Coliseum Cafe & Hotel

This is an ancient cafe established since 1929 smacked right in the middle of KL city, which, I am pretty sure many have tried, or at least, heard of this cafe.. Coliseum Cafe brings back fond memories to many, as their parents brought them here when they were young and Coliseum was considered the restuarant to be seen in.. Alas, the waiters grew old, the table cloths and napkins yellowed and Coliseum retreated quietly...

Or is that true?? I went over with Wai and CW for lunch recently as CW has never been to Coliseum..We stood outside, tried to peep in, but the glass was so stained (with grime).. forget about that, we went in..

Though it was lunch time and on a weekday, Coliseum was packed with customers. Stepping in warps me back to the 1930's.. with the aging lamps, old china and they still kept their coat and hat hangers on the walls.

We were soon seated and placed our orders.. Next door where the bar and R&R area was (we were at the dining area), there was a large group of angmohs.. Not surprising as theres lots of travel books which recommends Coliseum as the place to visit when they are in KL. What amused me was this group of angmohs seemed to be wearing the same T-shirts and caps.. Wondering which society they were frm, I squinted to check the initials emblazoned on their t-shirts.. and guess what? They called themselves PRICKs! :D.. Bunch of jokers, guess one of them was a smart aleck and decided to name themselves Peninsular Research Institute of Culture and Knowledge..

Sorry I digressed.. back to the food..Wai was craving for the Chinese Chicken Chop, CW wanted to try the Sizzling NZ Rib Eye while me, being greedy, had the Chicken ala King so I can have a fusion of east and west..

All portions was huge and I got mine first :)..

The fried rice was superb! With sufficient wok hei, the simple combination of rice, eggs, raisins and corn tasted so good that I could not have enuff of it..kekekeke.. The chicken was smothered with prawns and some bechemal sauce thingy.. anyways, it really complements the rice really well.. Too much chicken breast (and a tad dry), CW had to finish for me :p

Wai's Chinese Chicken Chop came next and it was a humongous plate! This is actually the Hainanese style chicken chop and Coliseum's version is one of the better ones I've tasted.. The chicken was too salty (I think the marination had too much salt), but the sauce was well balance and tasty. The chicken was fried till crispy, but tender and juicy on the inside.

While we were nicely tucking in, CW was enjoying his bowl of salad.. when suddenly, the waitress came frm the back and tied a huge bib on him!

A surprised CW

He was so surprised and I had a good laugh, even took a picture of it..kekeke

This was in preparation before his sizzling plate of ribeye was served.. You can hear the sizzle when the ribeye was placed on the hot plate and the black pepper sauce drenched the whole steak..CW's ribeye was medium, nicely done, tender and juicy. Still, I'm not a fan of black pepper sauce, so this was not my kinda steak. The ribeye was served with sides of roast potatoes and boiled veg...

Overall, we had a good lunch, taking our time to enjoy the food and bask in the 'ambience'

Wai enjoying her old school lychee drink....

What Julianne thinks?

Nostalgic, pleasurable and scrumptious

Coliseum Cafe and Hotel is located at 98-100 Jalan Tunaku Abdul Rahman, 50100 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-26926270. Next to Coliseum Theatre.