Malisa Flame Grilled Peri Peri Chicken @ Perdana Park

Folks in KK, most of you who have tried and loved Nando's Grilled Peri-peri chicken can be rest assured that there is a restaurant in town that serves the same dish. Although its no Nando's, but they come close. And they even have localised version of hot peri-peri sauce. And when I say local, I mean its reeaaally spicy. So we were definitely excited to be invited by Young Chef Alvin to sample their restaurant, christened Malisa, to try some really spicy chicken dishes. What's more, for a limited time, get 30% off on ALL FOOD. So whatcha waiting for??

Malisa Restaurant
Location: Perdana Park (Taman Perdana) at Tanjung Aru,
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Near Tanjung Aru Beach.

 

 

This restaurant serves good south African/ mediterranean menu, and don't let the decor fool you into ordering watan ho or kung pao chicken. This restaurant is actually run by English tea house, and we were made to understand that English tea house will be opening at the end of the year around the same vicinity. At the time of writing, there is yet to be a signage, so you may miss the restaurant. However, we were told by Chef Alvin, that this will be rectified soon.

 

We started off with some thirst quenching juices : Peach Tea, Papaya Smoothie and Watermelon Juice. They cost RM4, RM6 and RM6.50 respectively. The smoothies was creamy and yogurty, while the watermelon was blended with ice. The peach tea was just average, but then again that is also the least costly of the lot.

 

 

We were greeted with entree of pita bread with 2 choices of dips, blue cheese and humus. The humus was smooth but retained some rough texture and tasty at the same time. While the blue cheese dip was very fragrant and slightly sour. Note that if you're adverse to cheese, then you may not like the smell of blue cheese, as it may remind you of week old socks.

 

 

 

Blue cheese dip

 

 

This was what we came for, flame grilled peri-peri wings. Very fragrant and near perfectly grilled as it wasn't burnt on the outside while the inside is cooked. It was also spicy, as you would expect from peri-peri marinades. 

 

 

So this is how the menu works, standalone wings of 5, cost RM7.95, add 2 regular sides and your meal total cost will be RM12.95. Tonight our chef sent us 2 sides of The mediterranean, which is the salad you see above you, and Aromatic Savannah Rice, pictured at the background. The salad was just awesome with  generous bits of feta cheese and olives, while the balsamic vinegar dressing complements the crunchy lettuce and onions.

 

 

The rice was nice and tasty, while the raisins reminds us of nasi briyani. Some parts of the rice was a little bit dry though.

 

 

Next we had chicken breast stuffed pita with chakalaka salad. This set cost RM14.95, but if you just want the sandwich its just RM11.95. The chicken inside the pita is grilled ala per-peri as well, mixed with fresh lettuce, red onion and tomatoes. Hence a juicy meat (relatively speaking since this is chicken breast) with spicy tang. Even the pita bread is nice and firm. 

 

 

 

The chakalaka salad is a south african dish, we were told, which consists of 3 types of beans, served cold. If you prefer, bouts of tasty spicy punches coming your way, then this salad may put a damper as it is rather bland, relatively speaking of course since even the mediterranean salad has flavours coming from the cheese, olive and onions. But maybe this is in its original South African recipe, hence is something that the local tongue needs to get used to.

 

 

Next up, we had double chicken breast burger served with cous cous and paprika potato wedges. The burger was nice, even though it didn't have a lot of sauce in between the bun, but I suppose it is to prevent the sauce from overwhelming the spicy and tasty chicken. Again, although its is the breast portion, it was still slightly juicy. Standalone burger cost RM15.95, top up another RM3 for 1 side dish or for a better valur 2 side dish cost an additional RM5 only.

 

 

 

We don't have couscous very often, so this was an amazing experience for us. Generously buttered with red and green capsicum to intermittently give you a crunch to an otherwise smooth bit of the couscous. The olives also give it a unique flavor and fragrance. 

 

 

Fried and grilled wedges laced with paprik is a nice accompaniment to the burger, the paprika just gives it a rather classy, mediterranean feel to an otherwise redneck meal.

 

 

Next we had quarter chicken served with garlic bread. The chicken thigh was simple awesome and the peri-peri sauce was just a wonderful complement. With its spicy aroma, with just a hint of hot and spicy make this dish mouth watering. The garlic (pita ) bread also was generously buttered and toasted nicely. Quarter chicken cost RM11.95 ala carte and RM16.95 if you want extra 2 side dishes.

 

 

 

 

 

For desserts we had this special ice cream. What's so special you ask? well the chocolate syrup you see here has a boombastic sensation - hot and spicy. Yes you read right, young Chef Alvin painstakingly made this spicy chocolate sauce from scratch. He explained the process to us and it sounds like a chore. At first taste, it seems like any other ice-cream, the spiciness only sets in for about 5 seconds after initial chill fades away. Its really wonderful how one sensation leaves to make way for another. In this case both sensation never appear in the same room. Gives new meaning to chilly (ironically shares the same phonetics as chilli) ice cream.

 

 

Lastly, we had this handsome black forest cake to  top off such a wonderful dinner. Its just as nice as any other black forest cake, however, we were pretty fond of the base, as its the same as what you find at apple pies. cookie, biscuity base. However the only qualms we have was that some part of the cake was a tad dry. Other than that its a good cake.

 

 

Thank you for reading my posts. Our media coverage now touches mostly on lifestyle events and focuses on happening scenes in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur. We write food reviews, travel and hotel reviews, KK and KL clubbing reviews and product launches. Our other interests include the movies, technology and photography. Subscribe to our facebook page. Contact us via my email at: monicaong@hotmail.com or angel_line78@hotmail.com