Raising the Steaks

While the foot traffic at Kurau Lane in Bangsar has always ebbed and flowed, Samantha Lim posits that N97 will turn the tide

The blue latex gloves squeak and snap as our server makes a spectacle of tugging them over his hands. Five pairs of eyes follow his every move, mouths watering. Named for its resemblance to the weapon wielded by North American Indians, the Tomahawk steak, a speciality cut of beef rib-eye, requires some manhandling. There is something primordial about grappling with a Tomahawk—its sheer size alone is enough to transport us to a time when cavemen feasted like kings (if they made a kill) or not at all. Thankfully, this isn’t our server’s first time tackling the mammoth serving of meat. The hefty cut is expertly seized by the bone, stripped clean of its flesh and fat, and sliced into manageable slabs before being heaved onto our waiting plates. There is a long silence punctured by the clatter of cutlery, loud masticating, and almost obscene groaning. We barely pay heed when the boomerang-like bone is carted away for a later ‘surprise’. Despite the upmarket postcode, it’s hard to determine if Kurau Lane is prime real estate or precarious property. Hiding in plain sight for many moons, the stretch sees little foot traffic compared to the perennially popular Telawi. In my two decades of residing in Kuala Lumpur, I’ve watched a slew of businesses, largely F&B, move into brick and

There is something primordial about grappling with a Tomahawk—its sheer size alone is enough to transport us to a time when cavemen feasted like kings (if they made a kill) or not at all