After many years, Les Deux Garcons, the French café, has morphed into Sixteen, an all-day restaurant that serves rice bowls and pasta, while still offering its croissants, raisin rolls, marble cakes and madeleines. Sixteen which is in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur, goes by its new name mainly because it’s No 16 in a row of shops.
Ayam Kesum Chilli with chicken daun kesum, tempe, pineapple salsa, fried tofu, rice
Lunch should always be a balanced meal if you’re an office worker who probably had a skimpy or no breakfast before starting work. Rice may not be a popular thing, but a colourful or well-assembled and nutritious rice bowl will surely help you get through the day.
There we were at Sixteen on a late Saturday morning, and the multi-national menu beckoned to us with the rice bowls of Ayam Kesum Chilli, Taste of Delhi, Buddha Bowl and Nippon.
Spicy rice bowl — Taste of Delhi with lamb curry, pilao basmati, cucumber, mint raita, egg, tofu, pappadam
I liked the Nyonya flavours of the curry sauce in the Ayam Kesum Chicken. The small chunks of chicken drenched in the sauce topped the red rice, surrounded by long beans, romaine lettuce, Thai basil, fried, crispy tempeh, fried tofu and pineapple salsa. It was a busy bowl, as a bit of this and that made up a spicy and full meal, with a tangy lift from the pineapple.
Taste of Delhi had lots of oomph from the tender lamb well infused with Indian spices. Beneath it was fragrant basmati pilaf cooked in ghee, accompanied by a cucumber mint raita. Fried tofu, egg, pappadam and egg, and wakame were side toppings. The lamb was delicious; I bit into raisins in the rice, and the sweet mango chutney too.
Nippon, the Japanese rice bowl with tuna, avocado, wakame, pickled ginger, spicy mayo and spicy gyoza sauce
Then it was to the Nippon, a Japanese-nuanced bowl of red rice, seared tuna, wakame, furikake, pickled ginger, edamame, cucumber, avocado and spicy mayo. We tipped a spicy gyoza sauce into the rice to mix it all up. It was a good blend of ingredients, brought together with a spicy sweet sauce.
A colourful rice bow — thel Buddha Bowl is full of flavour and textures
I was pleasantly surprised by the vegan option — Buddha Bowl. The colours of pomegranate, wakame, edamame, black beans, mushrooms, lettuce, tofu and tempeh over the red rice piqued the appetite, aided by the yummy honey soya sesame dressing. I didn’t miss meat at all.
A breakfast option — Golden Harvest with sweetcorn fritter. smoked salmon, poached egg, pineapple salsa, chilli oil
We chose Golden Harvest from the Break the Fast section, and this presented sweetcorn fritters on which sat a poached egg, a rosette of smoked salmon, pineapple salsa and chilli oil drizzled round it. The sweetcorn fritters were crispy on the outside and a little soft inside, matching well with the egg and smoked salmon, with a little heat from the chilli oil. It’s a breakfast I wouldn’t mind coming back for.
Marble Cake and Orang Poppyseed Cake
Dessert was the sublime marble cake with swirls of chocolate and coffee, and the buttery orange cake with poppy seeds. I could never resist a good scone, and that was what I had here, light and crumbly to the bite and served topped with cream and a delish strawberry compote.
We had started earlier with coffee, an almond croissant and raisin roll while waiting for the “real” brunch.
Buttery scone with cream and strawberry compote
The rice bowls are RM36 for the Nippon, RM35 for Taste of Delhi, RM25 for Ayam Kesum Chilli and RM23 for Buddha Bowl and Golden Harvest. The cakes are RM6 a slice.
Croissants and cakes at Sixteen
Sixteen is at 16 Jalan 2/109E, Desa Business Park, Taman Desa, 58100 Kuala Lumpur, tel: 03 7980 0200. It opens every day from 8am to 9pm. It also has a dinner menu that offers Chicken Cordon Bleu, Lamb Chop, Ribeye Szechuan Peppercorn and Salmon Fillet.