The Bee, Publika

It feels like I've been on a bit of a burger binge lately and it all started two weeks ago at The Bee, where we decided to go for a a little celebratory dinner in honour of my now 16 year old brother (oh my, how time flies!). Publika has now become home to a whole host of good eateries so we were a bit spoilt for choice but the birthday boy wanted somewhere with a quirky, relaxed atmosphere and The Bee was a perfect fit.


 

The Bee

36B, Level G2, Publika, Solaris Dutamas
Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480, Kuala Lumpur
 
 The place has an "unfinished" feel to it that's suprisingly comforting, with its mismatched furniture and open layout. I've been to The Bee quite a few times now and I've noticed an impressive flexibility in its atmosphere - friendly neighbourhood coffeeshop in the afternoons, upbeat concert space on some evenings and relaxed, casual dinner place on this particular evening.


 

The hungry teenage boy knew at once that he wanted a burger- zoning in on one of The Bee's many beef burgers. He managed a thumbs up in between (frantic) bites, a good sign if I do say so myself.


The boy also wanted a serving of nachos (we picked the vegetarian option), to share. The nachos came under an addictive mess of cheese, sour cream avocadao salsa and Tex-Mex inspired beans - truly something to get those appetites into high gear.



 
The chicken avocado burger - soft bun, juicy grilled chicken and a delicious avocado salsa. I would have preferred a slightly heartier portion of the grilled chicken, though.


The club sandwich, served on a generous bed of potato crisps.

The Dukka prawn salad - a tasty mix of greens and prawns cooked in Dukka spices. I've always enjoyed the salads at The Bee (the chicken avocado salad is a good one to go with) and this one didn't disappoint. 



The Bee spoils you when it comes to desserts - cakes supplied by Fatboybakes, milkshakes galore and of course, these little pink tubs of ice cream by The Last Polka.

The flavours are fun and playful, with things like salted gula melaka, Horlicks and teh tarik on the ice cream menu. Having tried the salted gula melaka the last time I was there, I was looking forward to more of that this time but unfortunately, they had run out of that. We went with Horlicks and the deep dark chocolate instead, and I'm glad we did. The deep dark chocolate is as it is named - deep, dark and with a gorgeous bittersweet flavour. Along with the Horlicks ice cream came an interesting (and shocking, for me) discovery that my brother had never had Horlicks before and ice cream that stuck true to it's flavour made it easy to say: "Yup, that's exactly what Horlicks tastes like".

The Bee has it's high notes - food that satisfies, attentive service, and a cosy atmosphere. Brunch items on the menu, coffee that's pretty good (and peppermint tea, too, if you're more of a tea person), a lunch buffet on weekdays and occasional gig venue - yes, The Bee wears many, many hats, and there'll definitely be one that suits you.


 
 Photos courtesy of the birthday boy (and his new toy) 

Read the blogpost on Babe in the City - KL that inspired my first visit to The Bee.