The restaurant is headed by Marcus Low, a former engineer who worked in a few restaurants while he was a student in Canada. When Marcus came back to Malaysia, he ran a private supper club for a year before investing in his own restaurant in 2014, which was called The Kitchen Table & Bakery. In October last year, the restaurant underwent an overhaul (and was renamed Table & Apron), to reposition itself more prominently as a restaurant. What they offer now is a private dining area upstairs and everyday dining downstairs.

The team behind Table & Apron takes pride in making everything on the menu from scratch - from the breads to the cakes - using high quality local ingredients, where possible. This is how Table & Apron strives to stand out among the many new restaurants mushrooming all over the Klang Valley; the food here is really simple but made with heart and much thought. The menu is focused on classic dishes with an imaginative twist to create a sense of nostalgia and familiarity that resonates with customers.

One weekday, we at LoopTalk ventured out to Table & Apron for lunch, and also to check out their Christmas Specials. The restaurant tends to fill up quickly, especially over the weekends, so you might want to arrive early.

The restaurant has a rustic and homely decor - simple wooden furniture surrounded with white brick walls. As you enter the front door, you will see the bakery section, with freshly baked sourdough bread and cakes on display. Further in, long wooden benches, chairs and tables are spread out over a spacious dining area, with a clear view of the busy kitchen through the open window. Christmas decorations gives the place a warm and festive glow.

We went for their Weekday Business Lunch, a set lunch which comes with soup or salad of the day & house-made ginger tea (or any coffee or leaf tea for an additional RM5). As we ordered two set lunches, we chose both the soup and the salad of the day to go with the dishes.

Pumpkin Soup was the soup of the day. It was served warm in a medium sized saucer. We happen to really like pumpkin soup, and this one looked very appetizing. Much better than canned soup; our homemade pumpkin soup was very tasty, creamy and thick, perfectly seasoned with salt and pepper.

Our salad mix had fresh tomatoes, grapes, beetroot and a crunchy cracker in it. The salad tasted garden-fresh and it had an appealing colour scheme to it (red, orangish-yellow, green and white). It’s a groovy light starter to complement your main course.

The first dish we ordered was the Pork Ragu with Tagliatelle Pasta (RM17). This pasta is tossed with a generous serving of minced pork, chilli oil and ulam herbs. The pasta is cooked to al dente perfection, springy and chewy to the bite. The minced pork ragu is very tasty, while the chili oil and ulam herbs gives the pasta an extra kick and depth of flavour.

The second dish we ordered was the Ulam-Herbed Rice Bowl (RM15). This colourful-looking dish is a riff on the Malay nasi ulam and the Chinese lei cha; made with flecks of smoked mackerel, dried shrimp, peanuts, bean sprouts and a vibrant composition of local herbs. The flavours are nicely balanced and the rice boasts a heady aroma from the herbs and belacan.

Aside from their signature dishes, we were also eager to explore their Seasonal Specials menu. We ordered the House Charcuterie Board (RM28), to go with a half loaf of Sourdough Bread (RM12).

The House Charcuterie Board is made up of country pork terrine, chicken liver mousse, house jam & pickles. The rich pork terrine and decadent chicken liver mousse goes wonderfully with the soft and buttery sourdough bread. Every bite made our taste buds tingle! The combination of flavours is absolutely divine! Add some sprinkles of cut pickles and house jam on top, for extra tanginess.

We were enjoying the chicken liver mousse and pork terrine so much that we had to order more sourdough bread to eat with it. The sourdough bread is delicious enough to eat on its own, with a bit of butter. It's made using a slow baking process with a natural sourdough starter that has been passed down through generations. We were served both sourdough and apple sourdough bread - the apple sourdough is infused with apple chunks and juice. It’s crusty on the outside, soft and fragrant on the inside.

After finishing the House Charcuterie Board, we were honestly beyond stuffed, but there is always room for dessert! So, in the spirit of Christmas, we ordered the Dark Chocolate Tart (RM19), which came with a dollop of house jam and whipped cream.

The slice of chocolate tart was presented beautifully; it had a snowflake beside it made of cinnamon powder. The densely rich chocolate tart was drizzled with some sea salt on it to balance the sweetness with a hint of saltiness. It tasted perfectly creamy and chocolatey!

All in all, we left feeling rather contented and delighted with our meal at Table & Apron, and would certainly love to come back to try their other signature dishes, such as the crowd-pleasing fried chicken and pulled pork. It is a combination of things - the meticulous way the food is prepared, the familiar flavours that customers seek, and the attentive service - that has earned Table & Apron rave reviews as an excellent restaurant serving soulful, comfort food.