Acme @ The Troika

Acme Bar & Coffee (call it ABC for short) represents the pinnacle of what a top-tier cafe can provide in KL _ very good food, fine wine, nice service & a striking setting.

Launched by folks linked to Changkat Bukit Bintang's Frangipani & their friends, Acme occupies two levels at The Troika condo's base. It's immaculately crafted _ a metropolitan loft that tempers its hip industrial interior with verdant views outside.

The soft-launch menu tries to keep things as simple as, well, ABC, promising soul food that will stand the test of taste buds, such as homemade salmon mousse with sourdough bread.

Acme's kitchen has hatched a sublime starter _ scrambled eggs with sesame dressing, supplying a Western breakfast classic with a subtle Japanese touch.

Snails are swell enough, but wrapped in beef bacon? Succulence squared, surely, soaked in a slurp-worthy garlic parsley sauce & coco beans.

Burrata cheese, sake-marinated cherry tomatoes & basil. Taking the basic components of a Caprese salad, making each one special & creating the creamiest, dreamiest version possible.

Grass-fed tenderloin with Acme's "Alamak" sauce, an Asian marinade tinged with soy & cumin. Beef that's grilled so beautifully, it becomes prime meat to bite into & a powder keg of flavor. Miraculously priced at RM69++, this puts much more expensive steaks to shame.

Sauces for the steak: rocket mustard puree, salsa verde & chimichurri.

The cocktail list is a work in progress, but ask for the mix of white wine with aperol.

Acme is only the start of what to expect at The Troika. Next year, eager diners will be taking elevators up to the towers' higher floors for ... what? Time will tell.