Yeast Bistronomy @ Bangsar

Bonjour!  After having had some awesome Spanish food at Mercat Barcelona Gastrobar in my previous outing with friends, I thought I'd have some (yes, you've guessed it) French food for a change.  So, Yeast Bistronomy @ Bangsar was where my friend and I ended up.

With a typical Parisian bistro feel and a French-styled white and black checkered floor, this quaint little bakery and bistro has a casual vibe with an outdoor patio for you to enjoy your meal in a laidback ambiance. Established since 2012 as a boulangerie and pattiserie, it has built its reputation to garner a good rating over the years (let's see if I concur with the ratings). ^_~  Love the open kitchen concept inside...and the absolutely beautiful hanging copper pans (Do they cook with those or they're just part of the decor?  I'd love to take one home...hee..hee).

Our meal began with some complimentary (in-house) bread (probably a combination of French sourdough, baguette and farmer's bread?) served with butter (French, I hope...lol).  Chewy, crusty and delicious, I wish I could finish them (but we couldn't).

Starting off with an absolute favourite, a must-have for me, is the Escargots a la Bourguignonne @ RM25, a French delicacy of gourmet snails.  If you love the mollusc family like cockles, clams and oysters, then you won't be squeamish about eating snails.  The dish features 6 baked escargots with shimeji mushrooms, garlic and parsley butter.

I can't say I tasted shimeji mushrooms but you can definitely taste (and see) the herbed butter.  The cooking of these French snails was not like the usual preparation I've had at other places where you'd find them in an intensely flavoured garlicky sauce.  Here you'll bite into tiny pieces of garlic found along with the snails.

What was also different in the preparation of these snails, other than eating them for the first time out of their shells (which was even better!), was the tiny piece of crispy something (almost like a cheese crisp) covering the snails.  I believe it's possibly a piece of buttered breadcrumbs, infused with garlic and parsley (maybe even some cheese?), which was then baked to crispy perfection.  Eaten together with the tender, lightly chewy snails, the ensemble offered an incredible burst of textures and flavours.  Gloriously tasty, absolutely addictive...and best not shared...hehe (I can eat a dozen of these on my own)! ^.^

Our next appetiser for sharing was the Crab Cakes @ RM36 served with garlic aioli and a rather chunky citrus vinaigrette (can't remember tasting what were the exact components though since there was so little of it but I do remember it was nicely refreshing) together with some fresh greens (of lettuce, frisee, arugula, purple cabbage and cherry tomatoes).  When the dish arrived, I noticed there were 3 pieces of what looked more like crab balls than crab cakes (as in shaped like patties) that I was expecting.

Taste wise, it was just acceptable, not something special that would warrant a repeat order.  Truth be told, I was expecting to see chunks of fresh crab meat in the crab cakes (I think I wasn't expecting too much based on the price point of RM12 a piece, right?).  But what I got was finely shredded crabmeat instead (you know, like those we get in a packet from the supermarkets together with fake sharksfin that we would use to cook crabmeat and sharksfin soup or omelette at home...haha).  Hmmm, not quite the crab cakes I was hoping for.

For mains, I couldn't resist ordering the highly popular French dish of Boeuf (or Beef) Bourgignon @ RM78 which has been a signature dish of theirs since 2012.  The dish is made up thick chunks of prime-cut beef braised in a red wine sauce served with pearl onions and tender glazed carrots over a bed of smooth celeriac puree and finished with crispy sweet onions and some micro greens.

There were 3 sizeable chunks of beef that were braised to tender perfection sitting atop a creamy, fluffy celeriac puree.  If not for the description of celeriac on the menu, I would have easily mistaken it for a potato mash.  I welcome a celeriac mash since it's a healthier lower-carb alternative to potato (+ they do taste almost similar).

This is a classic recipe that's both hearty and authentic in flavours.  The red wine reduction sauce was rich with an immense complexity of flavours.  Look just how unbelievably velvety and shiny the sauce is. ^o^  I've to say this beef bourgignon was way better tasting than the one we had at Cork & Cleaver.  If you want to enjoy a proper beef bourgignon, there's no other place to have it really than at a place that specialises in French cooking.

Our other main was the quintessential French dish of Confit de Canard @ RM40 that's a firm favourite with many.  It's confit of crispy duck leg served on a bed of potato wedges and caramelised onions with a side of salad greens and some crispy onions together with a delicious sauce that binds everything together.

Duck confit is a classic French preparation where the duck leg is cooked in duck fat at a low temperature for a long time (low and slow) to render the meat absolutely tender while infusing it with fat and flavour.

The duck skin was expertly finished to crispy perfection...it was just out-of-this-world crispy on the outside. We decided to add on another well-known delicacy in French cuisine, foie gras @ RM32 coz I have this thing for livers (be it pork, chicken or duck liver, except beef liver...lol).  The foie gras which was well seared with great grill marks was incredibly rich and creamy but probably not so worth it for such a tiny piece (since it's such an expensive ingredient). >_<

For drinks, we had Fresh Orange Juice @ RM14 and a Virgin Mojito also @ RM14.  As with any place offering traditional French cuisine, you can bet they'll be equally adapt at making fantastic French pastries but my friend and I were already bursting at the seams after two meaty main courses and just didn't have any stomach space left for desserts.  Merci beaucoup! ^_~

My Personal Opinion

When one thinks of French food, a few popular French dishes comes to mind immediately like French onion soup, bouillabaisse (seafood stew), ratatouille (vegetable stew), croque-monsieur/madame (sandwich with ham and cheese), boeuf bourguignon (beef stew), coq au vin (wine braised chicken stew), fish en papillote (baked fish wrapped in paper), lamb shank, duck confit, salad nicoise, escargots (snails), champignons (mushrooms), charcuterie (meat and cheese board), steak-frites and foie gras along with some of the finest French patisserie (and who can forget the spectacle of a flambeed crepe suzette).

I've had the privilege of trying/eating most of them, some of which I'm happy to call my perennial favourites.....and that's why French food (along with Spanish food) ranks at the top of my list of favourites when it comes to western or European cuisine.  And the selections we had here (other than the crab cakes) were simply magnifique too! ;)

If you've not had French food before, I implore you to try especially if you love tender, braised meat in red wine sauce washed down with a glass of (the finest) red wine....lol!  I may not drink much red wine but I certainly enjoy dishes made with red wine.  If you must have escargots and beef bourgignon, there's no other place to enjoy them other than by one expertly experienced in fine French cooking techniques.  Bon Appetit! ^o^

Yeast Bistronomy

24G Jalan Telawi 2

Bangsar

59100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-2281 0118