Dancing Fish: Contemporary Malay-Indonesian dining in Bangsar

 Date of visit: 17 May 2023 | Updated: 8 May 2025

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I tend to be suspicious of upscale Malaysian restaurants. When I visited Malaysia as a child, my family frequented venues of the hole-in-the-wall variety, complete with surly service, questionable hygiene, and hard plastic seats that ensured low overheads and quick turnover. 

This is not Dancing Fish. However, it was a local Malaysian - my Airbnb housemate, Noelle - who suggested we try it, and that was good enough for me. I had been in KL for all of two weeks and was eager to try something new.

In this case, 'Malay-Indo' cuisine. But I was a little perplexed by the term. I knew 'Malay' cuisine was the food of the Malay people, the largest ethnic group in Malaysia (see my post Who are the Malaysians?). But what did 'Indo' mean? Was it Malay-Indian? A quick look at the menu revealed that 'Indo' actually meant 'Indonesian'. But did this mean the Malay cuisine of Malaysia and Indonesia - or the cuisine of the Malay people of Indonesia (who make up less than 4% of the population)? I still don't know, but according to the Malaysian Foodie blog, the dishes here are mainly inspired by the cuisine of the Bandung region in West Java. 

(Am I a little, you know, obsessive about knowing what I'm eating? A little, maybe.)

It was a Tuesday night when we popped by Dancing Fish, on the third floor of Bangsar Shopping Centre. We didn't have a booking and only managed to snag a table because we promised to be quick. Noelle said the restaurant is popular not only because it's good but also because high-end Malay restaurants aren't that common. 

With muted decor and low lighting - and striking sculptures of fish vertebrae and scales - this is an ideal place to bring a date or celebrate a special event. A birthday party was in progress at the next table, and the dishes that came out looked like works of art, particularly the eponymous deep-fried fish creation, which looked like it was literally sashaying through the water. 

Dancing Fish isn't cheap by local standards - a two-course meal for two with (non-alcoholic) drinks could set you back RM150/£27 plus service and tax - but for what you get, it's not bad. Indeed, Dancing Fish was awarded a Bib Gourmand in 2023, 2024 and 2025 - an accolade that the MICHELIN Guide awards to the best value-for-money restaurants.  

We started with a complementary appetiser, Emping with Sambal Terasi. The emping tasted like prawn crackers and was very moreish. To our surprise, it was made entirely from melinjo nuts, which are widely used in Indonesian cuisine and have many health benefits. The kumquat garnish gave a real flavour boost to the sambal terasi - a chilli sauce made with fermented shrimp paste - which paired beautifully with the slight bitterness of the emping. We liked it so much we got a refill (which we didn't realise we were charged RM7/£1.24 for).

The Appetiser Platter (RM58.90/£10.45) - now RM66.90/£11.87 - looked pretty substantial, so we shared it as a main. Almost everything on it was also available as a standalone dish. There were a couple of substitutions, however, and it didn't look as impressive as it did in the menu. 

• The signature charcoal-grilled Chicken Satay was absolutely to die for. The peanut sauce was much darker than the Malaysian versions I've had, and not as sweet or rich; I wasn't that keen on it.

• The Spicy Green Apple Salad with Salted Fish reminded me of a Thai green papaya salad. It was sweet and sour, and mildly spicy from the chilli sambal dressing. UPDATE: this has since been replaced by Salad Mangga Mangga, a much better-looking salad made of young and ripe mango and crispy mango tempura.

• They didn't have the Cumi-cumi Tahu Bakar with Spicy Peanut Rojak Sauce - tofu 'pockets' stuffed with grilled squid. Instead we got Cumi Goreng - calamari - which was decent but nothing special. It came with the same rojak sauce, which was pretty good, albeit very different from the tar-like concoction I expected. I've since learned that there are a zillion varieties of rojak in Malaysia and Indonesia, although the sauces tend to be built on the same basic ingredients of shrimp paste, chilli and sugar. UPDATE: the calamari has now permanently replaced the tofu pockets in the appetiser platter. 

• They also didn't have the Sate Lilit - charcoal-grilled 'kebabs' of minced prawn, fish and squid on lemongrass 'skewers'. Instead we got Tahu Tempe Goreng, a mix of deep-fried tempe and tofu. Tempe is fermented soybean paste, with a firm, dense texture. I didn't care for it (though I've since had other versions I did like). The tofu, which had a wonderfully crispy coating, was the best I've had. There was also an anchovy sambal, which was okay, and what looked like the chilli sauce for Hainanese chicken rice, except it was pretty bland. Luckily, we'd kept the wonderful sambal terasi from the melinjo nut crackers. UPDATE: the Sate Lilit has since been replaced with Pepes Goreng Sambal Matah, which are also 'kebabs' on lemongrass 'skewers' but made of minced fish and chicken, and served with sambal dabu-dabu, an Indonesian chilli sauce.

For greens we got the Wok-fried Pucuk Paku with Sambal Belacan (RM19.90/£3.53) - now RM25.90/£4.60) - which consisted of young jungle fern shoots (aka fiddlehead ferns) wok-fried with sambal belacan (the Malaysian name for sambal terasi) and dried shrimps. It reminded me of water spinach and was delicious. We also got some Nasi Berempah Kuning (RM4.50/80p) - spiced yellow rice, cooked with coconut milk, turmeric and herbs. 

Our bill came to RM107 (£19), including 10% service charge and 6% service tax. Overall we were impressed by the Malay-Indonesian food at Dancing Fish. There were a couple of things that didn't work for me but mostly it was very good, and the service was exceptional. It's certainly worth a try if you're looking for a more upscale dining experience in Bangsar.

Visit Dancing Fish online and on Facebook and Instagram. They'll be opening a new branch at community hub The Campus Ampang in November 2025.

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