The Place I managed to make a reservation for my Kuala Lumpur trip this year to check out Barkar, a new wood fire restaurant by the team behind Eat And Cook. The name Barkar pays homage to the Malay word ‘Bakar,’ meaning flame, where the restaurant is located on the ground floor of G Tower in KL. 

While the reception of Barkar looks unassuming, it is quite a different world beyond the entrance. I was first greeted with a walkway decorated by wood and with clever visual magnification using mirrors. 

The dining space is huge. I sat at the Open Flame Chef Table, a U-shaped counter seat layout which seats up to 18 diners. This is the best table for couples or small groups where you get the best view of the open kitchen action. 

There are also two other main dining areas and a private room for bigger groups. 

The Food The menu and dishes at Barkar centres around the wood and charcoal open-flame cooking and revolves around Southeast Asian and Malaysian flavours. 

Choose from the small bites snacks to the small plates, big sharing plates and desserts. I started with the Egg And Toast (MYR 28), a snack featuring chicken bakwa in between slices of toast, along with the restaurant’s century egg kaya. The bakwa used is from a local bakwa chain, and the toast here is dipped into a 63 degrees sous vide egg. Overall, it is delicious and a nice spin on a breakfast dish I am familiar with. 

The other snack I had was the Wagyu Beef Roti (MYR 30), served in a muffin like presentation where you get the beef drizzled with truffle oil and topped with some spring onion. 

On to small plates, I enjoyed the Smoked Chicken Wings (MYR 28) and the Corny Licking Good, Rendang Mayo (MYR 28), especially the latter where the corn from Cameron Highlands is dusted with curry powder and smeared with rendang mayo. I love the punchy flavours and it gives the sweet corn so much oomph and unami flavours. 

For vegetables, try the Big Burnt Leek, Goose Sausage (MYR 36) where the roasted leeks from Cameron highlands are uniquely coated with goose sausage sauce and toasted nuts for an added crunch. 

For meats, I forwent the option of trying one of their dry aged beef and went for the 1/2 Dry Aged Corn Fed Chicken, Kulim Honey Butter (MYR 95). Needless to say, this dish did not disappoint me. The chicken here was aged for 3-9 days where the meat is very tender and juicy. The best part? It is drizzled and topped with sambal chilli and chilli oil, so you can expect a very flavourful taste on top of the delicious meat. 

Claypot rice is also one of the signatures here since charcoal wood does impart a more aromatic flavour to the claypot rice in my opinion and I knew I had to save space for one claypot rice dish. I had the Char Siew Wagyu Beef Rice (MYR 60) where the portion is good to share for 2 pax.

The rice is aromatic, and it comes with tender Wagyu beef meat, topped with addictive fried chicken skin instead of the usual fried pork lard. 

Rants The restaurant and space can be quite boisterous, and it was challenging at times to hear the explanation of the dishes by the staff for me. 
 
Will I Return Again? Overall, I had a great meal at Barkar, and I enjoyed my dining experience here more than Eat And Cook, though I also acknowledge the fact that both restaurants are very different concepts. The dishes I had at Barkar are robust in flavours, and I would love to be back next time to try some of the ones I did not manage to have this time. 

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 4/5
Hole in the pocket: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5
Overall Experience: 4/5 

Barkar 
SUITES G-06, GROUND FLOOR, G Tower, 199, Jln Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, 50400 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 
Tel: +60 11-2277 3131  

Opening Hours 
Monday: 6pm to 11pm 
Tuesday to Sunday: 12pm to 3pm; 6pm to 11pm 

Ranted by The Ranter