Coast has a natural elegance underscored by rich nautical themes. — Photos: Coast By Kayra
Ensconced in the swanky Starhill in Kuala Lumpur is Coast By Kayra. If the name sounds familiar, that’s because this is a brand-new dining haunt from the same people behind the uber-successful Kerala-themed eatery Kayra in Bangsar.
Off the bat, the eatery evokes both a sense of Zen as well as sheer sophistication, expressed through shades of blue. The general feeling you get is one of holidaying amidst a tranquil blue sea.
This melds perfectly with the eatery’s aquatic themed food, which is rooted in the bounty of the sea anchored by Keralan stalwart recipes and ideas and buoyed by modern concepts and themes.
This is also in keeping with Kerala’s marine wealth. The south Indian state is fringed by lakes and lagoons and these waterways are home to an abundance of sea creatures. As a result, Kerala is renowned for its excellent underwater fare.
The eatery is the brainchild of owner Meriam Alfonso – a lawyer-turned-restaurateur and third-generation Malaysian Indian of Keralan descent.
Alfonso (left) and Sal worked together to craft the menu, taking inspiration from the seafood dishes so famed in Kerala as well as other aquatic recipes in India.
“I honestly believe that Kerala cuisine should have a rightful place in an international setting. And as much as I can push that agenda, I will do it.
“So instead of replicating another Kayra, I said ‘Okay, let’s push this a little more and delve more into seafood and play around with our creativity’,” she says.
In her quest to elevate Keralan cuisine, Alfonso is ably assisted by her chef Sal Sabeel who has been her right-hand man since Kayra’s launch eight years ago in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, KL.
To put together the menu, Alfonso and Sal travelled back to the motherland, gaining inspiration and ideas as they journeyed through Kerala’s coastlines, before expanding their culinary odyssey to Bangalore and Chennai as well. Alfonso also makes every effort to source sustainably and locally where possible, so you can expect to find blue swimmer crab from Perak, green lobster from Sabah and squid from Pahang during your sea-to-plate adventure here.
Nearly all the seafood is grilled over an in-house charcoal grill to give it an added smokiness and the restaurant espouses zero-waste values so everything is repurposed or re-used in the form of stocks and other bits and bobs.
The fennel-crusted prawns highlight fennel in its true glory, without stealing the prawn’s thunder.
To begin, definitely look at trying the Crab Meat and Crab Rasam Dahi Puri Shooters (RM50 for four pieces).
This is essentially a double whammy in the form of crispy rice cake shells that encase a crab meat filling, which are then topped off with crab rasam shooters. The crab puri is nuanced with rich aquatic flavours but wouldn’t soar quite as spectacularly if not for the punch of the crab rasam, which gilds the throat with sour, tangy, unapologetically bold avian leanings. It’s a two-hit wonder that will really knock your socks off.
Up next, savour the Sea Tiger Prawn Mini Appam (RM38 for two pieces). The petite little appams are dinky and incredibly pretty to look at, but Alfonso says it was a huge challenge to find suitable receptacles to make the appams as these pancakes are typically a more uniform size.
“The vessel was the most difficult to source – we tried to custom make it all over India and it was so hard because we wanted a specific inch for the depth and the width. So in the end, we had to kind of find our own way of substituting that vessel with like a smaller pan and we made it work,” says Alfonso.
And the end result is oh-so worth the uphill battle that Alfonso and Sal had to go through because this is certainly an appam to remember. The fermented rice pancakes are tiny and feature fluffy interiors with crispy ends that curl up to resemble a bowl. This is then filled with masala-coated, fat, fluffy prawns in what proves to be a meal that provides an instantly addictive, unforgettable quality that will linger long after you’ve chowed down every last bite.
Follow this up with more prawns in the form of the tandoor-cooked Tiger Prawns (RM70).
The Kerala fish curry is based on Alfonso’s ancestral family recipe and is addictively good from start to finish.
Here, the prawns are crusted with fennels and a dry spice blend. The star of this seafaring offering is the fennels, which add a wonderfully aromatic, spice-buoyed tonality to the meal without interfering with the natural attributes of the prawns, which have underlying smoky notes that are very appealing. It’s a seemingly simple dish that shows how far a single spice can elevate a meal.
You also shouldn’t leave without sampling the Kerala Fish Curry (RM60 for red snapper fillet). This is a cherished family recipe that Alfonso inherited from her ancestors which has been passed through the generations. Here, fish co-mingles with raw mango, fenugreek, tomato and yoghurt in what proves to be a marriage of intention and purpose.
The fish is sleek and very fresh and this is enhanced by the curtness of the mangoes and the creamy richness of the yoghurt. It’s a fish curry that is very, very alive and isn’t content to just rest on the family laurels, because this dish really works hard to curry favour (pun intended) and does so spectacularly well.
Perhaps the most surprising star on the menu is the rather unassuming Grape Pachadi (RM20). The grapes here are lightly charred and set atop a base composed of yoghurt, cumin, mustard and coconut. This is then topped with copious amounts of fried curry leaves, dried chillies and onions. It all sounds fairly ordinary (except for the grapes) but one bite and you’ll wonder what sorcery is in this dish. Because this is extraordinarily good – the grapes have a light smokiness and a rich sweetness which is offset by the savoury elements of the yoghurt base and the textural heft of the curry leaves and onions. It’s a yin-yang, off-the-beaten track combination of flavours that come together to form perfect symmetry on the palate.
This unassuming dish which features grapes set against a savoury, spice-riddled backdrop, is truly a culinary masterpiece.
Finish off your meal with a dessert in the form of the Cocoa-Nut (RM40) which highlights 70% local chocolate against a jackfruit ice cream and a jackfruit calamansi sauce. It all sounds so arbitrary – like someone just threw a bunch of components together – but trust us, there is thought in every element. Because who could have possibly imagined that chocolate and jackfruit would go so wonderfully well together? The chocolate here is rich and dark and this is counter-balanced by the funkiness of the ice-cream which celebrates all things local and tropical in a weird, wonderful way.
Coast also has a range of cocktails and other intoxicants to whet the appetite and you would do well to try the curious-sounding Whisky Rasam (RM50) which features Jameson black barrel, rasam vermouth, clarified tomato juice and vinegar. In this cocktail, you will taste the flavours of the Indian sub-continent in understated ways that underscore what Coast’s underlying roots are. It’s a lovely way to celebrate Keralan flavours, while sipping on a drink!
Ultimately, a meal at Coast by Kayra heralds a welcome addition to the Klang Valley dining scene, one that shows spunk and ambition without dimming the sparkle that forms the artery of Keralan food.
Coast By Kayra
Ground Floor, The Starhill KL
181 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 017 215 7264
Open daily: 11.30am to 11pm
