The newly-opened restaurant at Hampshire Place is striking from the outside so naturally, we make a visit. By Surekha Ragavan

As its name suggests, Flora Terrace is very pretty. The arched entrance of the newly-opened restaurant is decorated with white cardboard cutouts of trees which evoke resemblance of a quirky school play. The interior is more ‘rojak’, a mix of funky lampshades, purple walls, zebra-print rugs and plastic fruit trees. Fascinatingly, this doesn’t come off as cheap.

Marinated beef salad with spicy coconut lemon desssing and croutons

Situated at Hampshire Place at the corner of Jalan Yap Kwan Seng and Jalan Tun Razak, Flora Terrace has the advantage of location, ambience and most important of all – easy parking. Some of you may be familiar with Flora Café at Ampwalk, the Malay restaurant of mesmerising flower arrangements owned by the same owner of this place, Razak Ahmad. His love for flowers had previously scored him celebrity wedding deals including the one of Marion Caunter. Though Flora Terrace is not completely smothered in flowers as Flora Café is, its modern touch is both feminine and stylish. Like a club catered to females.

Tempe-crusted butterfish with spinach cannellini, French beans and a lemon grass reduction

The food here is a fusion of Asian and continental and by the sound of it, very intriguing. To use the soups as example, how do you like the sound of lemongrass prawn bisque or double boil chicken consommé with dumplings? For mains, some of the specialties include tempe-crusted butter fish and roasted spring chicken with curried chickpeas. We think this might be the ideal manner in which a fusion menu should be designed at a time of uninspiring ‘Asian pastas’. To top off the frivolity, 90 percent of dishes served are decorated with one or more edible flowers.

Spaghetti with pickled tenggiri and Parmesan

The dessert menu is equally exciting particularly pertaining to the crispy Chinese pancake with mascarpone cheese and yam ice cream. Although more generic items tether the dessert menu, the aforementioned entry is most attractive in both presentation and innovation. Prices here are not too shocking with a tiger prawn citrus salad (most appropriate for a light lunch) going for RM20 or a seared salmon with a lentil ragout and a pomelo lemon butter sauce at RM40. While alcohol is not available, non-fussy mocktails and juices will prove refreshing.

Crispy Chinese pancakes with mascarpone cheese, honey and yam ice cream served with a mango compote

Although Flora Terrace hasn’t attracted the slinky crowd yet (this may be due to the inexistence of alcohol), we’re anticipating it to achieve great standards as a fusion restaurant. What more, Tatto will soon relocate above the restaurant from its current Jalan Damai location so after a nice Italian meal, what’s not to like about some crispy Chinese pancakes?

For more info on location, see venue listing.