Bar.Kar Best Restaurant KL

Had a wonderful dining experience at Bar Kar Restaurant. Their steak and seafood were exceptional, perfectly cooked, flavourful, and truly memorable. Service was top-notch as well. A big shout-out to Razz and Kate, who were both attentive, friendly, and made the meal even more enjoyable. The cocktails were uniquely crafted with interesting flavours you don’t usually find elsewhere, and the sake was incredibly smooth, definitely worth trying. Overall, a fantastic place for good food, great drinks, and excellent service. Will definitely return.

The claypot char siew rice was so good! The remaining dishes I had were delicious, but nothing extraordinary or anything special. The musk melon salad was definitely not my cup of tea, wish I’ve ordered something else. The staff wasn‘t too attentive but always super friendly. If you‘re around the area, it is worth a visit just for the claypot rice!

This experience raises serious questions about what Michelin Guide – Michelin Selected is supposed to represent. From the outset, the basics failed. We were offered still water by the server, which never arrived. Something as fundamental as water service was neglected before the meal even began. We ordered the uni toast and truffle toast as small bites. The truffle toast was good. The uni toast, priced at RM88 for a single piece, was indefensible. It was bland, lacked any identifiable uni flavour, and had none of the creaminess or umami that defines the ingredient. If this qualifies as acceptable execution under a Michelin-endorsed selection, then the benchmark is disturbingly low. We clearly instructed the server to have the chicken served before the wagyu rice. This request was ignored. The wagyu rice arrived first, already demonstrating poor service coordination. The dish itself was worse: whatever wagyu was present was completely overwhelmed by an excessively heavy char siew sauce. The wagyu contributed nothing meaningful to the dish, making the name misleading and the price unjustifiable. The chicken followed, accompanied by a sauce that was aggressively bitter — unmistakably burnt. This was not nuanced bitterness or intentional char; it was a technical failure. Such a dish should never pass quality control, much less be served in a restaurant carrying Michelin recognition. When we raised these concerns, the server said he would relay our feedback to the chefs. As a resolution, we were offered a complimentary ice cream. This token gesture trivialised the extent of the failures: multiple poorly executed dishes, ignored service instructions, and an unpleasant overall experience during a premium-priced Christmas dinner. Michelin recognition is meant to signal consistency, respect for ingredients, and professional service. This restaurant delivered none of those. Instead, it exposed a gap so wide between expectation and reality that the Michelin Selected label felt misleading rather than reassuring. Christmas being a peak period is not an excuse. If anything, Michelin-recognised establishments should be held to higher standards under pressure — not lower. This was not merely a disappointing meal. It was a direct affront to what Michelin standards are supposed to stand for. If this experience is representative of “Michelin Selected,” then the credibility of the designation itself deserves serious scrutiny.

The food was decent and well executed, but unfortunately the service did not quite meet the expectations for a restaurant of this level. The servers lacked enthusiasm and did not provide much introduction to the dishes; explanations felt rushed and mumbled, as if they were eager to move on. Attentiveness was also inconsistent. While the restaurant was not fully packed, we noticed empty bar counter seats but they forgot to move us. Overall, the dining experience felt average on the service side, which was disappointing given the Michelin recognition. With improved service and engagement, this could be a much stronger experience. The dining music option would be better if it s a more slower tone. We spend around 400 per pax

The entrance is truly impressive — the long walkway lined with stacked wood creates a stunning visual impact and is perfect for photo-taking. The ambience alone already sets high expectations. Moving on to the food. The staff did a good job explaining the menu clearly and patiently, which I appreciated. • Egg & Toast 2.0: For me, it tasted quite normal, nothing particularly memorable. • Grilled squid with kangkung: Flavours reminded me of a Chinese-style dish, familiar and not very distinctive. • Dry-aged golden pomfret: Decent, but overall felt quite standard. • Romaine lettuce & corn dishes: Also tasted rather ordinary but something special on with the sauce. • Char siew wagyu rice: So-so, did not stand out for me. • 21-day aged short rib: This was better — the sauce was good and enjoyable. One pleasant surprise was their cocktails, which tasted good and were well-balanced. The highlight of the entire meal was the dessert. The Ma Lai Gao was excellent and easily the best dish of the night. Overall, while the environment and entrance are outstanding, the food didn’t leave a strong impression for me. Worth trying once for the experience, but I don’t think I’ll return.

The entrance and ambience gives u the impression that you are set for a wonderful culinary night experience. Until, the food arrives and service as well. The service was particularly slow. We had to ask for our drinks (only coke zero btw), main and finally our dessert. They reminded us many times that it was full house and we had to leave the table by 2 hours. So, it did not help, that the momentum of the dishes being served was rather slow and kept you waiting for what is next. Most of the food was not bad but not particularly fantastic given it's a Michelin selected restaurant. Probably the two only dishes executed well were the jumbo Cameron asparagus and the lava cake. The chicken dish was particularly disappointing. We felt that the dish was undercooked. There were parts of the chicken pink in color and the meat was difficult to be cut and separated from the bone. However, when we feedback to the staff. They took back the dish and had it "evaluated" by the chef. Only to explain to us that the dish is safe to be eaten and it is probably the joints of the chicken that is difficult to be cut. He did tell us to inform again if the dish is not right to us. By that point, hearing their explanation, we are pretty much demotivated by the dish. And hence, we are not really particularly in the mood to prove our point. Since he did also mention it's due to the method of cooking. First he mentioned confit and then, towards the end he said dry aged. We have tried both methods of cooking before at other restaurants of similar prestige (which I shall not name) which did not cut and taste like that textural wise. I felt that the staff thought we did not understand/appreciate the method of cooking which isn't the case. Well, customer opinion does always have value. If anything, I thought the taste was okay but just needed maybe 1-2 mins of additional cooking time. Other dishes were well cooked but taste wise nothing great. They did give us an extra icecream for our lava cake. But, considering it was a special occasion, we would have appreciate a better taste on our palates. Actually, I was very surprised to see the michelin recognition when I was walking out the restaurant (I did not know that beforehand). Probably no second time for us, sorry.

Great ambience and hospitality! The food was chef’s kiss, and the music perfectly complemented the whole atmosphere ✨ Definitely a wonderful place to celebrate my birthday lunch- I had the best time here! Special mention to Ameer for assisting us throughout the day and for taking amazing photos too. Highly recommend coming here- you should definitely give it a try!

From Singapore , saw this restaurant while scrolling through Instagram & yet it doesn’t disappoint, celebrated my birthday here with excellent flavours , service & ambience! Me and my wife ordered each item from different sections of the menu, as there was so much to try but yet our stomach doesn’t give in haha! So here are the items: Bites: - Uni toast || Homemade brioche, Uni , tomato herb sauce (Super Umami with a nice refresher for every bite) To start: - Grilled Wild Sabah tiger prawns , Prawn bisque , Prawn oil (It’s a banger of prawns , lovely emulsified bisque & the grill flavour it’s amazing!) - Grilled squid & Kangkong , sweet chilli peanut , Lime (this was the star of the night , lovely squid grilled nicely , with a sauce that feels like ketchup manis with a little bit of spice & the crunch from the peanuts , oh god lovely and to refresh with that hint of lime juice ❤️) Big plates: - 21 Days aged NZ dever lamb rib , black vinegar & maltose sauce , Bentong ginger (This was another star of the night , I would totally recommend this if you are a person that loves that lamb fat taste, the fat cap of the lamb it was rendered properly with that nice char , and the sauce was just the balancer of the dish oh lord ❤️) Beef: - Signature Belacan aged Argentina Sirloin , Pickles (Papaya , Cucumber & Ginger flower) & Romaine salad with truffle dressing (The sirloin was aged nicely , nice char on the outside and juicy on the inside due to the Aging process , keeping its juices in , Lovely pickle to kill the jelakness & the romaine salad it’s refreshing with a hint of truffle in there lovely) Vegetables: - Grilled Cameron jumbo asparagus, crispy duck bacon chips, smoked sour cream (lovely asparagus that’s not overcooked , saltiness from the duck bacon chips was good and the smoked sour cream elevated the smokiness of the dish itself) Claypot: - Char siew wagyu beef rice (rice was perfectly cooked with that crispy bottom , will be honest it doesn’t taste like char siew but more towards pigs vinegar trotter (猪脚醋) but overall still lovely, tasteful and balance not a overkilling dish. Dessert: - Baked pineapple Alaska with Highland Park liquor (Lovely grilled pineapple at the bottom with a pineapple ice cream filling & the meringue , this dessert is more towards the spicy and bittersweet side of a regular dessert, not for the faint hearted or straight minded individual that thinks dessert should be just sweet to try) - Teh tarik & Popcorn Ice cream (firstly the teh tarik ice cream packs a punch of tea flavours like a heavy one which will follow up with the condense or evaporated milk taste , tasty! Secondly the popcorn ice cream , just tastes like popcorn ! Haha lovely caramel inside but the cream didn’t take the show overall! Lovely) Cocktails: - Sweet char (was recommended by the server for this and I would say it’s forking good , sorry to use foul language, but really , that strong chrysanthemum & varieties tea taste, topping with tanqueray 10 Gin , it’s just lovely, the recommendation wasn’t not a 地雷!) - Kuih Talam (so I wanted to try something else, something that was local , that screams KL / Malaysia and was recommended this cocktail, the taste was just totally relevant to what I want , very balance taste of Pandan , coconut & pineapple with that hint of Volcan blanco tequila at the end of every sip of the drink was just lovely!) So overall it was an exceptional experience, Hard grilled flavours , good use of local products , lovely dry Aging process of everything that we had, kudos to the team of Bar.Kar really , from the front of house to the kitchen team , salute! 🫡, You guys truely deserved to be in the Michelin bib gourmand. Lastly special thanks to Badsha & Rakib the servers of the night for us , clear explanation of the dishes & solid recommendations of the food! And also the chefs , lovely execution of every dish and the control of tempo for the whole dinner service was excellent ❤️! #madrespect!