Tupai Tupai

When a friend recommended me this makan place, I thought he was just fooling around. Tupai Tupai? What kind of name is that? He told me of his makan experience at this restaurant located at Jalan Bukit Petaling and a week later, I decided to give a go...

Tupai Tupai is located behind Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR). To get there, take the Federal Highway and Jalan Bellamy.

The food we had were so & so... Perhaps, we ordered the 'wrong' type of dishes... Anyhow, please read the review made by NST below.

**********Extract From The NST**********

ENGLISH trifle for dessert in a Malay restaurant? That’s what customers look forward to at Tupai Tupai Restaurant in Jalan Bukit Petaling, Kuala Lumpur. The restaurant offers traditional Malay food as well as Chinese, Thai and Western cuisine. But it is the English trifle that draws their loyal customers back for more. The trifle is made of sponge cake, custard, jelly, fruits and a topping of ice-cream.

“Our biggest seller here is the trifle. Corporate clients and families keep coming back for more as we are the only restaurant serving this dessert every day for lunch and dinner,” says manager Mokhtar Musa. “We don’t serve the same type of trifle everyday as our chefs change the ingredients daily. We know who comes here often for the dessert. They include many celebrities, politicians and the corporate crowd.” How did the restaurant come to serve trifle instead of the traditional Malay kuih for dessert? Mokhtar says they had wanted to do something different for their customers from the day they opened, so the owners came up with the idea of serving trifle.

Tupai Tupai opened here in June 2002, so named after the many squirrels scampering around in the compound’s lush greenery. There are four pondok or huts, popular with families and groups for a get-together amidst shrubbery and large trees. While Tupai Tupai enjoys brisk business at lunch-time when some 60 traditional Malay dishes are cooked and served nasi campur-style to cater to nearby office workers, army personnel and others, dinner time is when families, VIPs and celebrities come in to savour the food. Siti Nurhaliza and Mawi are known to come in just before closing time at 12.30am to avoid unwanted attention. Indonesian artistes like Peter Pan, Rosa and Dewa, in Malaysia for shows and concerts, also often dine at the restaurant. Yes, you can do some celebrity watching and have good food at the same time.

What To Eat
For lunch, there are traditional Malay dishes like asam pedas, gulai tempoyak, rendang, masak lemak cili padi, assam rebus, daging salai, kerabu perut, kerabu mangga and pandan chicken. Nasi campur costs, on average, RM6.50 to RM7 per person inclusive of drinks. For dinner, customers’ favourites are siakap or jenahak in butter pepper sauce (RM26 for a small fish), prawn soup made from young coconut water (from RM22), Vietnamese dish using Japanese tofu served in minced prawn sauce (RM12), baby French beans cooked with chillies and dried shrimp (RM12), Thai-style chicken, deepfried breaded chicken served with sweet and sour sauce (RM15), black pepper fried noodles (RM6.80) and grilled chicken with black pepper or mushroom sauce (RM15.80). The restaurant also serves steaks, chops and grills for dinner. A serving of trifle costs RM6.

Opening Hours
Daily from 11am to 12.30am. Closed on Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji and Chinese New Year. Peak hours are lunch time and from 8pm till about 10pm.

Services
Tupai Tupai also offers catering service for corporate functions, open houses, seminars, birthdays and other events.

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Tupai Tupai
551A, Jalan Bukit Petaling,
Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-21432525

Cuisine: Local + Western
Rating: Food = C / C-

Rating System:
A = Recommended
B = Worth A Visit
C = Average
D = Below Average
E = Waste Of "Hard-Earned" Money. Seriously, I'm Not Kidding!