Naili's Place

Naili's Place is a small chain of (currently) 3 stores around Kuala Lumpur. For the sake of disclosure, I have never been to the Taipan--Subang Jaya branch. But I have been to the Ampang Point and Sentul branches and will base my reviews based off of these two. The Ampang Point location is at the end of shop lots next to the Ampang Point shopping center in Ampang and tries to cram too much character into its small location unfortunately. If you want the best experience, go to the Sentul branch. It is somewhat isolated but in an increasingly popular dining area. It has even opened for lunch recently.

The Sentul branch is all about ambience. The tropical setting is nice. Trees, stylish decorations, leaf-roof huts, and tree stump tables. In some cases, private dining hits were built around large trees that were there before the restaurant was built. Sometimes mosquitoes can be a problem here, but you will hardly notice as you take in the scenery (and sometimes even a DJ).

Naili's Place is popular for functions and parties but individual diners or "lepakers" fill up the rest of the tables or bar stools. The food is better than average...not out of this world...but the ambience makes up for that easily. A range of sheesha flavors is also available. It is a good place for (Malaysian or Western) dinner or just hanging out over a few drinks and maybe a snack.

My rating: 4 stars

Naili's Place
116C, Kampung Chempedak
Jalan Taman Dato' Senu
Sentul 51000 Kuala Lumpur

Ampang Point
39, Jalan Memanda 9
6800 Ampang

Taipan
48, Jalan USJ 10/1B USJ Taipan
47620 Subang Jaya

Web site: http://www.nailisplace.com/
Telephone: (+6) 019-202-0755
Open from 5pm until 2am
(the Sentul branch has recently started lunch hours too)

Amarin

Amarin is a Thai restaurant located on the 2nd floor in the North Court of the MidValley Megamall. The mall is just off the Persekutuan and East-West Highways and has a KTM train stop (just one stop away from KL Sentral on the Seremban line). There are also free shuttles from beneath the Bangsar LRT station (which is walking distance to the mall if you are a little crazy and don't mind walking alongside the highway and crossing its onramps).

Inside the restaurant, the ambiance is nice and modern with Thai touches. It has that sort of look...made to look really fancy, but done on the cheap. Still, sitting on the sofas with colorful cushions makes it easy to sink back and get comfy after finishing a meal here.

Service was OK and the staff was friendly. I believe they were mostly Filipino, and not Thai, though! On weekdays it is fairly empty, but it does fill up on weekends.

The food was good overall. It is not the best Thai food in Malaysia, but there was nothing to complain about either. I'd recommend trying the Mieng Kam as an appetizer. It won't fill you up, but it will definitely wake up your the taste buds. As for mains, the usual range of Thai fare is on offer. I had the most common dish--pad thai...yes boring, but it was flavorful.

The cost for the dishes was similar to the other restaurants neighboring it. Prices for mains, however, start at about RM17 and go up so it is not a cheap dining option compared to what you can find elsewhere. Still, if you are in MidValley and have a craving for good Thai food, this is the place to get it.

My rating: 3 stars

Amarin Thai
Mid Valley Megamall
Level 2, North Court
59200 Kuala Lumpur

Web site: http://www.midvalley.com.my/
Telephone: (+6) 03-2938-3187
Open from 10am until 10pm