My first time at Savor Restaurant — a fully vegan restaurant in Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur — did not disappoint. From the dark green exterior to the rather classy interior and a range of vegan food, I was impressed. I hope can visit again to try other foods on the menu and review them for you!
Savor’s Evolution
Savor was initially “Savor of Life”. It wasn’t a restaurant but a health program. They offered healthy plant based meal plans via home delivery. The restaurant is pretty new and I like how they evolved from a humble service to a full-fledged restaurant.
This is what I would say a great business plan. They knew what their target audience needed i.e., healthy meal plans. And they kept up with that until they could comfortably build a restaurant.
Either that or they acquired really massive funding.
In any case, I’m glad that they’ve turned Savor into a restaurant plus event space. Kuala Lumpur needs more plant based restaurants!
First Impressions of Savor Restaurant
Even before I entered, I could feel the chic vibe. The exterior walls were painted dark green and the sign ‘SAVOR’ was shiny golden with yellow backlight.
The inside was bright with brown and green accents. They did the interior decoration very well that it felt both luxurious and homely at the same time.
At this point, I had forgotten about the difficulty in finding parking at lunchtime in the area.
Starter: Bang Bang Cauliflower
I saw this on the menu and was curious to try. I compare every bang bang cauliflower to that of Wagamama’s because that’s the best so far.
Savor’s bang bang cauli was not the best. The batter was felt a bit too thick and the sauce had something lacking. It was just a bland mix of tomato and chilli sauce.
Price: MYR 18 (USD ~4)
Main: Sambal Squid Nasi Lemak
Not many places (or none at all) add veg squid in the vegan version of the traditional Nasi Lemak. It’s usually mushroom, tempeh and/or a mock meat.
But Savor decides to be different and added sambal sotong (squid). Vegan, of course. Though I’m not sure what it’s made of. To me, it looked and tasted like pasta (non al dente). It was softer than the texture of a real (dead) squid. But the sambal was good. They manage to make it not very spicy while keeping the flavours intact. I quite liked it.
The other prominent side dish was the mushroom rendang. It’s not as spicy as Mushroom Lah’s. And similar to the sambal, it had the spice flavours.
Overall, this Nasi Lemak was satisfying. The portion was big and I was proper full. I’d recommend this to ang mohs and travellers who cannot handle spicy food but want to try a vegan version of the classic Malaysian dish.
Price: MYR 28 (USD ~6)
Dessert: Vegan Cheese with Passionfruit (Tester)
Beverly, the co-founder of Savor Restaurant, kindly let us try their latest dessert experiment. It was one of those desserts in a glass. It’s basically a no-bake version of a cheesecake. It had some cookie crumbs, a huge dollop of Green Rebel’s vegan cheese, and a smear of passionfruit.
The strong cheesy taste took me by surprise. It took some time to get used to it. I gave a feedback that there should be more of the passionfruit to balance out the vegan cheese. And the dessert would be better in multiple layers instead of one block of cheese, overpowering everything else.
I hope this (with the improvements) goes into the menu because it has the potential to amaze the omnis.
A Must-Visit Vegan Restaurant in KL
While this was my first time, it was my friends’ fifth or sixth time. They liked the food they’ve had so far and that’s why they keep coming back to try different ones. As a first-timer, I was very pleased and would visit again if given the chance.
What I’d like to try next time are their Big Breakfast and Dim Sum. And their smoothies.
Lots more to Savor!
