Sticky Fingers

Give your taste buds a thorough workout at this Thai outlet, which features both fusion fare & familiar favorites to tempt Pavilion's shoppers.

As a bonus, whoever is handling Sticky Fingers' playlist has brilliant taste in music. Customers might hear everything from T'Pau's 1987 heartbreaker "China In Your Hand" to The Wallflowers' 1997 rock gem "One Headlight" on a typical evening here.

Chiang Mai stuffed bell peppers. Stuffed with what? The menu made it a mystery, but here's the scoop: macaroni, cheese & a hint of Thai spices. Purists might shudder, but this turned out to be scrumptious, filled with a hot mess of gooey goodness that kids should enjoy (though they'll likely lap up the macaroni & ignore the peppers).

Green curry chicken pizza. The topping tasted authentically Thai, with all the fragrant flavors associated with a rich, powerful curry. But the crust was more like a doughy biscuit than the thin, crispy version that many of KL's Italian outlets have mastered.

Mieng kam. Sticky Fingers is part of the Rotol Food Chain, which also runs KLCC's Imperial Chakri Palace, Sunway Pyramid's Rainforest Bistro & other Asian restaurants. Service standards are high, while prices seem fair _ a filling meal can be had for below RM50.

Linguine with tom yum paste & freshwater prawn. Nice, firm noodles, swathed in an aromatic, pleasantly sourish sauce that wasn't too spicy. Alas, the prawn could have been fresher.

Crab shell stuffed with minced chicken, crab meat & salted egg yolk. Not as outstanding as Simply Mel's version, since this tasted more like mass-produced paste. But the inclusion of the salted yolk was a nice touch.

Crispy roast duck with coffee sauce. The best order, thanks to juicy, deliciously addictive meat _ a far cry from the bony fowl that plagues other outlets.

Fried sliced beef with "ma nau" sauce, a lime-garlic chili condiment that would have gone well with Hainanese chicken rice too.

Durian & mango with sticky rice. Too bad the fruits seemed thawed instead of fresh.

Thab tim krob, served in a coconut. A sweet finish, in every sense of the phrase.

Terrific Thai-inspired cocktails & shooters: Blowjob in Bangkok (vodka, blue curacao, creme) & Phuket Colada (rum, malibu, coconut milk, pineapple).

Muay Thai Warrior (rum, vodka, root beer) & Bangkok Mojito.

Let's call it a Thai: Thai Chick's (vodka, passion fruit, sweet & sour) & Thai Safari (cointreau, midori, orange, grenadine).

But nope, this Sticky Fingers is completely unrelated to the Sticky Fingers cafe that used to inhabit Jalan Mesui, near Palate Palette & No Black Tie.

Sticky Fingers Bangkok Bistro,

Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2163-0163

Burp! @ Bangsar

Burp: 1. To noisily release air from the stomach through the mouth. 2. A noise made by air released from the stomach through the mouth. 3. A food court in Bangsar Shopping Center that supplies a smorgasbord of Asian specialties.

Start with the Japanese section: Slippery, slurp-worthy mentaiko udon, speckled with roe.

Teppanyaki beef rolls. Burp could well be KL's friendliest food court, crowded with enthusiastically helpful folks behind the counters.

Try the Thai: pad thai, specifically, prepared by true-blue Thai citizens.

A little bit Indonesian: Nasi Bojari, not quite a replica of Madam Kwan's. The rice here is less fluffy but more fragrantly spiced up.

From Hong Kong, with love: Roast duck. Burp's food is well executed and tough to critique; nothing extraordinary, but consistently enjoyable.

Sticking to Malaysian fare the rest of the way: Claypot chicken rice with egg. Portions are hearty, but prices are at least 50 percent higher compared to neighborhood stalls.

Yong tau foo. The fantastic four: brinjal, bitter gourd, lady's fingers & chili.

Remembering my hometown: Malacca-style char mee, a source of sweet-savory stickiness.

Moving further south: Johor laksa, aromatic with herbs & coconut milk.

Cencaru bakar & paru goreng. Burnt hardtail scad & fried lungs? More or less.

Mamak is a must-have: Nasi kandar, flooded with a flavorsome combo of curries.

Meaty murtabak, made to order for maximum satisfaction.

All in all, it's rare to find such a vast variety of cuisines in one outlet at Bangsar. For that alone, Burp merits a visit. Business hours: 10am-10pm daily.

Collect a card on entry, have it swiped like a credit card at each stall while purchasing something, then pay for everything only when leaving the premises.

Burp! @ BSC,

The Asian Food Gallery,

4th Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Go Gourmet

Carb-loading with Go Gourmet, kicking off with Chinese fried rice. Nicely laden with chicken, crab, anchovies & salted egg but completely lacked 'wok hei.'

More "nasi goreng," served with Thai "weeping tiger," or grilled rib-eye beef. Respectably tender meat, but the rice failed to pull its own weight, bordering on bland.

The Malay nasi ulam fared better, with deliciously boneless "ayam percik."

Pad Thai. Well-executed; not the best ever, but piquantly satisfactory.

Kuey teow with beef slices & balls. Lots of succulent meat & bouncy balls for merely 14 ringgit, but to nitpick, the broth seemed deluged with sodium.

Turning Japanese: chicken katsu don, featuring rice topped with crisply breaded chicken & egg. Tasty enough to pass muster at most Japanese outlets.

Chicken miso ramen. Not bad, but with so many ramen specialists sprouting up in KL nowadays, this is only worthwhile if you can't reach a real restaurant.

Ending it all: seafood kuey teow. Will fill the tummy, won't wow the taste buds.

Go Gourmet,

Kuala Lumpur.

Go Gourmet

It's no secret that we shy away from chilies, keeping Thai & Indian food to a minimum. But since variety is the spice of life, we tested our taste buds with fiery fare from Go Gourmet.

Roast duck red curry with tomatoes & pineapple. Tangy, but terribly oily.

Prawns pad prik khing, with lots of long beans to keep things (relatively) healthy.

Sometimes chilies hide out of sight, striking without warning. This stir-fried minced chicken with basil leaves looked innocuous, but several bites contained something more perilous than pepper.

We poured too much chili flakes over our pad si yew, leaving us red and tearful by the time we were midway through it.

Now for the Indian selection. Thankfully, though this tandoori chicken appeared ominously crimson, it seemed to bear more turmeric than chili.

Bindi bhaji lady's fingers. Our first helping of okra in ages!

Lamb vindaloo, to set our tongues aflame.

Wrapping things up with a not-tame-enough chicken briyani. Let's just say we're not foreseeing any Thai or Indian restaurant entries in the near future.

Go Gourmet,

Kuala Lumpur.