Stepping into Jhol Restaurant KL feels like crossing a threshold between city bustle and coastal ease. Bathed in warm light and anchored by textures of rattan and wood, the space evokes the calm of an Indian seaside home that is intimate, refined, and inviting. Here, food unfolds like a slow tide: layered, complex, and deeply personal.

The tasting menu reads like a culinary voyage across India’s southern coasts, but what makes it extraordinary is its quiet emphasis on sustainable dining. While both plant-based and meat dishes were featured, it was the vegetarian courses that carried the narrative for us. Each dish was crafted with clarity, intention, and reverence for the ingredients.

Read more: Discovering Japanese Five Senses at Nobu Kuala Lumpur

Table of Content

1. Meaning of Jhol
2. The Culinary Journey Tasting Menu
3. Dishes for Sharing
4. Desserts
5. Chef Gaurav Gupta
6. Contact Information

Jhol Kuala Lumpur: Fine Dining Indian Cuisine in Kuala Lumpur

Jhol Kuala Lumpur: Fine Dining Indian Cuisine in Kuala Lumpur

Meaning of Jhol

The name Jhol is a nod to the comforting, flavourful gravies and broths found across Indian homes and coastal kitchens. In many regional dialects, "jhol" refers to a light, spiced curry that is humble yet deeply nourishing.

By choosing this name, the restaurant pays homage to everyday dishes that are rich in heritage and memory, elevating them with refined technique while remaining rooted in warmth, familiarity, and soul. It’s a tribute to the essence of Indian cooking, one that is honest, layered, and always shared.

The Culinary Journey Tasting Menu

The evening opens not with fanfare, but with quiet confidence. A trio of bites arrives, each evoking a different coastline.

First, the Bombay Bhel crackling with puffed rice and laced with sweet tamarind, fresh herbs, and green mango. It’s bright, punchy, and unafraid to speak its mind. Then comes the Calicut Pepper Crab on toast, where the warmth of black pepper meets the sweet brininess of crab, softened by a garlic yogurt pachadi that cools like a sea breeze after dusk. Lastly, the Dim’er Devil from Kolkata - boiled egg, crisp-fried, velvety-centred. Familiar, yet surprisingly elegant.

Prelude consists of Bombay Bhel, Calicut Pepper Crab and Kolkata Dim’er Devil

A plate appears, carrying a buttered cloud: the Masala Muska Bun. Stuffed with spiced potato and slathered with curry leaf and pav bhaji butters, it’s nostalgic, warm, and impossibly tender. It is Bangalore comfort wrapped in whimsy.

Beside it, the Berhampur Fried Chicken, or BFC, brings the crunch. Drenched in spice, fried for drama, and served with hot sauce, it bites back in the best way. For those on the vegetarian path, a textured, plant-based counterpart made using jackfruit arrives just as defiantly crisp, layered with heat and care.

Berhampur Fried Chicken by Jhol Kuala Lumpur

Piri Piri Jackfruit by Jhol Kuala Lumpur

The super fluffy Masala Muska Bun at Jhol Kuala Lumpur that we fell in love with

What follows is a reinterpretation of a street-side staple: Surti Anda Ghotala. An egg scramble, slow-cooked with cheese and lifted with truffle, sits atop toast like a late-night secret. Rich, indulgent, yet graceful. A reminder that even the most modest dishes can wear a silk saree and hold their own.

For vegetarians, a paneer rendition arrives - soft, spiced, and just as decadent - retelling the same story with a different kind of elegance.

Surti Anda Ghotala (and its paneer rendition) at Jhol Kuala Lumpur

Then: smoke, spice, and shoreline.

From the southern coast of India comes a dish that speaks in spice and warmth. The Kundapura Ghee Roast Chicken is tender, richly marinated, and slow-roasted in fragrant ghee until it catches just the right char. It is served with a crisp cone dosa and a cool coconut chutney, bringing texture, heat and balance in every bite. Each element plays its part without trying too hard, allowing the flavours to unfold gently on the palate.

For those on the vegetarian journey, the Baby Eggplant Ghee Roast offers the same soulful depth. The eggplants are cooked until meltingly soft, absorbing the robust masala like a secret. Paired with the same dosa and chutney, it is quietly powerful, deeply satisfying, and every bit as celebratory.

Kundapura Ghee Roast Chicken and Baby Eggplant Ghee Roast at Jhol Kuala Lumpur. A crisp cone dosa, flanked by creamy coconut chutney, ties everything together with southern grace.

Dishes for Sharing

Next up: The Feast.

The Roasted Pumpkin Menaskai inspired by the city of Udipi brings together the sweetness of roasted pumpkin with the gentle tang of pineapple that is soft with spice and memory. Nestled beside it, a warm basket of cashew ghee rice adds fragrance and texture. Each grain buttery and bright, each bite a quiet celebration of balance.

The non-vegetarian journey leads to the Alleppey Fish Curry, where tender fish swims in a light coconut broth scented with mango. It is served with tempered tapioca and nutty matta rice, creating a plate that feels both grounding and transportive. A dish that tastes like home, even when far from it.

The rice dishes at Jhol are a quiet adventure of their own. The tempered tapioca, rarely seen beyond southern Indian homes, offers a chewy, soothing contrast to the sharper notes of curry that is lightly spiced, delicately earthy, and deeply comforting. The matta rice, with its husky grains and nutty aroma, holds its own beneath the sauce, adding weight and honesty to every spoonful. Even the cashew ghee rice, paired with the Menaskai, surprises with its fragrant sweetness and crunch. Each grain and texture is mesmerisingly purposeful.

Roasted Pumpkin Menaskai and Alleppey Fish Curry at Jhol Kuala Lumpur

Desserts

The desserts at Jhol bring contrast and closure.

The Tender Coconut Payasam is light as a whisper. Textural with mango jelly, berry gel, and marigold petals, playful with a sesame snap, and completed by a bright scoop of mango sorbet.

But it's the Sticky Toffee Pudding that lingers longest: warm, lush, and laced with Nolen Gur, its sweetness deepened by a scoop of salted caramel ice cream. A final indulgence that is truly rooted, nostalgic, and utterly deserving.

Tender Coconut Payasam at Jhol Kuala Lumpur

Sticky Toffee Pudding by Jhol Kuala Lumpur

Chef Gaurav Gupta

Chef Gaurav, the culinary force behind Jhol Kuala Lumpur, hails from the coastal town of Manipal in Karnataka, India. A graduate of the Welcomgroup Academy of Culinary Arts, he began his career with the Taj Hotels in Bangalore, where he immersed himself in the rich diversity of Southern Indian cuisine. 

His journey continued at Indian Accent in New Delhi, India’s top-rated restaurant, where he worked under the acclaimed Chef Manish Mehrotra, before returning to Bangalore to open Alchemy with his mentor Chef Hari Nayak - a concept that paired coastal flavours with India’s first Australian craft brewery.

Driven by a passion for elevating regional Indian fare, Chef Gaurav later launched Jhol in Bangkok, Thailand’s first coastal Indian restaurant. While in the city, he honed his skills at Michelin-starred kitchens including Blue by Alain Ducasse, Mia, and Haoma under Chef DK. Today, he brings that same creative finesse and depth of experience to Jhol’s Malaysian outpost, offering diners a sophisticated reimagining of India’s coastal culinary heritage.

Chef Gaurav Gupta hails from the coastal town of Manipal in Karnataka, India.

At its core, Jhol Restaurant KL, owned by Cliff Top Group, offers more than a dining experience. It is also a sensory passage through time, place, and memory. With a menu that honours the land and the sea in equal measure, it invites diners to rediscover India’s coastal traditions through a conscious, cultivated lens. For those who value both flavour and footprint, this is a journey worth taking - slowly, with gratitude.

Contact Information

Address: G-01, The MET Corporate Towers, Jalan Dutamas 2, Kompleks Kerajaan, 50480 Kuala Lumpur

Contact number: +60 12‑502-4528‬

Opening hour: 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM