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

Vanilla Sky @ G Village, Desa Pandan

The only Vanilla Sky I know is the movie starring Tom Cruise until I discovered (from eatdrinkkl's blog) that there's a restaurant called Vanilla Sky @ G Village, Desa Pandan which I just had to try out since it was located so near to where I'm staying.

The small and cosy restaurant is housed in G Village, a comprehensive one-stop centre that will house 26 retail units of retail shops over two floors (occupying 60,000 sq ft) to serve the specific needs of the residents of G Residence.  Coming here more than two months after eatdrinkkl's initial visit, I noticed that the retail shops were still not opened yet except for a few new F&B openings joining Vanilla Sky, namely PappaRich, Baskin Robbins and Brunch & Munch.

According to their Facebook Page, Vanilla Sky is an Asian-French restaurant serving modern comfort food with local flavours.  Their menu highlights soups, salads, sandwiches & burgers, pasta & noodles, sides & snacks and mains with a few notable Sarawak-inspired dishes like Sarawak laksa, Borneo salad, Borneo wild rice and daging masak hitam.  [#Note: However, you would be pleased to know that the menu prices (as listed in their Facebook) are not the current prices as most have been reduced though some have been increased.  Also, some of the dishes are no longer on their menu while some may not contain the specific ingredients as stated in the menu.  I suppose they're still tinkering with their menu and prices.]

We started with the Fish of the Day Soup @ RM11.80 coz I was intrigued by the description of a Borneo-inspired lemongrass-flavoured white fish soup with fried egg.

The light and tangy fish soup came with pieces of white fish (dory) and salmon, both of which could have had a fresher taste, with bok choy, french beans, carrots, fried onions and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.  The soup had a very subtle, somewhat bland flavour with the lemongrass infusion almost non-existent.

The other starter was the Breaded Calamari @ RM12 served with their house-made aioli sauce and a fresh slaw of shredded white and purple cabbage, carrot and pea sprouts.

The fried calamari was crispy but I wasn't liking the breaded crumb batter as much which I found to be heavier and would much prefer a lighter, crisp batter.  The house-made aioli managed to liven up the otherwise mundane calamari.

For our mains, we had the Pan-Seared Threadfin @ RM38 ("kurau" in Malay or "ma yau" in Cantonese) with chive cream, dill mashed potatoes and salt-baked beetroot (as per the description on the menu).  There weren't any mashed potatoes on the plate but, in its place, some red stem spinach and pickled daikon instead.

I liked that the threadfin was nicely cooked, soft and moist, with a crispy skin and the (vinegared) beetroot and pickled daikon provided some acidity to the dish.  The dish was nicely presented with vivid colours of green, yellow and red, in an almost fine dining portion and style.  The only thing that wasn't fine dining about it was probably the price.

Our next main was the Pan-Seared Salmon @ RM45 with shallot puree, grilled marinated pineapple and fennel salad (as per their menu).  I noticed two sauces on the plate (and it certainly didn't look or taste like shallot puree).  So I asked the server and, after checking with the kitchen, she came back to inform us that it was pea puree.  I still don't know what the other sauce was but it tasted sweetish like some kind of berries (or maybe beetroot?) sauce.  Both the sauces were good however.

The salmon was fresh and (again) expertly cooked, pinkish in the middle and with a crispy skin.  The grilled pineapples and fennel (+ cabbage, carrot and pea shoots) salad brought the much needed freshness to the plate.

The fresh juices here are reasonably priced like this Fresh Mango Juice @ RM7.90.

My Personal Opinion

Although there were some hits (the mains) and misses (the starters), it's still a place worthy of a visit if you're in (or from) the area.

What I was most glad to see was the reduction in prices in many of their dishes coz I feel that these prices are more suited for a restaurant of that stature in an area like this.  I guess they're still experimenting and finalising their menu and pricing in this barely 3-month old restaurant, so we may yet see more changes in the coming months ahead.

Perhaps, I'll return to try some of their Borneo-inspired dishes! ;)

Vanilla Sky Restaurant

Lot G-10 G Village

No 35 Jalan 1/76

Desa Pandan

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 012-291 5271



Cafe de Paris @ Pavilion

After wrapping up a meeting with someone in Pavilion, on a potential 'side income generating' (or more like pocket change...kekeke ;D) project, I headed to Café de Paris @ Pavilion for dinner.

This French-inspired cafe, patisserie, bar and bistro looked authentic (from afar) and held even more promise as I drew closer.  The façade of the café, with its partial brown structure resembling the foot of the Eiffel Tower, gave it the 'Paris' feel!

The classic yet modern indoor dining area is both comfy and cosy.  The al fresco area exudes a Parisian ambience where you'd feel like sitting for hours, sipping on a cup of coffee and simply watch the world go by.

Browsing through the menu, the dishes on offer are distinctively French from boeuf bourguignon to ratatouille to provencale to bouillabaisse.  I settled on a light dish of Fish en Papillote @ RM37 which was an oven baked sea bass with carrots, leeks, celery, asparagus, lemon, thyme and dill.  Fish en Papillote is just a fancy name for fish wrapped and cooked in parchment paper.

The sea bass was cooked just right, succulent and flaky, and extremely light on the palate for a simple and healthy dish...I loved it!  Cooking the fish this way seals in all the juices and kept the fish moist.  When the fish first arrived at the table, it looked like it was encased in filo pastry but it wasn't...so, no, you can't eat it!  I could definitely smell the citrusy lemon and thyme fragrance in the fish.  The leeks and celery (but there were no carrots or asparagus) at the bottom of the fish were soft but a bit stringy.

This main meal was served with a choice of toasted French bread (but not sourdough) or herbed flavoured rice (and you'd need these carbs coz the fish portion was rather small).  On hindsight, I should have chosen the herbed rice as there was very little juice at the bottom of the fish (actually none by the time I finished eating the fish) to soak up with the bread.  The bread would have been a better choice if I had ordered the boeuf bourguignon (beef stew) or bouillabaisse (seafood stew).

Realising that, I requested for some butter for my untouched bread.  And the server came back with this creamy Lescure French butter, of course, mmm....not one, not two, but three, at no extra charge (although I needed and consumed only one)....that's service for you! :-)

The other main we chose was the Pasta Au Saumon @ RM33 which was penne pasta tossed in a rich cream based sauce with salmon, capers and dill.

There's nothing to complaint about when a simple, well cooked creamy pasta dish lands in front of you.

For desserts, they have quite a selection of tarts and cakes at the counter for you to choose from (chocolate palet, raspberry souffle, caramel hazelnut and amandine red fruit tarts, white chocolate and cherry brownie and berry chocolate pare).

I chose the Amandine Red Fruit Tart @ RM11 (from the cake counter) or maybe I should call it a "tartellette" since it's just a mini tart (and rather expensive at that).  It's a tart with strawberries and one blueberry in the middle (and probably some crushed almonds underneath).  I did like the slightly sweet, slightly tart, glossy berries topping but the tart shell...not so much.  The tart shell was a bit hard and looked like it had seen better days (probably would have tasted better earlier in the day).  Let's just say it didn't taste as good as it looked!

Our drinks for the evening were:

My order of Cold Almond Latte @ RM13, which was espresso, milk and ice whipped up with almond essence.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite to my liking.  Should have stuck with the more familiar tastes of vanilla or hazelnut.

I later saw Getafix on the receipt (meaning get-a-fix, I suppose) and was wondering what it was and then realised that it was just the Fresh Watermelon Juice @ RM15 that we ordered.

#Fun Fact:
The iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris just turned 125 years old last week (it took 2 years, 2 months and 5 days to construct and was officially completed on 31 March 1889).  It hasn't always been brown...it was once painted yellow and brownish-red.

My Personal Opinion

If you're looking for some authentic classic French dishes like beef bourguignon or bouillabaisse to steak-frites, tartines and French pastries, you can find it here.

Personally, I've not eaten much French food and (so) is no authority on what's good and what's not but the Fish en Papillote that I had was delicate and beautiful....c'est manifique!  Bon Appetit!

Café de Paris
Lot C3.06.02 Level 3
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2144 4822