Kalamata Cafe is a Pan-Mediterranean restaurant serving up comfort food from Greece, Egypt, Turkey and other countries from the region. Its unassuming location on the second floor belies the colourful interior that transports guests to those sun-baked lands.
Ambience & Amenities
I imagine that Kalamata Cafe is very cosy during dinnertime. However, during the day, it’s a dark place with warm dome lights for illumination. Vibrantly colourful walls and decor prevent the restaurant from looking lacklustre. What looked like window shutters hung from the ceiling to hide the exposed pipes.
The toilets are on the opposite side of the restaurant, past the orange wall. There is a single room for each gender with a sitting toilet and paper in each room. There’s a shared sink with soap, but the napkins to dry off were at the cashier counter.
Menu at Kalamata Cafe
The menu at Kalamata Cafe is an electronic version. There is a QR code on every table to access it. The menu is the same as their online delivery menu. Since we were dining in, we placed our order with the waitress, not through the app. It’s not on the menu, but the waitress did offer beer when we were ordering, so Kalamata does serve alcohol.
Kalamata Cafe Menu
Food at Kalamata Cafe
We were disappointed that the Moussaka Clay Pot (RM39) was not in a proper “clay pot” but just a porcelain casserole dish. There was a generous layer of bechamel over the beef – it was hard to tell where the potato ended and the sauce began. The dish texture was smooth – no eggplant skins to cut through or hard potato chunks. We could easily scoop up bites with a spoon. It came with three pieces of pita – more than enough for how much moussaka there was. Although, I doubt the bread is homemade. It tasted similar to the prepackaged roti Arab we sometimes buy from the grocery store.
I was surprised that the Spanakopita (RM45) came in three different squares. The flavours were beef & lamb, spinach, and cheese. The filling layer for all three was thinner than I’m used to. The phyllo pastry was so crispy – it was hard to cut a piece cleanly without the layers slipping around or chipping off flying into my hair. The beef with lamb was the best, with the distinct rich lamb flavour elevating each bite. The spinach is the classic Spanakopita with a creamy texture. The cheese was my least favourite – mostly pastry with some salty filling in the middle.
Saturday Worthy?
We’re usually in Desa Sri Hartamas during the day, so Kalamata Cafe is expensive as a lunchtime option. I’m not a big fan of this kind of cuisine anyway, so we’ll likely never return. The dishes we ordered were tasty overall, even if some elements were not ideal.
Price for 2 Pax: RM102.30
Spanakopita: RM45.00
Moussaka Clay Pot: RM39.00
Ice Lemon Tea: RM6.00
Mineral Water: RM3.00
10% Service: RM9.30
Kalamata Cafe
Address: Lot 5 – 1 (at the block with KFC), Jalan 26a/70a, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Opening Hours: Closed on Monday
12pm – 3pm & 6pm – 10pm Tuesday to Thursday
12pm – 10pm Friday to Sunday
Alcohol Served: Yes
