New Dishes at WIP, Bangsar Shopping Centre

From its beginnings as a Work In Progress to a now popular hangout spot in KL, WIP is now Whipped Into Place. Located in the upmarket Bangsar Shopping Centre, the outlet offers an elegantly casual ambience with the design feel of an urban-tropic garden. Walking in, you’ll feel temporarily out of the hustle and bustle of a big city, while the friendly staff are happy to guide you through the whole experience.

The direction of WIP’s menu is cosmopolitan, with inspiration from different continents. You can either choose to be safe and order the local favourites, or be bold and try out more unfamiliar dishes. Good news, by the way, as WIP has just launched a few more new dishes to add into the eclectic mix.

Tomato Bruschetta is Italian in origin and here buttered garlicly sliced baguettes are toasted first, then topped with chopped cherry tomatoes mixed with basil. It’s simple, but when all the flavours are right, it can be so comforting and appetizing. Here, they’ve executed this starter particularly well.

The Popcorn chicken was next on the list of starters, and this proved to be great bar snack. The crunchy exterior, juicy flesh, completed with a piguant grain mustard aioli will have you reaching for more, while also encouraging you to reach for your beer/cocktail/wine. Delicious.

Are school prawns more intelligent because they went to school? Well, I don’t know about that but what I do know is that this species of prawn has a distinctive sweeter taste, and can be consumed whole, which is great news for people like me who are too lazy to be peeling prawns. Plus it adds to the whole crunchy factor that is so alluring to many. The chili mayo is creamy with a nice bit of kick, definitely moreish. I’ll happily devour this again.

For the mains, I had the Garlic Pan Seared Salmon, which comes with Black Bean Pilaf Rice, Chili Mango salsa and Sautéed Vegetables (Kale and Asparagus). Very fusion sounding and would definitely be a go-to dish if executed well. But here the Salmon is slightly overcooked for my liking and I’d prefer if there was more condiment (and sauce) to go around. The pilaf rice is surprisingly aromatic despite its pale appearance.

The other half went for the Alaskan Crab Burger, which came with fries and a side of cherry tomatoes not unlike the toppings on the Tomato bruschetta. The crab patty is impressively thick, packed with crab meat and it tastes like the ocean with its umaminess. The exterior is also nice and crispy, pairing nicely with the soft burger bun. Bonus point for the crisp lettuce too.

Our table also shared a pizza: the Triple Trio Supreme, featuring Chicken sausage, chicken ham, grilled chicken, onion ring, cocktail onion, onion marmalade, mozzarella, cheddar and emmental cheeses. The crust is sufficiently crispy, but taste wise a little one-dimensional because it’s just chicken and onion basically. Simplicity is its game I guess.

We also tried out some of the new cocktails they concocted, and my favourite would be the Spicy Cuban Mojito, made with Rum, red capsicum, blood orange syrup, mint syrup, triple sec, lime wedges. Coming close second would be the Madhu Mojito with Rum, lychee puree, lemon, ginger, honey syrup, mint leaves, lime wedges.

I love the presentation of the Muskmelon Sangria. Featuring white wine, mango syrup, melon liqueur, this is a thirst quenching mixture and is definitely suitable for a girly afternoon catch-up.

There are many more dishes which we didn’t get to sample. In hindsight, perhaps we should have been more adventurous and order dishes that we normally wouldn’t. Anyway, we know what to do during our next visit.