Sage Restaurant, The Gardens, Kuala Lumpur (Visit #6)

from Eat your heart out by Chloe n Daniel's daDDy

For those of you not accustomed to reading this blog - this is a guest entry by Baby Sumo's Hubby. For reasons to be disclosed later....

As a small reward for enduring 1 month "confinement", I treated my wife to lunch on Friday 1st October at Sage Restaurant. This kitchen has always produced food we have enjoyed eating, whether it be for lunch or dinner and we were suitably tantalised this week after viewing their online menu for their Discover Lunch 3-course Set Menu.

I do enjoy the open-kitchen concept at Sage, there is something quietly reassuring about seeing well-dressed professional chefs at work preparing your meal, compared to the alternative where a plate of food simply appears from a serving hatch.

This is my first venture into "food blogging". For me, a dining experience can be enjoyed in many many forms, all having their own appeal and/or comfort factors - from the simplest of home cooked foods, BBQ, dare I say fast food drive-thru, hawker stall tapau, simple roadside restaurants, hotel kitchens or unique privately owned food outlets. There is a wide food selection available in KL and I consider myself lucky that all these options are readily available at mealtimes.

In my opinion, formed over several visits during 2009 and 2010, Sage offers well constructed menus, simply presented food and consistently delivers a satisfying meal - so here goes ...

"Food is like a work of art. The plate is my canvas. The ingredients are my paint. The customers are my critique"
Chef Daniel

The restaurant itself is located high up in The Gardens Hotel & Residences. The floor-to-ceiling windows ensure plenty of natural light pours in and the simple yet classy decor lets the food and any discussion you wish to partake in at your table make the experience.

"Seconds out - round one"

Royale of Boston Lobster with Sea Scallop and Yuzu Citrus

vs

A la minute Smoked Salmon with Soba Noodles and Wasabi

Wife was a little handicapped in her choice since certain food stuff (such as shelled seafood) are still out of bounds for up to 100 days! However we had both studied the menu at home and knew what we were going to order prior to leaving the comfort of our own home.

A nest of tasty soba noodles was topped off with a chunky seared piece of smoked salmon - just as expected from the menu. The textures and flavours combined here worked very well. The wasabi enhanced the noodles perfectly and the smoked salmon was plump with a nice crackling crisp skin.

Hold on. Is that an oyster? If you are an oyster lover then this was an unexpected and welcomed addition to the dish, one which I would have thought would warrant a mention on the usually precise menu descriptions. Since oysters are on the list of banned "confinement" substances, it was passed to my side of the table and was a more than pleasant addition to my "seafood soup".

We have seen these fashionable Staub cocotte cast iron pots at several restaurants lately. Sometimes these presentation efforts can enhance the dining experience, personally I like a little pomp and ceremony during a celebratory meal. The descriptions alone whet the appetite; my "seafood soup" was suddenly a regal sounding dish.

Royale of Boston Lobster with Sea Scallop and Yuzu Citrus

This dish interestingly presented 4 contrasting textures to my palate. In order of ascending firmness there was the soup stock, the steamed egg, the scallop and the lobster. I do like a good soup and in layman's terms this was a good soup :-)

Having both enjoyed our respective choices for appetiser the battle was evenly poised, in the balance at this early stage :-)

"Seconds out - round two"

Pan Fried Deep Sea Pomfret with Prawn, Sansho Beurre Blanc
vs
Grain Fed Angus Tenderloin with Foie Gras and Natural Jus

I often let my wife choose first when we dine and to maximise her blog content I will select a dish different from her choice for every course, within reason.

On previous visits to Sage I have had their fish option for the reason explained above. However, today I fancied beef and being topped with foie gras, it was a no brainer for me when it came to selecting our mains. Served simply with mash potatoes, mustard, kailan and its own juice, this hits the spot for a meat lover.

However just before I made my first cut I asked my fellow diner "Where is the "foie gras ?"

Recently at Cilantro I had to ask "where is my scallop", at first thinking that the kitchen forgot to plate it up, then moments later found it packaged inside the zucchini flower!! A nice touch, I thought.

No such illusions here today though unfortunately - collectively we scoured the plates before us before proceeding, then in unison waved the waiting staff over for clarification.

Ever since our first fine dining experience where the expansive menu descriptions took longer to read than the petite dishes themselves took to eat, we have often kept a copy of the menu at our table to fully appreciate the main constituent parts of the dishes in front of us. This practice definitely paid off today as a glance to the menu confirmed we were both missing our foie gras!

To our amusement the response was "The kitchen staff have misplaced your foie gras". I kid you not, that was exactly what the waiting staff said to me. In retrospect the correct procedure surely would have been to take both our plates back and replate the dishes as the head chef had intended them to be. In this case the decision taken, by the waiting staff I may add, was to make us wait for our foie gras :-( However, I couldn't wait for fear of my meat getting cold...

We both agree the grain fed angus tenderloins were delish..

Fashionably late? Not so on this occasion..

By the time the foie gras arrived, we have almost finished devouring our beef.

The sum of these two combined did indeed pack more punch than when they were sampled individually. It would have been nice to experience this complete dish as Chef Daniel had planned it when he wrote the menu.

Every cloud has a silver lining. This unfortunate yet laughable event was the incentive for my foray into food blogging. Being a big fan of Sage the wife was reluctant to make a negative entry for visit#6 hence I have taken the reigns - I hope you are enjoying the ride so far.

With 2 rounds gone the blue corner are slightly ahead having taken the second round with a unanimous decision, however me thinks the red corner still has what it takes to make a comeback...

"Seconds out - round three"

Mille Feuille of Caramelized Apple wih Cinnamon Ice Cream
vs
2 Choice of Artisanal and Fermier Cheese

Mille Feuille of Caramelized Apple wih Cinnamon Ice Cream

I am a sucker for desserts and 99.9% of my dining out meals will be rounded off with a sweet and an espresso coffee. I would like to venture into the cheese and wine offerings, however it wasn't for today. I can't fault the sweet we had, maybe I would have chosen something different but given the selection today I made my choice and I have no regrets.

So there you have it - last week's Lunch at Sage - I enjoyed it.

For those of you who are following the score, this round went firmly to the red corner making it a tie after a fairly fought 3 round match.

P.S. I would have thought a kitchen serving set lunch Monday to Friday would have mastered the menu by Friday!! Having said that the foie gras episode has been forgiven already - we will definitely be back.

Opening times: Monday to Friday 12.00pm to 2.00pm (Lunch); Monday to Saturday 6.00pm to 10.30pm (Dinner). Closed on Sunday.

Price: RM100 nett. 10% discount with The Gardens Club Card.

Location: Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar, The Gardens Residences, Level 6, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2268 1328

Website: http://www.sagekl.com/

A dishy Italian who does Japanese and Chinese too

The amuse bouche of Mushroom Capuccino with Salmon Tamago and Ebiko. — Picture by Cumi dan Ciki

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — It was quite amazing, coming upon Il Primo in such a choice location in Jalan Kia Peng, KL, and with such a big car park. This newly-opened restolounge is all about wining and dining, with a band playing in the later hours. As you enter, a striking and colourful wall mural catches the eye. It’s all at one level, a huge place that has the restaurant at the front and the lounge at the back. Throw in a show kitchen and you are in the midst of dining, with a full view of the chefs who are preparing your food. (In command is well-known chef Federico Michieletto). There’s a sort of deli at the side, with olive oils, artisanal pastas, breads, gourmet jams, Illy coffee, chocolates and cookies and even grappa for sale. A display counter of cakes and macarons, and gelato, tells you what desserts to expect at the end of your meal.

The Chef’s Sashimi Platter. — Picture by Cumi dan Ciki An Italian name means an Italian menu right? But Il Primo bucks the trend, and adds on Japanese and Chinese in addition to classic Italian dishes. We began with the amuse bouche of a light and frothy mushroom cappuccino and salmon tamago (egg omelette) with ebiko. A light beginning of Italian and Japanese continued into the Sashimi Platter of hamachi, tuna toro, salmon and sweet ebi (prawn). The fish was fresh, the ginger pickles were excellent. We went back to Italian again in the Fish and Shellfish Caciucco, Tuscany style, which is like a bouillabaisse, steeped with flavours of fish, shellfish and vegetables like tomato, celery, onions and garlic. Half a marron (like a crayfish) was in the soup, together with fish and clams, and a slice of fried bread. There was a lovely aroma from the soup and you could taste the sweetness of the seafood (especially the marron) in spite of a little too much salt in it. More bread to dip into the soup would have been perfect.

The Fish and Shellfish Caciucco, Tuscany Style. — Picture by Cumi dan Ciki The Rusti Chella D’Abruzzo Orecchiette pasta with stewed rabbit was outstanding. Orecchiette means “little ears” and this artisanal pasta has this shape. Apparently you can even see a thumb print in each “ear”. It originates from the Puglia region of Italy. The pasta had a lot of bite. Rabbit, which is a very lean and healthy meat, had been stewed with pumpkin, tomato and herbs and was so delicious with the ear-shaped pasta. On the Italian menu, there are side orders of duck fat roasted potatoes (yum!), oven roasted mushrooms, onion, garlic and parsley and creamy mashed potatoes, among others.
So good — the ear-shaped Rustichella D’abruzzo Orchiette pasta with rabbit stewed with pumpkin. — Picture by Cumi dan Ciki The food is meant to be shared at Il Primo, which is convenient if you are dining as a group, and especially if you are having pasta. The Homemade Beef Cheek Agnolotti with Porcini Mushrooms, which is like ravioli, would have been better if it had been al dente instead of soft. But the flavours were amazing: the aromas of the mushrooms and truffle oil in the very tender wagyu beef cheek all came together so well. We tried a Wok-fried Garoupa with Spicy Sauce from the Chinese menu. The garoupa is drenched in an intense sweet chilli sauce that makes you think of the Thai samrod fish. This would have been good with rice. You could also order a Sri Lankan Crab with salt and pepper, or a Boston lobster with pepper honey sauce off the Chinese menu, and Il Primo special noodles with scallops, prawns and squid, or a homemade beancurd with bamboo shoot and mushrooms.

The super delicious Lemon Tart. — Picture by Cumi dan CikiDesserts are always the happiest part of the meal. There are various flavours of gelato here – you could even go to the display counter and pick what you want. Meanwhile, I was extremely happy with my Lemon Tart with Fresh Fruits. It’s got a buttery, melt-in-the-mouth crust, a well balanced lemon custard filling that’s not too sour nor too sweet but filled with the oomph of lemon. You could also order the dessert platter that gives you a small slice of Sacher cake with chocolate and apricot jelly layers, Vanilla Bavarese with passionfruit, lemon tart, chocolate cake and a fruit tart.
A view of Il Primo at its entrance.

— Picture by Cumi dan Ciki Il Primo Restolounge@Conlay, which is pork-free, is located at No. 26 & 28, Jalan Kia Peng, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-2143 2798. Apart from the usual opening hours, it serves tea from 3pm to 5pm, and a Sunday brunch from 11am to 3pm.

Before you know it

from Orangette by Molly

Somewhere, a woman named Corentine is serving leeks vinaigrette for dinner. It’s been ten years, but I know it.


Corentine was my host mother in Paris, the year that I was 21 and studying abroad. She had the most magnificent name I had ever heard and something a little Jane Birkin, just a little, about her looks. Whenever someone asks me how I learned to cook or how I got into food, I usually credit my parents, but I should also credit Corentine. She and I didn’t have a lot in common, but food was enough, and we seized it. I ate at her table for six months, and she taught me what she thought I should know. She taught me how to eat cheese, how to make vinaigrette from scratch, and how to shell and snap the head from a whole cooked shrimp. She also taught me how to peel an apple in one long, curling, ribbon-like strip, which, it turns out, I still cannot actually do. Perhaps most importantly, she taught me that a plain butter cake with pears, served on a very cold night, can feel like some kind of miracle. She also taught me about leeks. Poireaux, she said.

I’d never thought about leeks before. I’m sure I grew up eating them in things, and certainly in potato leek soup, but I’d never paid attention. I’d certainly never eaten them the way she served them: on their own, as poireaux vinaigrette, steamed to a degree of doneness best described as pleasantly comatose and then sent out on a platter, towing a gravy boat of vinaigrette closely behind. She had two little boys, ages seven and nine, or maybe nine and eleven, I can’t remember, and they used to fight over the sweet white part closest to the root. I couldn’t believe that they actually seemed to know something about vegetable anatomy, much less cared enough to call dibs. I couldn’t believe how much I liked those leeks.



Behold: a mess of leeks vinaigrette, with emphasis on mess. (Corentine’s plating was much neater - as, for the record, was her hair.) I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write about this dish. In the abstract, and particularly said aloud, its name sounds like some sort of unusual plumbing problem, but leeks vinaigrette is a classic, a very common first course in French kitchens. You’ve probably heard of it. Maybe you’ve tried it. It’s one of those concepts that slips quietly into your repertoire, and before you know it, ten years have gone by, and you’ve forgotten the ages of the sons of the woman who taught it to you, and you’re about to turn 32, not 22, and still, you’re making that dish. I’m still making leeks vinaigrette. Sometimes as often as once a week.

Leeks are harvested year-round in some places, but I usually think of them as a cooler weather vegetable. (In the summer, if the temperature gets too hot, they can wind up with thick, woody cores.) They showed up at the farmers’ market here a few weeks ago, and I pounced on them. They’re still young and skinny, about the same diameter as a bottle cap, and they’re very sweet, which makes them ideal for simple preparations like leeks vinaigrette. We put them on the menu for our family dinner at Delancey on August 31, and with the help of our friend Olaiya, who was cooking with us that night, we tried something a little different.



Usually I would just steam the leeks, blot them to get rid of excess water, and then lay them out on a plate and drizzle them with dressing, à la Corentine. But this time, we decided to boil them in big pots of salted water, both to cook them faster - we had 40 people to feed - and to infuse them with some seasoning. Then, while they were still hot, we tossed them with a good amount of vinaigrette, hoping that they would absorb it as they cooled. Rather than tasting like plain leeks topped with vinaigrette - which tastes fine; don’t get me wrong - these tasted like a third, even finer thing: leeks fused with vinaigrette, leeksandvinaigrette, rich and saucy. We served them warm, topped with a little more vinaigrette, chopped hard-boiled egg, and chopped bacon, and it was so good, so properly early fall-like, that I made it again yesterday. Only without the egg and bacon, because I got lazy. Either way, I think you’ll like it.


Leeks vinaigrette

I’ve written this recipe with wiggle room on the quantities of vinegar and mustard, and you should feel free to tweak it to your liking. It’s hard to go wrong, and anyway, your vinegars, oils, and leeks may taste different from mine. Whatever you do, it’s important to use a good, strong mustard for this dressing. I like the brands Edmond Fallot, Roland Extra Strong, and Beaufor. Keep in mind, too, that once a jar of mustard has been opened, it slowly loses its potency, so if you’ve had your jar for a while, you might want to invest in a new one.

2 to 3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 to 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
¼ tsp. salt, or more to taste
6 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small to medium shallot, minced
2 lb. small leeks (about 7 or 8)

Optional garnishes:
Finely chopped bacon
Finely chopped hard-boiled egg

In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon mustard, and salt. Gradually whisk in the olive oil, mixing until emulsified. Taste. This dressing should be fairly bright, and the mustard flavor should come through, but not too powerfully. Adjust as needed with vinegar, mustard, and/or salt. When you’re happy with it, add the shallots, whisking to blend. Set aside. Be sure to taste it again later, just before tossing it with the leeks, so that if necessary, you can adjust it according to their flavor.

Lay a clean kitchen towel on the counter near the stove. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt it well. It should taste like sea water.

While the water comes to a boil, prepare the leeks. Trim away the hair-like roots, but take care not too cut in too far; you want the leek to stay intact. Cut off and discard the dark green leafy parts, leaving just the white and pale green stalk. Starting about 1 inch from the root end, so as to keep the white part intact, cut lengthwise down the middle of the leek. (If you were to splay the cut leek open, it should look like a stubby Y.) Wash the leeks well under running water, flushing any dirt from between the layers. Boil until they are very, very tender and yield easily to a knife. Their color will become muted, and they may be falling apart a little. That’s okay. To be sure they’re done, taste one: it should taste sweet, with no trace of raw flavor. The amount of time that this will take depends on their size, but it will probably take longer than you think. Ten minutes is a good bet.

Draining the leeks as well as you can, transfer them to the kitchen towel on the counter. Blot and press them dry. (Don’t burn yourself!) While they’re still hot, put them in a bowl, and toss them with a generous amount of the dressing. Allow to cool at least slightly before serving.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with more dressing spooned on top and a pinch or two of salt. If you want to make it a little fancier, garnish with bacon and/or chopped egg.

Yield: 3 to 4 servings (as a side dish or first course)