Forget Happy Hour, its Gourmet Hour now

Seared tuna... this is no ordinary happy hour snack. Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 At most happy hours in the citys lounges, bistros and pubs, you would get peanuts, greasy fried ikan bilis, potato chips, or as we experienced at a hotel lounge recently, tapioca chips and deep-fried soyabeans. Its like the wine in the crystal glass did not quite match these oily, tiddly bits. In other places, the salted peanuts and ikan bilis serve to make you more thirsty, so that you would drink more.

Haloumi and beetroot skewers... yummy paired with any drink. - Picture by Choo Choy May

This is not the case at Millesime in Solaris Dutamas. The restaurant has declared a Gourmet Hour, where people can come in and have a drink, with real food accompanying it.

Between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, when its too early to have dinner, yet you are feeling peckish, the food keeps rolling out if you have chosen wine or some boutique beers to drink, and its on the house.

Portobello mushrooms... absolutely delicious. - Picture by Choo Choy May

We had a taste of these open-face sandwiches, grilled Portobello mushrooms, skewers of haloumi cheese and beetroot, even Wagyu beef, at the lounge just outside of Millesime recently, with a glass of wine in hand.

Smoked duck, Kobe beef and smoked salmon open-face sandwiches are a meal on their own.

There was the scrumptious smoked duck sandwich, the succulent meat topped with slivers of roasted red pepper and a little cheese, with arugula leaves at the base.

The sandwich with the smoke! d chicke n is drizzled with truffle oil, raising it to another level. The haloumi beetroot skewers disappeared in a flash from the platter; the beetroot with the toasted chunks of salty cheese melting over it are a wonderful accompaniment to your drink.

I found it hard to stop eating the grilled Portobello mushrooms too; I just loved them for their smooth, juicy, aromatic bites. Then there was the seared rare tuna that could have been a great appetizer for dinner.

The thick slices on a spoon are a dark pink, topped with an olive tapenade, which was an intense, nutty match for it. An open-face smoked salmon sandwich here has the toasted bread generously smothered with the smoked salmon, sprinkled atop with olives and grated cheese, with arugula at the bottom. It looked more like a salad, with the bread peeping out of it. Its a sandwich that makes you drink more.

Kobe beef sandwich with your beer? - Picture by Choo Choy May

Even more amazing is the Kobe beef sandwich, made from the trimmings from the steaks served at Millesime. They didnt look like trimmings at all; sizeable pieces of meat covered the bread. Just lift the meat off and enjoy it.

These gourmet offerings may change from day to day, from Monday to Friday, and the wait staff of course serve them according to how much wine or beer is being consumed.

You can choose from the wines here at Millesime's considerable cellar.- Picture by Choo Choy May

The restaurant has a well-stocked cellar of wines from all parts of the world. Its a clever way to keep your drinkers happy, and they may even want to step in for dinner.

Millesime has new dining options for the evening you can choose the five-course Menu Degustation, four-course Menu Gourmet or the three-course Petit Menu. For five courses it! s RM250+ +, four courses RM220++ and three courses RM200++.

The first course for the degustation menu is Yellow Fin Tuna Loin seared rare with Smoked Marlin and bell pepper relish, celery flan, avocado mash, mizuna greens and balsamic syrup, followed by Poele of Goose Foie Gras with Duck Egg Mollet, Smoked Duck Emince, Shaved Fennel and port wine reduction. Then its Pan seared Hokkaido Scallop with Avruga Caviar, Braised Red Cabbage and Grain Mustard Sauce. You could pick the Meuniere of White Snapper Fish Fillet with Saffron Beurre Blanc Smoked Herring Hash, Fine French Beans and Sea Trout Roe or Australian Mulwarra Black Angus Tenderloin with Black Truffle Juice, roasted portobello, savoy cabbage and Humboldt green asparagus. Dessert is Oven-baked Fresh Fig Passilla with Chocoalte Tuile, rum-macerated berries and vanilla ice-cream.

Theres a Wednesday Wine Lunch menu at RM120 nett, and a Friday one too, that serves five courses and costs RM150 nett.

Millesime is located Level G1-01-3, Menara Kencana Petroleum, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-6211 0648.

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