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Attended a surprise birthday bash at SOULed OUT Cafe & Bar located in Sri Hartamas. That place seems to be the defacto spot for surprise parties. A friend of mine was even making a joke about it which went something like this:

A trying to get B to go to his surprise birthday party.
A: Let’s go to SOULed OUT Cafe & Bar tonight.
B: Holding a surprise party for me, right?
A: Yup ‘-.- [bengang]

WL and I arrived at 7.15pm, and managed to find a good parking spot in the carpark opposite the restaurant. Since it wasn’t dark yet, the place was still fairly empty of party goers and the yuppy crowd. I don’t know why but, while I do frequent the Sri Hartamas and Mont Kiara areas, I’m somewhat partial against them. Perhaps it is the ‘posh’ setting and the beautiful people that are out and about, waiting to see and be seen. Not exactly the best places to unwind when you’re on a shoestring budget.

Since we were there early, we took the opportunity to scout the place out and see what we could find out. The interior was a little cramp on space, but the decor was kinda classy with wooden furniture and cabinets. They have a whole wine room and a cupboard full of half finished bottles of alcohol. These were neatly labeled with names and telephone numbers. Interesting, that they would put them on display with personal details for anyone to see, especially in this day and age. Anyway, the exterior was in total contrast to the interior. The cafe cum bar covers quite a large piece of real estate with ample seating for anyone who would wish to dine there. There were large screen projectors on three sides, with schedules of the latest F1 season posted all over the place, to draw the sports crowd.

Everyone else started arriving at 7.45pm. The party was complete, save for the star of the evening. He arrived at around 8.30pm after spending an hour surfing the net (big mistake, long story). Fortunately for us, the birthday boy wasn’t quite as alert as B in the above scenario and we managed to pull something of a surprise off. During that one hour when we were waiting for him to arrive, we had to endure the constant badgering of the waiting staff for us to order drinks. Why? Has it become illegal in KL for a person to sit at the table without ordering drinks? From the way they kept coming at us, one would assume so.

It was finally time to place our orders. Prior to coming to this place, I had asked my sister what the place was like. She had kindly furnished me with a quick overview in which she said, “the place is kinda like Chilis”. When I heard that, the first thing I did was to check my wallet to ensure that I had enough funds. I found out she wasn’t kidding as I browsed the menu. Even the margaritas were pricey at RM18.90 a pop and they were so much smaller than the ones served at Chilis.

They have quite an extensive menu, with a variety of main courses ranging from typical western food, to authentic Indian cuisines, and typical Chinese wok fried dishes. The menu also boasts a very large selection of drinks and deserts, including alcoholic shots, cocktails and non-alcoholic mocktails, drafts and malts, fresh juices and soft drinks, as well as ice creams and local favourites After consulting my friend who frequents the place quite often, WL and I decided on the Chicken Ala Kiev (RM19.00) and an 8″ Sake San (Regular Pizza - RM24.00). Both were marked with a black spot indicating that it was the house specialty and hot items. We also had a fresh carrot drink (RM8.00).

The 8″ Sake San arrived first. Sake is Japanese for Salmon. I’ve always figured ’san’ in Japanese means Mr. or Ms. or something. Anyway, in this case, Sake San means Salmon Pizza. An 8″ regular hand-tossed thin-crust wood-fired pizza topped with Salmon slices, ebiko (fish roe), wasabi, mayonnaise, lettuce, and cheese. It was alright by me. It had a crispy fresh taste to it thanks to the lettuce and mayo. There was a hint of wasabi, no where near enough to make you cry. In fact, it would have gone unnoticed if not for the smell. While the peppering of ebiko was slight, the taste sort of took centre stage as each individual bubble popped in you mouth, drowning out the other flavours. The Salmon slices were definitely there but they were sparsely spread, with only a thin sliver of salmon on each of the eight pizza slices. I can’t help but compare this to the Salmon Pizza that they have over at Planet Hollywood. I had it once and it was at 50% discount with Citibank Clearcard. That was definitely worth my money. This? Well, the SOULed OUT version was so-so. It was good while we were hungry and it was fresh from the oven but lost its appeal towards the final few bites.

The Chicken Ala Kiev was described as a serving of sausage stuffed in chicken leg, wrapped in ham and cheese, and deep fried. It came with a serving of cold salad, french fries, and barbeque sauce. When it arrived, it resembled an overlarge piece of pisang goreng (banana fritters). While I was happy with the fries (I’m always happy with french fries), I was somewhat disappointed with the salad, which was basically blanched mixed peas tossed in mayo. However, that was nothing to the disappointment I faced as I cut into the chicken. Having come highly recommended by my friend, I was expecting something that was out of this world. What I got was a greasy piece of YUCK! There was no chicken leg, and I tasted no cheese. What I saw through the layers was a greasy fried sausage wrapped in ham. This was the sort of dish for which you can get the ingredients at any supermarket and prepare it yourself. There wasn’t any finese or difficulty involved in preparing it. And yet, a price tag of RM19.00. Two other people had the same dish and they all agree that it was definitely not worth my time, money, or even the space in our stomach.

The night heated up with the arrival of four promoters for Hugo Boss fragrance. These beauties put on a dance and show for the crowd, which came as a surprise for me. They even had a guy complete in singlet, hot pants, worker’s boots, and hard hat come out to shake his bootie. That was good for a few laughs as we turned it into a conversation piece. Their website says that they have a short dance by the staff everyday. I don’t know, maybe you can go there expecting a full monty. Another excerpt that I came across while browsing as follows:

SOULed OUT’s dishes are cooked in 10 minutes and reach your table piping hot
- Excerpt: SOULed OUT ~ Our Menu -

Sorry to say that they failed in both aspects. The food did not arrive within 10 minutes and neither was it piping hot when it did reach our table.

We broke out the birthday cake after that and I washed everything down with a tall glass of cafe latte (RM7.50). Unfortunately, the coffee came cold and I had to send it back to the kitchen. It wasn’t even hot enough to melt the sugar! Good thing it came back hot. I’m not sure whether they added anything else to the brew though, cause my friend told me that coffee was an excellent cover for ‘additives’.

Including all the food and drinks everyone else ordered, the entire meal set us back RM391.90 (inclusive of govt. and service tax) for a party of 10, which rounds out to RM39.20 per person. I did the maths and worked out that WL and I actually ate and drank a total of RM67.28 but wound up paying RM80.00 sans the change. This is one reason why I don’t particularly like splitting the bill even, especially since we usually share our meals and wind up eating less but paying more. However, since it was a happy occasion and the majority was mostly acquaintances, we decided to let it slip.

Overall, while I enjoyed the company and the occasion, I wasn’t very impressed with the venue or the food. WL was also complaining to me afterwards about the bad service and how one of the waitress was kinda rough around the edges as she kept barging in during our conversation to clear the table and ask what we wanted to drink. They try to turn it into a warm cozy environment with friendly energetic staff but to me, it came across a little crude. The shouting and place cards when announcing that the kitchen was closed, while amusing, was a little over the top and could be a little disconcerting if you aren’t prepared for it.

Sorry, no recommendations from me. I’m giving this place a big thumbs down and taking it off my food map. I’d rather blow my money over at Chilis where the food is great, and the service is better.

SOULed OUT Kuala Lumpur
No. 20 Jalan 30/70A,
Desa Sri Hartamas,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: +603-2300 1955
Website: www.souledout.com.my
Recruitment/Email: yum_yum@souledout.com.my

Business Hours:
Afternoon: 12.00 noon - 3.00pm, Mondays - Saturdays, except Public Holidays
Evening: 6.00pm - 2.00am, everyday
Happy Hour: 12.00 noon - 3.00pm, 6.00pm - 9.00pm
(Happy Hour promotions on beer and alcoholic shots only. No cocktails)