While the name may not be modest, Lanna Amazing Thai Cuisine is a small, simple restaurant with just seven or eight wooden tables. Located across from Antipodean Cafe on Jalan Telawi in Bangsar, it’s flown under the radar when it comes to restaurants in Kuala Lumpur for some time, but it’s a cosy spot, the food is spicy when it matters, and the staff are attentive.

The entrance to an explosion of tastes.

You can expect standard items on the menu like tom yam kung and gaeng kiao wan gai, but it’s some of the more interesting dishes and accurate representations of Thai regional specialties that make Lanna worth a visit. Try the mieng kum (11 ringgit), a Thai appetiser where you wrap an assortment of fresh ingredients including dried shrimp, ginger, lime, peanuts and ginger in betel leaves and dip the result in a plum sauce for a refreshing combination of sweet and tangy. You’ll rarely find this appetiser outside of Thailand but another well executed starter for those who can stand spice is yam woon sen (13.20 ringgit), a glass noodle salad with shrimp and minced chicken flavoured with onion, lime and chilli. Hor mok pla (13.20 ringgit) is another recommended starter; the steamed fish cake topped with red curry and coconut tastes of exotic Thai herbs.

Satay gai: chicken strips marinated in coconut milk. Your time starts now.

Whatever dishes you decide to combine for your main course, make sure the pla nueng manao (market price, but roughly 45 ringgit) is one of them. Steamed white snapper cooked with chilli, garlic and lime, it may seem simple but the tangy sauce is good enough to serve up on its own or at least flavour your white rice with. The meat of the fish falls off the bone and is a perfect example of how delicious simple Thai cooking can be.

Yam woon sen, otherwise known as tongue on fire.

By Bangsar standards, the prices are  affordable, especially considering the portions and quality of food. The staff are also a friendly group, who stay attentive to requests and are flexible with special dietary requirements.

Sauce just as good as the fish!

If you’re in the Bangsar area but Thai’s not your thing, another worthy stop is Village Roast Duck in Bangsar village, just down the street from Lanna. Alternatively, Antipodean across the road serves up a mix of local and Western dishes.

Lanna Amazing Thai Cuisine
17 Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur
T: (03) 2283 6099

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Tags: bangsar, jalan telawi, lanna, restaurants, thai cuisine