Mandarin Grill,
Ground Floor,
Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur,
Kuala Lumpur City Centre,
P.O. Box 10905, 50088 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2380 8888
Business hours: Daily lunch from noon to 2.30pm
and dinner from 7pm to 10.30pm
Pork free.
USING the best of ingredients is only half way to creating a great dish, the other half is in the skills and creativity of the chef as shown at the Mandarin Grill, recently.
Lobster, foie gras and even wagyu are among the main ingredients for several new dishes at the Grill.
Gourmet dishes here are almost perfect. Chef de cuisine Reto Weber starts the ball rolling with an amusing bouch of foie gras ballotine with some Barbary duck leg confit, the saltiness of which is balanced out by the sweet granny smith apple puree.
A pleasing-to-the-eye John Dory Fillet with turnip puree, chorizo, venus clams and butter lettuce comes next, followed by the thick Wood Mushroom Cream Soup with cured duck breast and a dusting of morel dust and thyme essence that gives it an added level of flavour.
The Butter Poached Boston Lobster was firm and succulent and served with tarragon pappardelle, a type of flat pasta, and Parmesan crisps, a slightly salty treat.
A treat: The firm and succulent Butter Poached Boston Lobster is served with tarragon pappardelle and Parmesan crisps.
However, the star of the night for me was the Hay Smoked Wagyu Beef Rib Eye that was a melt-in-the-mouth experience that I credit to the Australia-imported meat with a marbling score of 6 that was done to medium rare perfection.
The meat is seasoned by a side character, the hay, that comes from even further abroad, Switzerland, which Weber said lent a subtle floral fragrance to the dish.
As for dessert, executive pastry chef Frank Braun whipped up some Crunchy Maple Pecan Bar with Semi-freddo and Chocolate Mille Feuille with Sweet Strawberry Consomme poured over the lot.
He also takes the pleasant-smelling peach and incorporates it into peach sherbet, Chantilly cream with cake and peach velvet cake.
Diners can expect starter and soup prices from RM32++ to RM180++ while main courses are between RM68++ and RM285++ per dish.
Desserts are between RM18++ to RM56++ per order.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
