When I first saw Red Ginger, I was excited about trying it out. I mean, even the name souded good! Alas, everytime I went there for dinner, it was closed. Then I found out that it was only opened for lunch.

Anyway, they have finally decided to open for dinner so add it to your dinner-ing places if you're in the Damansara Heights / Bukit Damansara area.

Some work colleagues and I went there for lunch today. It was quite busy for lunch, with people mainly from the SC, surrounding accounting firms and I guess, people who work around the area. You must be warned, though, that parking is horrendous in the Plaza Damansara area during working hours.

The menu has a good selection of local food, including nasi lemak, laksa, ipoh sar hor fun and other fried dishes. Was told that the sar hor fun was highly recommended so I tried that. B wasn't lying, it was pretty good and tasted almost like the one from Ipoh old town.

Ambiance - simple and neat almost on the verge of being upmarket. I like the arrangements of red gingers they have there and the simple touches that have added to the homey feeling. I think they have a private dining area as well but if you're interested, you should ask first.

Prices seemed reasonable, below RM10 per pax for the hawker style food.

Red Ginger
18 Grd-Mezz, Medan Setia 2,
Plaza Damansara
50490 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 2095 3118

The fact that it's on the first floor was a litte off-putting at first .. it means you have to walk all the way up, peer into the restaurant and if you decide you don't like it, get all embarassed and make your way down again.

Anyway, Gecko Cafe at Desa Sri Hartamas didn't disappoint. No red faces or me trying to escape down the stairs or anything. When I first went last year, the restaurant had just been opened by a South African couple. After enticing me there with their great healthy organic food, the place suddenly shut for many months before re-opening end of last year. Turns out the business had been bought over.

The menu hasn't really changed. It's still salads and sandwiches mainly.

Salads galore
Salads are huge here and really yummy. I like the Havana and Crunchy Paw-paw* ones best.

Sandwiches
After being taken over, I feel that the quality of the sandwiches has somewhat gone downhill. The sandwiches are visually not such a work of art anymore and the taste has gotten rather bland.

Breakfast
I like breakfast here - you get toast and eggs and all with coffee and tea and very yummy Sunflower rye bread.

Ambiance
There's lizards everywhere, on almost every surface and all very cute. It's a great place for kids as there's a huge kids area with toys and also a great place to chill out with the large inviting sofas.


Gecko Cafe
No 16-1 Jalan 24/70A,
Desa Sri Hartamas
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 2300 0625

Closed on Sundays

*Paw-paw is Aussie for papaya