 per adult (12:00 – 14:30)
- Dinner: RM108 per adult (18:00 – 23:00)
- Sunday Brunch: RM108 per adult (12:00 – 15:30)
- Sunday Bubbly Brunch RM288 (12:00PM to 3:30PM)
- Reservations: Recommended.
