At a tumultuous time like this with all the GST and rising cost of living, many people are getting cautious on their spending habits. This is especially true when it comes to dining out. Enter Alanna’s Kitchen, a family-friendly restaurant-cum-cafe tucked alongside a row of shop lots situated in the humble neighbourhood of the Pandan Indah area.
Operating since November 2015, Alanna’s Kitchen boasts a simple, yet clean-cut setup that gives the premise a nice cosy ambience. Despite the simplicity of the interior, Alanna Kitchen’s is best known for its scrumptious home-cooked meals. What’s more, most of the food is affordably priced less than RM10! And did we mention the food is also prepared using quality ingredients?
Arabic Chicken Mandy with Rice
If you dine at an Arabic restaurant before, you know the price doesn’t come cheap. But at Alanna’s Kitchen, you’ll be surprised their signature Arabic Chicken Mandy with Rice is unbelievably priced at RM9.90 only! If that’s not enough, the meal also comes with a complimentary drink of your choice (soft drink or Jasmine Green Tea). Sounds too good to be true? We have sampled it and it tastes amazing! The Arabic Chicken Mandy was well-marinated with various spices as well as Alanna’s Kitchen’s very own homemade Mandy powder and baked to perfection, resulting a succulent yet flavourful chicken upon every bite. Then there’s the homemade Chicken Mandy condiment, which packed a robust combination of Arabic chili, tomato, ginger, onion and a dash of cili padi (bird’s eye chili) to add a nice spicy kick. The rice, which favoured the long-grain basmati varieties, was meticulously cooked and reboiled for up to 45 minutes till an hour to give a perfect texture. With added spices such as coriander and cumin, the rice tastes amazingly delectable yet appetising. It certainly complemented well with the Chicken Mandy.
Arabic BBQ Chicken with Rice and Garlic Sauce
Our next meal was yet another signature Arabic dish from Alanna’s Kitchen. This time, it was a BBQ chicken, which had an identical resemblance of a tandoori chicken. But this was no ordinary BBQ chicken. Here, the chicken was perfectly marinated with various spices and powder for 24 hours before it was brought to grill upon order. The chicken was delicious enough to be eaten on its own but packed a more savoury punch when we dipped it with the homemade garlic sauce. Served with rice and a handful of fries, it was certainly a hearty meal worth craving for.
Nasi Lemak Special
Believe it or not, this mouth-watering nasi lemak special only cost you RM8.90 and also comes with a complimentary drink of your choice! Price aside, this nasi lemak special was one of the best local dishes we ever tasted in Klang Valley. First up, the chicken was specially marinated with homemade spices for up to 5 hours and air-fried beforehand. The chicken was then only deep-fried upon order. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, we really enjoyed this fried chicken and paired well with the fragrant jasmine rice. The sambal, on the other hand, was another winner that had a right amount of spiciness.
Arabic Yemeni Mandy with Rice
This was definitely our lucky night upon our visit at Alanna’s Kitchen as we got to sample the latest creation not available in the menu yet. The first newest dish was the Arabic Yemeni Mandy with Rice. The chicken was well-marinated with special powder and spices. It was then baked to perfection to give the chicken a wonderful juicy texture. Served with Mandy rice and homemade condiment, it was a great meal that we couldn’t wait to try it again in the near future!
Alanna’s Special Grilled Chicken with Rice
Next up was another Alanna’s Kitchen’s latest creation of an Arabic chicken dish. The chicken was marinated with various ingredients for 24 hours and only grilled to perfection upon order. Not only the chicken packed with loads of flavour, but also blessed with a nice charred side that made the dish extremely appetising. The grilled chicken complemented well with the rice and homemade garlic sauce on the side.
Spaghetti Carbonara
After a row of hearty rice dishes, we moved on with a simple Italian dish known as spaghetti carbonara. Served with fried spaghetti sticks and buttery garlic toast, the real deal here was the homemade cream sauce. We loved the taste, which wasn’t too creamy or too light but just nice enough that suit our palates. The pasta was perfectly al dente, while we really applaud the owner of this establishment for using imported chicken sausages instead of commercial varieties.
Dark Forest Mousse and Green Tea Cheesecake
No full-course meal would be complete without a plate of sweet dessert. Thankfully, Alanna’s Kitchen doesn’t disappoint in this area as they serve freshly-baked cakes that are all made in-house! Here, we sampled all the six cakes available from the display counter. We had to say that the cakes were spot-on perfect and best of all, none of them were too sweet to our likings. Priced between RM8.90 and RM9.90, all cakes come with a complimentary drink of your choice (black coffee, earl grey tea or soft drink). However, we particularly preferred Dark Forest Mousse and Green Tea Cheesecake the most.
For the Dark Forest Mousse, it had a delightful balance of bittersweet chocolate and dark pitted cherries layered between the sponge cake. If that’s not enough, the crushed cookie base on the bottom added a perfectly crunchy texture.
Finally, there’s the Green Tea Cheesecake. Blessed with quality matcha powder and cream cheese, this toothsome cake truly hits the spot with an added base made from crushed digestive biscuits.
Although the menu was limited, Alanna’s Kitchen will promise more additional dishes in the near future. But most of all, this place deserves a thumb-up for serving great food at an extremely affordable price!
