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KL's best restaurants for group dining

Your party venue sorted

Written by
Time Out KL editors
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Planning a big get-together? These restaurants are good for dining in large groups.

  • Restaurants
  • Petaling Jaya
  • price 3 of 4

Chow down on tender barbecue ribs and briskets smoked for 14 hours with fire wood, Texas style. What you’d want to go for here is the Triple Threat Platter which consists of 100g of brisket, 100g of pulled lamb, short ribs and four side dishes of mashed potatoes, coleslaw, baked beans and corn bread – perfect for groups of three or more. Also, the airy space makes for a comfortable dining experience.

Chef Low
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Bangsar
  • price 3 of 4

It’s options galore at this Bangsar stalwart offering a hefty selection of dai chow dishes. Chef Low offers all sorts of meats and veggies cooked any style you want – think Chinese-style fried bacon with Marmite sauce, salted egg yolk and century egg with spinach soup, sweet and sour pork, and more. The best part is, all dishes are consistently well-prepared, so you’re guaranteed good food every time you visit.

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Runners Cafe
  • Restaurants
  • Bukit Jalil

Both the eatery’s Bukit Jalil and Taman Paramount outlets offer communal dining tables that are meant to fit big groups, and here’s why – their Marathoner Wholesome Meals are large platters that include items like sunny side-up eggs, wholemeal sweet potato buns, chicken bacon, sautéed mushrooms, hash browns, sausages and a whole lot more. Depending on which set you choose, you’ll be able to feed at least two people and a maximum of five. As the name of the café might suggest, the food here is prepared to give athletes like marathon runners and cyclists sufficient carbs and protein.

Table & Apron
  • Restaurants
  • Damansara
The vibe here is clean, rustic flavours dished out in homey surrounds. Send the year off over sharing platters of crispy buckwheat fried chicken, kicap manis-glazed Sanbanto pork chops, roasted cauliflowers with ricotta, charred eggplants, and mushroom orecchiette with miso butter and kampung eggs at our favourite neighbourhood restaurant Table & Apron. Best for a gathering of four to six people.
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Just Seafood
  • Restaurants
  • Kota Damansara
The restaurant serves seafood feasts in a relaxed setting. While à la carte sharing dishes such as lemongrass-steamed clams, fresh oysters (air flown from Seattle), charcoal-barbecued crabs, flower crab glass noodles and more are available, opt to have your seafood served on a three-tiered stand or have it spread on the table for a blowout. Also order the fried Mars Bars with ice cream for dessert. Best for those office gatherings with seven to nine of your colleagues.
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Taman Jaya
  • price 4 of 4
Have quality seafood dishes in a swanky setting. The interior aims to portray an 'international' look with traditional aspects of Chinese decor – wooden columns, bamboo ceiling, and calligraphy. Cantonese fare dominates the menu, with signatures Peking duck, beggar’s chicken, Mongolian lamb chops, baked cod fish with honey sauce, mando dragon and fresh scallops and lily bulbs in clear broth.
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Southern Rock Seafood
  • Restaurants
  • Seafood
  • Bangsar
  • price 3 of 4
Southern Rock’s seafood-centric menu features oyster tasting plates with bivalves from Ireland, England, Holland and more. With its beginnings as Shucked the oyster bar in Ben’s Independent Grocer’s and as a seafood supplier in Bangsar, it’s no surprise that the focus here is on seafood, and very fresh ones at that. Also try the mussel laksa.
Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Subang
  • price 2 of 4
Having crabs for dinner means a messy eating affair, but Lala Chong’s crustaceans are worth the dribble and stained fingers. The decor won’t win the hearts of design-lovers, but who’s here for pretty interiors when there’s the restaurant’s famed siong thong lala (clams steamed in fragrant Chinese rice wine, ginger, garlic and cili padi) to dig into?
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Li
  • Restaurants
  • Malaysian
  • Damansara
Chef Heng Kit, formerly of Kitchen Table, heads the open kitchen at neighbourhood restaurant Li, where updated Malaysian fare comes in the form of pork toast (think roti babi made with chilli mayo, house-made sourdough, and lots of cilantro), rice bowls (with a ginger scallion sauce that’s reminiscent of the sauce in chicken rice), a pan mee-like version of pasta with slow-cooked pork, ikan bilis congee, and more. For dessert, order the lychee with coconut milk, meringue and lime granite that’s made in house for a sweet finish. With lots of white walls punctuated by old wooden chairs, the space evokes a minimalist kopitiam vibe.
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Puchong
If you want classic-style cooking for family dinners, head here. Celebrate the end of the year at Gao Ren Guan with a traditional Chinese round table dinner. While Cantonese-, Szechuan- and Hokkien-centric restaurants in KL are aplenty, it’s not often that you get Gaozhou cuisine. Must orders: crispy nam yu pork, steamed organic chicken with pickles and boxthorn leaf egg soup. Grandma would approve.
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Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • KL City Centre
  • price 4 of 4
You can never go wrong with steamboat for group dinners. If you’re at Xin Cuisine with a group of three to ten friends, you’ll only have to pay RM50 per person. Selections here includes all your usual favourites – freshly cut meat, chicken, pork, tiger prawn, fish fillet, handmade dumplings and more. Don’t forget to try the restaurant’s special curry soup.
Naughty Babe Dirty Duck
  • Restaurants
  • Hartamas
When you’re dining in a group, you want a massive amount of meat that you can all tear into with your hands. Naughty Babe Dirty Duck is super casual, so you don’t have to feel embarrassed about licking your fingers after a meal – and you most certainly will with their perfectly cooked pork ribs, which are slick with sticky barbecue sauce. The restaurant has long tables, food portions are big, there’s a slew of sides on the menu and it’s all very affordably priced (RM38 for the ribs). The only downside? The restaurant is so popular they only take bookings for seating before 6.30pm.
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SOULed Out
  • Bars and pubs
  • Bangsar South
This household name may be a predictable choice but you can’t beat the varied menu and some really good drinks promotions. We recommend the Bangsar South outlet – it’s huge, with an openspace plan so it feels airy, and the area is still new, with lots of easy parking.
  • Bars and pubs
  • Solaris Dutamas
The biggest challenge in planning for a group is taking into account everybody’s diverse food preferences. The Social has got that covered. The crowd-pleasing menu is one of the lengthiest we’ve seen – from sharing platters to sandwiches, salads, pastas, Western dishes (fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, burgers and pan-fried salmon, etc) and Asian favourites (noodles, fried rice and the usual standards). So really, there’s something here for everyone, and the prices are very reasonable too.

Need a celebration cake?

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