Cozy dining at Bayu Timor

Bayu Timor is a cozy restaurant cum Indonesian wooden furniture gallery located in a bustling neighbourhood called Taman Megah in the suburb of Petaling Jaya.

If you're looking for a quiet and cozy place to dine with your family, this could be a nice change from the regular busy restaurants or fast food outlets in malls. It occupies two shoplots with one a smaller cafe setting furnished with glass-topped tables and wicker-type breakfast armchairs; and the other a restaurant setting furnished with original Indonesian wooden furniture and craft, giving it an almost homely and rustic feel.

Everything here is for sale, even the chairs and tables you're dining on I was told by a friend who first introduced me to this place over a year ago.

Their menu is extensive enough to give you a good range of soups, appetizers, local/Asian fare, Western dishes, pizza, sandwiches and desserts. A number of food bloggers have recommended their rojak, Sarawak laksa and nyonya kuih. I like their set meals as they offer four separate menus to choose from, each menu comes with dessert of the day and coffee/tea. They offer it daily (unlike some other places that offer them on weekdays only) and the portions are just nice, reasonably good value for money (RM19.90).

My husband ordered the Chicken Maryland set while I had the roast lamb with black pepper sauce.

Chicken Maryland with sweet and sour sauce, chicken sausage (partly hidden behind the chicken), banana spring roll, corn fritter and coleslaw.

Roast lamb with black pepper sauce, potato au gratin and vegetables

Dessert of the day with tea (or coffee)

They also have a Children's Menu that comes with iced Milo and ice cream for dessert (RM12.90 for children below 12 years). My eight-year-old daughter had the Fish and Chips set. The portion was sizeable (four chunky fish nuggets) and she couldn't finish everything as it was served with fries and coleslaw. For a kid who shuns vegetables and raisins most times, she enjoyed the coleslaw which had a slightly tangy and refreshing zing, and even ate the raisins. Her verdict: Yummy, better than coleslaw from XXX (a certain fried chicken fast food chain).

Fish and chips, french fries and coleslaw


Vanilla ice cream with nuts

The skinny?
Good, quiet, cozy family dining venue. We were there before the usual 1.00pm crowd on a Saturday so the place was about 50% full. Food served quickly enough, satisfying in taste, portion and menu range. Pricing is reasonable considering the menu and ambience. Suitable for families with young school-going children as they have a children's menu.

The cafe section could be more suitable for families with babies/toddlers. although the floor area is not as large as the restaurant, it has more free space to accommodate fold-up strollers and active toddlers, and devoid of heavy furniture and fragile displays. The air-conditioning there is cooler compared to the restaurant section which covers a larger area and has a back door that's left open constantly to let light in I believe (because they are sliding metal shutters).

Their wait staff are foreign workers. While we didn't have any major problems with them, I feel that they could be trained a bit more to have an added finesse in going about their duties. You need to tell them clearly your needs/orders. They may not have the presence of mind to ask if you're done with the empty plates and remove them. One waiter came to our table with a slightly wet empty tray and decided to shake off the water right in front of us onto the floor before clearing our table.

Their food is also for take-away with nyonya kuih and cakes available in a glass covered case for your selection in the cafe section. They also sell their cakes whole and you can pre-order whole turkeys or roast leg of lamb.

They have branches in Sungai Wang Plaza (Kuala Lumpur) and Alamanda (Putrajaya).

Address: 13, Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya.
Tel: +603 7804 6436