Calia @ Pavilion

It's been a long while (a good 5 months) since I've dined out....and by that, I mean a proper dine-out...and at a new place.  Yes, of course I've dined out but mostly to usually frequented, not too crowded restaurants or non-airconditioned coffee shops near me (there's this feel-safe factor in familiar surroundings).

If there's no good reason to dine-out, I try not to (it's better to be safe than sorry) especially when you read scary news of new clusters forming all the time or a highly infectious strain spread by a superspreader or restaurants being told to shut temporarily because of positive cases.  All it takes is one callous individual (and we've had a few of those) to flout their home quarantine to land others in deep shit.

But I had good reason to venture out this time....on an invitation by my extended family for a celebration of some sort...a birthday.....my birthday! ^.^   So, our small (enough) group made our way to Pavilion (incidentally, this was also my first visit to a shopping mall since the pandemic started...so "kwai" aka good girl, right?).

We were supposed to dine at a place suggested by my brother-in-law but found that it had closed when we reached Tokyo Street (with Sushi Zanmai slotted to open in its place).  I  later realised it was Fuji Sushi he was referring to (which I've been to before and written about previously).  So, we proceeded to Calia @ Pavilion instead.

The name didn't ring a bell initially (when my sister-in-law suggested it) but on seeing the restaurant (and the menu), it came back to me and I remember reading a review by Sean of EDKL on the place, so I made sure I ventured in with a lowered expectation.  Sorry for the lack of photos of the place as the place was crowded and photo-taking opportunities were limited without being intrusive.

I was tasked with ordering a few starters for sharing and you can make your choices from a selection of Sashimi, Salads, Cold and Hot Starters.  I ordered something light to start off our meal, Kanpachi Ceviche @ RM38 of thinly sliced amberjack sashimi served with a ginger and coriander dressing (although this wasn't quite the typical ceviche I'm accustomed to where the raw fish is cooked in some kind of acid).

This was met with a rousing approval across the table.  The firm texture of the fish with its fresh, clean taste was well balanced with the salty flavours of the sauce (a tad oversalted for me but fine for the rest of my dining party).  Not only did it taste good, the presentation looked visually appealing too....prettily garnished with edible flowers. ^_~

Next on the order list was the Baked Scallops @ RM38 in a creamy miso sauce topped with ikura, wakame seaweed and chopped spring onions.  The Hokkaido scallops (not sure why it came cut up like that but it made our sharing even easier) was perfectly baked to the right sumptuousness for a creamy, buttery finish. Another winner.

From the salads section, there were only two choices, one was a kale salad, the other was the Calia Soft Shell Crab Salad @ RM33 with mixed salad leaves and crispy soft shell crab in goma (sesame) dressing. The crisp and lively salad leaves eaten with the crunchy soft shell crab in one of my favourite dressings has the makings of a light, refreshing appetiser that is sure to please any salad lover.

My next option was a bit unexpected, straying away from the strongly Japanese-influenced menu, a localised dish of Salted Egg Yolk Chicken @ RM23 caught my eye as it had a chef's hat next to it.  The freshly fried, well marinated chicken pieces were superbly executed to crispy perfection yet tender and juicy to the bite.

It arrived piping hot (you can still see the the bubbly/foamy interaction between the salted egg yolk sauce and the oil on the surface of the chicken)...and the smell of the salted egg yolk was very evident the moment the dish reached our table.  The sauce coating was not cloying at all like some can be.  Surprise, surprise (I was impressed) with their version of our ever popular salted egg yolk dishes. :P

Our final starter for sharing was the Umami Fries @ RM15.  When we see the word 'umami', we're always tempted.  The fries were probably tossed in some furikake and seaweed for that umami taste.  It was ordinary but executed well with a pleasantly crisp mouthfeel.  Nothing to fault.

With all the sharing starters getting off to a flying start, I was eager for the mains.  We each selected our own mains.  I went with a selection from their Calia Bowl, the Unagi Bowl @ RM55 filled with grilled eel slices (yay, I got the upper body part) with housemade unagi sauce and truffle egg.  Not sure about the truffled egg description in the menu though since I got what looked (and tasted) like just kinshi tamago (thin egg threads).

May not necessarily be my most favoured unagi bowl but certainly a more than decent tasting unagi, perhaps only lacking a bit of that smoky char and caramelisation that I so crave in unagi.  The portion of vinegared rice, plentifully sprinkled with furikake seasoning, was generous (I left some behind though others might not feel that it's too much).  I admit, the texture of the rice was a little soft but also not to the extent of being mushy.

A sister-in-law had the Wagyu Sukiyaki Bowl @ RM38 with full-blood marbled wagyu slices with mirin sauce and a 63°C egg.  Full-blood here refers to a breed of cattle, not that you'll get bloody meat...kekeke (so, no worries for those who don't like their meat oozing with blood).  The thinly sliced beef was adequately tender, just not marbled or having a lot of flavour in the meat.  I wasn't expecting that anyway seeing the inexpensive pricing of the rice bowl (I think they oversold the quality of the beef by the description in the menu).

Another two diners in my party chose their chef recommended speciality, the Aburi Salmon Bowl @ RM43 that came with flame-seared salmon in their secret Calia sauce (probably some kind of teriyaki-type sweet sauce...I can't ask them what's in their secret sauce or they might have to kill me...haha!).  The salmon bowl, topped with ikura, was accompanied by marinated (red) radish, pickled ginger, wakame seaweed and a pinch of wasabi.

The salmon was capably seared with just enough char on the outside while still remaining lightly raw on the inside for a very satisfactory bite.  Luckily, they weren't heavy-handed with the sauce this time (they must have read Sean's review and taken his comments of too much sauce and too clumpy rice into consideration). I have to say I had no complaints on the portion size of all the rice bowls we ordered.

The final choice of main was the Truffle Chicken @ RM43 which consisted of free-range chicken pieces in a truffle teriyaki sauce served with a smidget of yuzu kosho (a paste combining fresh chillies, usually green, salt and juice from yuzu).

The chicken cuts, with skin-on, lightly charred, was a combination of both drumstick/thigh and breast parts (which I realised later when I looked at the photo).  Unfortunately, I got the breast piece which, fortunately, was still adequately juicy.  For the life of me, I can't quite remember what the truffle teriyaki sauce tasted like, I just remember it to have a rather thick consistency.

We tried some of their speciality drinks which included an Iced Purple Sweet Potato Latte @ RM16 (made from mashed, dehydrated and grounded Korean sweet purple potato).  The drink was surprisingly light as the taste of purple sweet potato was kinda muted (but you can still taste the sweet potato).  I was glad in a way, otherwise the drink might be too cloying if it was too thick.  Probably the hot version would be more intensely flavoured.  The colour is so pretty too.

As for my sister-in-law's Iced Goji Beri Tea @ RM13 (a red tea infused with goji berries), she said she didn't taste the goji berries, instead it simply tasted like ribena to her.  What was interesting though was the extra large cube of ice that was in the glass.  Not only did it look charming in presentation, the ice remained more or less intact right up to the end of the meal.  Obviously a bigger block of ice tends to melt slower thereby not diluting the drink in the process but still does the job of keeping the drink cold.

Other drinks included a Cold Pressed Juice @ RM16 of orange, carrot, lemon & mint....

......and a Hot Latte @ RM11 that my brother-in-law said was pretty good.

Water is complimentary (and served in a cute-shaped glass that I approve, hehe)....and it was constantly refilled too without us having to initiate it.

Hey, it's a birthday...so there must be cakes, gateaus to be precise!  I've heard people praising their Matcha Lava Lava to the skies (and that it's worth coming here just for that)...but, alas, it needed a 25-minutes prep time.  So, my sisters-in-law just picked from a selection of gateau from the display cabinet out front.  The first pick was this Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel @ RM20.

The dark chocolate gateau, topped with hazelnuts, chocolate buttons and chocolate pipings with a drizzle of salted caramel, was very rich and, best of all, not sweet...but also missing a bit of that lusciousness that I seek.

It was a nice touch that the cake came with birthday wishes and top a tiny candle on top.  They also brought along some servers to sing me a Happy Birthday tune (and apparently I wasn't the only one that day, so not so paiseh-lah).

The other gateau was a Strawberry Cheesecake @ RM25.  There were notably three layers, a biscuit crust (graham cracker crumbs?) at the bottom, a middle layer of cheese (cream cheese?) and a top of what looked like a layer of jellied strawberry sauce and fresh strawberries.

I don't know much about cakes (since I don't partake in them all that often) but this cheesecake looked (and tasted) different from the usual ones I've had before.  The cheese layer of this one is much lighter and softer in texture and milder in taste, almost mousse-like, which I didn't mind eating at all (and that's saying a lot coming from a non-cheese fan).  Is this what is called a no-bake cheesecake?  I found this the better of the two gateaus (I especially liked the tangy layer of the strawberry jelly)...it was a creamy, dreamy dessert.

I felt that the gateaus were a bit on the pricey side since they were just a stand-alone piece of cake.  I would have been more receptive of those prices if they were platted desserts instead.

Besides a place for food, Calia also has a dedicated retail area out front with items for sale from extra virgin oil to flavoured oils, flavoured salts to gold salt, black pepper to gold pepper, gold mustard to macadamias, bottled sauces to noodles, wines to sakes...and water bottles to lovely tableware.

Yes, you heard right....they have gold seasonings here...what?!  Hmmm, I wonder if gold salt or gold pepper tastes any different...besides giving out an aura of opulence.  Care to find out at RM45.99 a bottle? ;)

The colourful cutlery sets of knife, fork, spoon and dessert spoon look mighty attractive.  I don't know how much they cost as the price wasn't visible.  For a grander touch of elegance and style, they have sets of all-gold cutlery for sale too.

My Personal Opinion

In the end, it was a very pleasant dine-out for me and my dining party and we enjoyed the food, ambience and service (quite the opposite of the poor Google ratings they received).  I certainly don't think they deserved such a low rating and, judging from the crowd, others probably thought so too.  I've been to restaurants which have a way higher rating where the food was way worse.

Perhaps I was easier to please seeing that I've not had a proper dine-out for a while now since the pandemic started.  Perhaps I did not suffer from heightened expectations (thanks to the heads-up by Sean).  Perhaps I had nothing to benchmark it to since I've not had the privilege of dining in any of their Melbourne restaurants.  Perhaps my taste buds had not been privy to better, premium quality Japanese food that the quality here was good enough for me.  Or perhaps it was simply a case of ordering the right dishes for our tastebuds (I eliminated the more expensive dishes as it's the courteous thing to do when you're a guest and it turned out that quite a few of the unfavourable reviews seemed to be about the quality and portion of the more expensive menu items which didn't apply to my experience, of course).

As with any new restaurant (and one that's brave enough to open right smack in the middle of a pandemic), initial teething and operational problems are bound to surface...that's why I try to refrain from visiting a new joint too soon so as to give them time to get their act together.  In this respect, I wish the diners will cut them some slack (seeing that they're relatively new) as some of the comments on Google were particularly harsh.

Food was served pretty fast (and piping hot too when the dish demanded it to be) even though the restaurant was running at almost full capacity.  We had no problems whatsoever with the service which was warm, friendly and very attentive.

I found most of the dishes had a touch of luxury (we ate with gold cutlery, you know, hehe) but at an affordable price point (bearing in mind that this is in a shopping mall like Pavilion).  I was quite happy with the quality of the ingredients based on the prices charged in such an environment.  The food was well presented and tasty...and the ambience and service elevated the food experience further.

Well, like they say, don't believe everything you read (and that includes my review). ^_~  Check it out for yourself (at least once) should you find yourself in Pavilion.  With a focus on simplicity and everyday dining, the Calia Bowls should keep your wallet not-too-stressed.

Calia
Lot 6.11.00 & E6.11.00 Level 6
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur