one weekend, a friend and i were driving around TTDI to see if we could find any interesting eateries and noticed this place that was packed with a lunch crowd despite it being nearly 3p.m. I was quite intrigued with the attraction of this place but didn’t manage to try it until another night.
The restaurant’s decor is rather traditional, with wooden panels ala-kampung houses acting as a partition for the smoking and non-smoking areas. Love the chairs & tables, which are typically malaysian kopitiam-like.
A look at their menu shows that they serve mostly ala-carte Malay-Thai dishes. We ordered the recommended fish, Ikan Kerabu Mangga (Mango Salad Fish), Baby Kailan with Salted Fish and a Fried Beehoon (炒米粉).
As it wasn’t as packed when we were there, the food was served rather quickly, with all three dishes served at the same time. I noticed that the Mango Salad and Fried Kailan is very popular with the other patrons as most of them had these two dishes on their tables. Our fish was deep fried and topped with the salad which had chopped chillies, sliced young mangoes, sliced onions, peanuts, tossed in a tangy sauce. The fish was very crispy and went very well with the tangy combination of the mango salad. I think I finished almost the entire mango salad myself. lol.
I don’t remember much about the fried beehoon as I was too busy tucking in the salad. Neither am I huge fan of beehoon so I didn’t really eat much of that. The fried kailan wasn’t too salty, despite the use of salted fish.
as we were finishing up, we saw the waiter serving another table a colourful glass of what we learned later as the “Santai Special”. It was actually red jelly slivers in kickapoo soda, capped with an ice dome. i reckon it would be very refreshing to try that the next time I’m in Santai.
All in all, Santai’s the place to go if you want reasonable priced malay homecooking around TTDI.
Santai Restaurant & Cafe
10 Persiaran Zaaba,
Taman Tun Dr Ismail,
60000 Kuala Lumpur
Note: Closes Alternate Mondays.
other reviews:
– masak-masak
– food4thot
she, the epicuriousgirl. 
boo_licious said
Yup! The food at Santai is really yummy. I love the kerabu mangga too.