D Empire Art of Cuisine @ Pavilion

D Empire Art of Cuisine @ Pavilion is one the latest restaurants to open on the 6th floor of Pavilion Mall in the last quarter of 2016 serving European (leaning towards French and Italian) cuisine.

The place exudes a luxurious feel and sense of elegance about it when you enter with its classy decor and furnishings but, luckily, that's reflected only in the ambience (and not the prices, at least some of them).

Our starter for sharing (which we hope would be the start of a beautiful friendship ^_~), the Stuffed Escargots Bourguignon @ RM26.90 was made up of half a dozen french snails stuffed with garlic and English parsley in a sauce that's more olive oil than garlicky.

It arrived with an escargot sitting on top of what we thought was mashed garlic at first...but it tasted like mashed potatoes (maybe it's garlic mashed potatoes?).  What is it about escargots that get us every time...with its earthy flavour and mushroom-like texture, always a favourite, always a must-order if we see it on the menu! ;)

Only one word to describe it...delizioso!  Though we enjoyed the decent-sized escargots, we still preferred the ones from Victoria Station as the sauce of that one is loads more buttery and garlicky.  I remember having a really good one from the now defunct San Francisco Steakhouse many moons ago too.  Other starters include sauteed button mushrooms, New Zealand mussels, bruschetta (RM14.90 - RM33.90) and even foie gras (RM98.90! O_o).

Moving on, we had a soup each, the first was the Minestrone @ RM8.90 that was laden with generous chunks of carrot, potato, onions, zucchini, celery and chunky tomato.  I liked that the soup came piping hot, a sign that the soup was freshly made-to-order (probably only the tomato-based broth was prepared earlier) though a slightly finer dice of the vegetables would have been appreciated (but that's just me).

All the vegetables were nice and soft with a bit of a bite, not mushy as if they had been steeping in the soup base for an extended period of time.  The soup had the right consistency and taste wise I was happy that it wasn't too acidic.

The other soup we had was the Button Mushroom Soup @ RM11.90 made with assorted mushrooms and sweet onions.  It had a wonderful creamy consistency but not overly thick.  Again, a very decent rendition although I thought that the presentation (of the dollop of sour cream on top) can be improved.  The only other soup available is Bouillabaisse (RM28.90).

For mains, I wanted steak and there are three on the menu, grass-fed Australian Sirloin (RM49.90), Ribeye and grain-fed Black Angus Ribeye (RM128.90) and a mid-range priced steak, the grass-fed Australian Ribeye @ RM59.90 (which I had).

The charbroiled ribeye was served with seasonal vegetables of carrot, pumpkin, green and yellow zucchini, red bell pepper, onions, eggplant, green bean and potato.

The steak, which had a bit of inedible fat and sinew around the edges, was cooked medium rare as requested. Personally though, I'd prefer a much thicker cut but I can't really complain for that price.  The only thing I found odd was the shape of steak.  It looked as if it was one-quarter of a bigger piece of steak! @_@

The steak was tender and juicy...and though I'd usually eat my steaks without any sauce, this steak cut wasn't as prime, so the wonderful accompaniment of black pepper sauce was needed to make it taste better.

I enjoyed the sauce, so I requested for more and they gracefully obliged although the pitcher that arrived was a pretty tiny one (the sauce must be a very precious commodity).  I finished every drop of the sauce and could have consumed more if I had been given more...haha! :D  There was just too little sauce on the plate to begin with (+ probably a bit was wasted when I pushed it away after it got 'contaminated' with the mustard which I dislike).

Our other main was the Mix Grilled Seafood @ RM59.90 which looked like a value-for-money portion when it first arrived filled with sea prawns (3 pcs), seabass fillet, mussels (3 pcs), octopus, squid and scallops (just one) in a spicy coulis sauce.

The seafood platter was served with grilled spring vegetables very much like the ones that came with the steak.  Again, the dish could have been more elegantly plated to reflect the more stylish appearance of the place instead of just randomly piling the seafood on top of one another.

The seabass fillet was delicate and flaky (best item on the plate), the mussels in cream sauce tasty, the scallop ok, the squid and octopus a tad chewy and the prawns a bit mushy and not as fresh as we would have liked.  But all the seafood achieved a nice char to give it that great grilled flavour, so no complaints there.

Our drinks of Tropical Breeze @ RM14.90 (orange, pineapple, mango, passion fruit, lemonade and soda water) and Fruit Punch @ RM14.90 (orange, pineapple, mango, apple and a dash of grenadine syrup). Complimentary water was not served as they've mineral, still and sparkling water on their menu.

My Personal Opinion

All in all, I like the warm interior and spaciousness of the place which makes it an ideal venue if you're looking for a nice, quiet place to have dinner...and a conversation (one that's obviously a lot less hectic and noisy than some of the other restaurants in this mall) ^_~

The food, though not outstanding but certainly more than average, is still decent enough in my books for a repeat visit as there are lots more on the menu to try.

D Empire Art of Cuisine
Lot 6.33 & 6.34 Level 6 Zone C
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2110 6196