Steaks & Western Food @ Maria’s Cafe and Restaurant, Damansara Perdana, PJ

After spending hundreds of Ringgit on steaks at other famous restaurants in Klang Valley like Prime, Gaucho Grill, Jake’s, Las Vacas, Meatworks, Suzi’s Corner etc, in the end I still find myself going back to Maria’s Cafe. Overall, they are still the best in my book after weighing all the factors, especially quality and affordability.

As mentioned in my previous posts here and here, the steaks at Maria’s are heavily marinated to add more flavor into the meats. So if you are a steak purist then obviously this is not your thing. I have tried the Kobe and Wagyu here in two previous visits so this time I went for the Australian Black Angus (190gm, medium rare & no sauce) instead. Although this looks like a tenderloin, it is actually a rib eye cut with a tag price of Rm42/100gm. Among the three high-end steak meat, Black Angus would be the most affordable to most of our budgets.
Well, if you compare Angus with Kobe and Wagyu, the latter two would literally melt in your mouth and cost easily twice as much. Now, Black Angus is obviously not as marbled but it is definitely not lacking in flavor and texture. Some would claim that Kobe is the best due to the fact that it is a prized meat with intense marbling and all. But the truth is you have to try all of them to find out which suits you the most, don’t just follow what others say.

The Seafood Pasta @ RM24 is perfect in my books – the pasta is well cooked, topped with fresh seafood (prawns, mussel and salmon) and tossed with olive oil and Italian herbs. If there’s anything you should know it would be the pasta’s seasoning, which has been modified to be much heavier to suit our strong taste buds.

Chicken Parmiagiani @ RM22 is one of the popular dishes here. It looks and tastes quite similar to Chicken Schnitzel actually, but imagine it to have a crustier outside and with homemade salsa sauce and melted cheese on top. To be honest I thought it would taste tough but the meat was surprisingly easy to cut it is actually quite tender on the inside. My only gripe with this is that it should have had more cheese! More cheese = moar awsm.

Spicy NZ Mussels @ RM16, the sauce tastes quite similar to the one used to top the Chicken Parmigiani earlier, just thicker and spicier. A garlic bread comes with this dish too, mainly for mopping up any sauce left on the plate.

Onion Soup @ RM8.50. If you are wondering what’s that at the center of the soup, it is nothing but a drowned crouton lol. I find Onion Soup quite uncommon in the local restaurants so it could be worthy of a try. It is not bad actually, tastes sweet of sauteed onion and provides warming sensation later. But for first timers it is always best to go for their Mushroom and Oxtail Soup. You will hardly go wrong with these two, especially the latter which happens to be my favorite.

And lastly, we had their Tiramisu (RM13.50, topped with crushed top-grade walnut) as an end to the ever satisfying meal.

Looking back, it has been almost three years since my first visit to Maria’s. How time flies eh? As a customer, it is delightful for me to know that my preferred restaurants are still working hard to maintain their food quality. Many times I have been asked where to go for steaks and Western food and Maria’s is always top on my recommendation list.
Despite the favorable feedbacks, I am, however, aware of the problem with their kitchen service which could get quite slow during peak hours. So to avoid the wait, I my advice would be to call them up the to book your food ahead. FYI, their heavenly meat pies now require one day advance reservation already.

Maria’s Restaurant and Cafe – PORK FREE
C313A (Level 3), Center Wing,
Metropolitan Square,
No 2, Jalan PJU 8/1,
Bandar Damansara Perdana, PJ
GPS Coordinates: N3 09.914 E101 36.573
Tel: 03-7725 2313.
Opening hours: Mon – Sat : 12pm – 11pm, Sun : 5pm – 11pm
Set lunch starts from RM15 (main course + dessert + drink)