KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — When I first heard of sits (styled in lowercase, like a password) opening in Arcoris late last year, I thought, “Great, just what Mont Kiara needs. Another derivative ‘small plates’ bar. The kind where the wine is only ever described as ‘funky’, ‘small-batch’ and ‘biodynamic’, the menu ‘modern’, ‘Asian-inspired’ and ‘playful’, and the chefs and servers somehow have more tattoos than the food has salt.”
These places always seem to serve the same plate of corn ribs, dusted in mala spice, salted egg, curry leaf, or my personal favourite, just ‘herbs’. Groundbreaking.
But a few months passed, and a friend whom I know to be the last person swayed by trendy buzz insisted on bringing me there.
We had to actually find it first, though.
Despite being on the ground floor of Arcoris, it’s all the way at the far end to the left, completely hidden behind a myNEWS and a sweeping café that’s usually empty by the time sits opens in the evening.
There’s no more than a handful of tables perched out front, and the door is all glass, with specials and wines scribbled on it in colourful marker ink.
Past the entrance, a spiral staircase leads to a few more tables upstairs, while the kitchen on the right is so small I’ve seen cupboards with more room to move.
And yet, despite the squeeze, the food being sent out is far more expansive than the setting suggests.
Built on a distinctly Chinese foundation (the founder spent close to two decades in China), the menu follows two simple principles: is it bursting with flavour, and does it go with wine or beer? If the answer to both is yes, it makes the cut.
Zesty garlic ‘edamame’ is an addictive snack. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Take the zesty garlic edamame (RM9.90), which reimagines the Japanese izakaya staple as something closer to Chinese smashed cucumber, doused in vinegar, minced raw garlic and plenty of chillies for a zingy, sharp snack that is impossible to put down.
How about a more luxurious bite?
Soft and seductive, the braised beef tongue in red wine, topped with onion marmalade (RM39), is a luscious trip to France for the palate.
Every bar has chicken wings, but not every bar has a dipping sauce like this. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Any bar worth its salt must have chicken wings, but the winner here is the dipping sauce.
The wings are simply deep-fried, with barely any batter, but they’re served with a sweet fermented rice chilli sauce (RM39) that’s impossibly delicious. More sweet and fragrant than hot and spicy, it’s a sweet chilli sauce actually worth bottling.
On another visit with my parents, old folks who were pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed the food, the nomad’s spiced lamb skewers (RM39) were predictably heavy on the cumin.
Spiced lamb skewers that aren’t groundbreaking, but satisfying. — Picture by Ethan Lau
But between bites of supple lamb and slurps of the signature hand-pulled noodle (RM18), there still was not much to complain about.
The noodles were served cold, wide and flat, slicked in shallot oil, vinegar, chilli oil and bits of dried shrimp, then topped with a heap of crunchy, pungent strips of scallion whites.
Slick, cold noodles that pack just a touch of heat. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Both craft beer and wine are offered.
The wine list is a quaint little handwritten booklet, with helpful tasting notes for the uninitiated.
Nothing groundbreaking, but much of the inoffensive selection suits our hot, humid climate and is approachable even for the most inexperienced drinker.
The house white, a crisp, dry Castillo Rodafuerte Airen (RM29 per glass), is typical of wines made from the Spanish grape: acidic, but light in body and character.
It’s something refreshing to mindlessly sip on, which is ideal here, because the real magic is in the food.
The best bite on the whole menu, Charleston peppers stuffed with pork and red capsicum paste on the side. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Charleston peppers, stuffed with pork and served with a daub of red capsicum paste on the side (RM28), might just be my favourite bite here.
The porky filling brings to mind yong tau foo, while the mild, subtly fruity green pepper recalls grilled shishito.
But these are definitely fried, more like the way Padrón peppers are treated for tapas, and mopping up the sweet, bright-orange capsicum paste is a must. I’d take 10 plates of this over another grilled corn rib any day.
The fragrant, fruity note of roasted green peppers is on show in my second favourite dish here, the brined beef skewers (RM34).
Thin, silken slices of beef, slippery as you pull them off the skewer with your teeth, are smothered in a smoky, peppery sauce.
It is one of the more peculiar yet compelling skewers I have tasted.
The brined beef skewers have a peculiar, slippery texture that’s rather enjoyable. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Even at a tiny bar like this, the pull of a large, bubbling pot of carb-filled stew to end the night is strong.
The braised oxtail with white radish (RM79) is full of deep beefy flavour, with fork-tender meat and soft, yielding radishes. But the real showstopper is the tiger prawn pao fan (RM59).
It announces itself by smell before sight, usually from a neighbouring table’s order.
Then yours arrives, and the heady, rousing fumes of crustacean essence set the scene for pure prawny pleasure.
Best to wait a moment for the piping hot broth to cool, revealing a gorgeous orange sheen and the sweet, concentrated flavour of tiger prawns, soaking into the rice. It’s the perfect send-off.
The small front of sits. — Picture by Ethan Lau
There’s a wide mirror hanging above the entrance to sits. Spelled out in strips of red tape is the Chinese idiom “酒足饭饱”, which dates back to the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty in 13th-century China.
It roughly translates to “drinking and eating to one’s heart’s content”, and I can’t think of a more fitting ethos for a night at sits.
Creative, not convoluted, but most importantly: extremely satisfying. Being this wrong has never tasted so right.
sits
G-7, Arcoris
Jalan Kiara, Mont Kiara
Kuala Lumpur
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 5-11pm
Tel: 019-228 0288
Instagram: @sits.montkiara
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and mildly self-deprecating attempts at humour.
