Kay’s Steak & Lobster is the sort of place you book when dinner has to feel like an occasion. The Putrajaya outlet sits at IOI Conezion, with a clean, minimal dining room and the polished sort of service that makes birthdays, anniversaries and “we survived another year” dinners feel properly marked.
Our first visit was for a birthday, so restraint was never really part of the plan. If you have read our Seven Oaks Bakery Cafe JB review, you will know that celebratory meals have a way of turning “maybe one side” into a table that suggests we misunderstood the assignment. Kay’s was no different.
Prawn Toast RM45
The Prawn Toast arrived looking close enough to menbosha that expectations immediately went up: thick toast, prawn filling, a panko and sesame crust, with black garlic aioli on the side.
Visually, yes. Taste-wise, not quite.
The toast itself was excellent structurally. It was crisp, properly fried and never soggy, which is more than can be said for many prawn-toast attempts. The problem was the seasoning. There was a strong savoury flavour running through it that reminded us very specifically of Maggi seasoning. We are not going to pretend we can reverse-engineer the kitchen from one bite, but whatever it was, it completely overwhelmed the shrimp.
That was the disappointment. We expected some sweetness from the prawn; instead, we could barely taste the prawn at all. For RM45, crispy bread alone is not enough.
Grilled Salmon RM65
Then the Grilled Salmon arrived and restored diplomatic relations with the kitchen.
Ours came with chat potatoes, cherry tomatoes, shimeji mushrooms, baby spinach and lemon aioli. The salmon was decently sized, moist through the centre and, importantly, had none of that fishy aftertaste that can ruin an otherwise perfectly respectable piece of fish. This was simple cooking done very well.
The chat potatoes were especially good, soft inside with enough texture outside to avoid boiled-potato sadness. The lemon aioli was also exactly what the salmon needed. Its acidity cut through the richness of the fish, while the creamy base worked just as well dragged through a piece of potato. Too much would have started masking the salmon, but a little made everything taste brighter.
Divine is a strong word, but yes, we are using it.
Salted Egg Soft Shell Crab RM45
The Salted Egg Soft Shell Crab was RM38 when we visited and is now RM45. It is a fairly substantial plate of linguine with golden salted egg sauce, fried curry leaves, chilli flakes and a whole soft shell crab on top.
The portion surprised us. Not “two people can share one plate for dinner” huge, but one person should be very full by the end of it. More importantly, the linguine was properly al dente, which immediately put us in a good mood.
The salted egg sauce was rich and creamy, and you could both smell and taste the curry leaves. What it did not have was much heat. Despite the chilli flakes, the sauce was barely spicy, and that became the weakness halfway through the plate. Salted egg is delicious until there is a lot of salted egg. Without enough spice or acidity to interrupt all that creaminess, the first few bites were considerably more exciting than the last few.
The soft shell crab itself was excellent: crisp, not greasy and, thankfully, without that unpleasant seawater taste that can sometimes appear when you bite into the body. We have had soft shell crab pasta elsewhere where one bite transported us directly to a harbour.
No such problem here.
Sweet Potato Fries RM25
For years, we have resisted ordering expensive sweet potato fries outside because there is a point where paying restaurant money for sliced tuber starts feeling like poor financial planning.
But since it was a birthday, so we gave up. And unfortunately for our future bank balance, we had no regrets.
The Sweet Potato Fries arrived piping hot, crisp and in a portion generous enough for two people to snack on comfortably. The cut was right too: thick enough to leave a soft centre, but not so chunky that eating one felt like being a rabbit given homework. There was still an actual fry-to-potato ratio.
The salted egg dip was fine and tasted quite similar to the sauce on the pasta, but honestly, the fries were good enough that we barely touched it. They did not need saving by a dip, which is probably the bigger compliment.
Mango Cake RM18
A birthday dinner is not legally complete until somebody produces cake, so we ordered the Mango Cake, which happened to be the Cake of the Day.
We were skeptical. Mango cake can go wrong very quickly when artificial flavouring starts tasting less like fruit and more like something invented in a laboratory labelled “Tropical Yellow”. Our server convinced us to get it anyway.
Good call.
The mango flavour actually tasted like mango, not generic mango essence, and the cake was restrained enough on sugar that the fruit still came through properly. After salted egg pasta, fried crab and sweet potato fries, something lighter and fruitier was exactly what we needed.
It was a very good way to end dinner, and probably the dish we were happiest to have been talked into ordering.
Service Might Be Kay’s Strongest Selling Point
Food-wise, dinner was mostly very good, with the prawn toast being the obvious miss. Portions were generous, the salmon was excellent, the soft shell crab pasta was well executed even if the sauce became heavy towards the end, and those sweet potato fries have unfortunately weakened our resolve against overpriced cafe fries forever.
The service, though, deserves special mention. It was superb: attentive without hovering, helpful without turning every plate into a presentation, and warm enough that the birthday dinner actually felt like an occasion rather than just dinner with a candle somewhere nearby.
We also spent some time eyeing the Signature Beef Wellington, currently priced at RM250, made with Australian beef tenderloin, chicken pâté, green herb crêpe and puff pastry. It has to be pre-ordered at least one day in advance. We had considered it, but adding an entire Beef Wellington to everything else would have crossed the line from celebration into greed.
So that can be for next time.
Overall, Kay’s Steak & Lobster gave us a very solid birthday dinner. The prawn toast disappointed, but almost everything else landed, the portions were generous and the service made the evening feel properly looked after. We would happily come back, especially for the salmon, those sweet potato fries and, eventually, the Beef Wellington.
One thing worth saying before we wrap up: this review reflects our experience on the night and naturally, our own taste buds. Food is subjective and another diner may have a completely different take on the same dish. That is part of the fun of eating out :)
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