Grove Diner is a relatively new venue to have a western style lunch or dinner with friends and family. The restaurant is set in a bungalow along the main road towards Ipoh Garden East and Tambun.
It has its own visitor car park too which we consider a bonus!
But how is the food here and is it worth the high prices?
About Grove Diner
Grove Diner started in mid-2021. The restaurant has an extensive menu that covers exotic starters like scallops and escargots. They have salads and pasta where you can add on different meats too.
The ala carte menu has meaty mains like Iberico spareribs, a pork platter, and others like roasted rack of lamb. Steak is on a separate section in the menu, as is seafood. For the steak, there are 3 different types of beef and 3 different sauces you can choose.
Of burgers, there are 4 unusual choices. An example would be the prawn katsu burger.
We think that the menu is quite customizable (and kid-friendly). Since you can also add sides like German sausage or snacks like sweet potato fries to go with your mains. Or their own.
There are not too many desserts to choose from, but they are fancy selections like red wine poached pear. Or chocolate moelleux.
If you can eat a lot, you might want to check out their set lunch or set dinner menu. These include a starter (typically salad), main, dessert and tea (for lunch) or wine (for dinner).
They do have a wide range of alcohol at Grove Diner. There’s a separate menu for their red wine and white wine. But they also carry whiskey, champagne, brandy, gin, beers, mocktails and cocktails.
Ease Of Parking At Grove Diner
As we mentioned in the introduction, this eatery has its own car park for guests. There is a staff on duty to manage and control the parking arrangements too.
The small car park looks like it fits less than 20 cars, and it is not covered.
There are no parking fees or time limits imposed either.
Expect the car park to be full on special occasions like Christmas eve and New Year’s Eve.
Ambiance At Grove Diner
The dining environment of Grove Diner meets expectations at their price point. Dining is all indoors with cool air conditioning.
There are tasteful decorations around the contemporary interior and furnishings. Like empty wine bottles, fake potted plants, and dried flower arrangements.
Soft jazzy music plays in the background.
The well-lit bar is where you can make payments after your meal.
At Grove Diner, there are private rooms as well. These are behind the large blackboard that details dishes of the day.
Upstairs can be reserved for special functions.
Service At Grove Diner
Staff is polite. Not all of them speak English fluently though.
We have made reservations on the phone before and it is enough to let them know the date and time, group size, your name and phone number.
There is usually someone at the door to greet guests when they walk in.
Serving times are faster than we expect. Naturally, things like soup of the day are already cooked.
And if you choose from their dinner menu, the dishes arrive continuously with adequate pacing between them. We did not have to wait long at all in between dishes. Even when one of the mains was lamb shank.
Food At Grove Diner
The soups are good at Grove Diner – we’ve had both the truffle soup and mushroom soup (that comes with the dinner set) and both are creamy, well-seasoned with herbs, and tasty.
Some mains are a hit and miss – we don’t think the soft-shell crab burger is worth its price. We don’t really like the spicy mayonnaise that they use for this dish.
Note: The fact that the dish is spicy isn’t mentioned in the menu.
Mussel and clam aglio e olio has plenty of shellfish but the overall taste not as nice as the smoked bacon aglio e olio.
Fish and chips is a dish worth ordering. The fish is crispy and not too oily. And it comes with a yummy tartar sauce, potato wedges, and peas.
Note: Portions for the fish and chips at Grove Diner are slightly smaller than at Fish and Chips By. Bareeseta but the quality of ingredients is similar.
The wagyu beef burger is more filling than it looks. The meat is very tender and melts in the mouth. So is the lamb shank although we would have preferred if the lamb shank came with potato wedges and roasted vegetables. Instead of just peas and mashed potatoes.
Another interesting dish we tried is the foie gras – it too is tender and very flavorful. The aftertaste is quite strong.
But the cherry on top of our meal is the in-house signature tiramisu. These are incredibly creamy with several layers. And taste great. The portion is good for sharing among 2 to 3 people.
Thus, they can sell out quickly on weekends.
PS: We switched out our dinner set dessert of panna cotta for tiramisu.
Pricing At Grove Diner
It might look like it, but Grove Diner is not strictly a fine dining venue. Portions are generous here.
Moreover, they do use some quality ingredients and appear to make things like soup, fries, wedges, and sauces from scratch.
We were not very impressed with the salad that came with the dinner set. Since it doesn’t have any unusual vegetables, but it did come with bacon bits, and grated cheese for toppings.
Moreover, there are certain dishes like the lamb shank and soft-shell crab burger are not worth their prices.
With all this in mind, we can still see how the pricing does not deter families and larger groups who seek a more affordable dining experience.
Lastly, we want to add that the tiramisu is not cheap, but it is worth having!
Conclusion
Considering the price, ambiance, service, and food, we can see ourselves coming back to Grove Diner for festive occasions.
It’s a suitable place to entertain customers or to bring friends from out of town too.
Other similar options to Grove Diner include Opëam and Citrus. You can see even more options in our list of fine dining options in Ipoh.
