KL’s Fine Dining Establishments worth their weight in Gold

Ask any foreigner and they will tell you that street-food is Malaysia's forte. However, did you know that there are some pretty fine establishments for fine dining in Kuala Lumpur as well. The Chefs of these restaurants have done a remarkable job raising the bar, and here are KL fine dining establishments that you must not miss, if you are in town.

1. Sage

Hiramasa King Fish with smoked Avruga caviar Cream

As I stand quietly, patiently, camera trained in the right direction of Chef Daniel and Sage's open kitchen, my focus can now fall on its mostly exhilarating food: a decadent slice of Hiramasa King Fish with smoked Avruga caviar Cream that's the stuff of dreams; a mélange of Consomme of Foie Gras with Fresh Mushroom and Pacific Oysters that's pure rapture; a cut of precocious beef, the Wagyu Beef Striploin with Dauphinoise Potato and French Mustard Sauce that gets my vote for steak of the new millennium.

Sage is by far, my favourite restaurant for prolonged lunches. I always love the fish starters on the Sage menu, because they are more often than not, very well executed. Less is best, and these subtle flavours of the Hiramasa King Fish are balanced to perfection with the other components on the plate. One of our dining companions commented that if we just had an entire steak of yellowtail kingfish, one prepared just like this, he would be happy to go home after eating that one dish. I am inclined to agree.

For the choice of mains, I picked the fish. It's a delight to sink your incisors into a layer of crispy pan seared fish skin that gives way to flaky white, moist flesh, cooked just right. The surprise came in the form of a perfectly executed prawn kataifi.. if only dining could always be this fun and creative. A classic French sauce consisting of a Béchamel sauce base, cream, crayfish butter and crayfish tails completes the ensemble.

Desserts, especially those that are Bavarois in nature, are usually top notch at Sage, so if you can set aside some nap time, post lunch, that would be ideal.. However, if you cannot, there is always that extra strong coffee that will get you through your sugar dive. These simple yet outstandingly well prepared dishes are what keeps us coming back, and it amply illustrates why Sage attracts such ardent worship in the first place. If you have not already visited Sage, you are missing out. But don't worry, than can be fixed, of course.

2. Cilantro

Salad of Summer Seafood and Vegetables with Ohba Vinaigrette

Exquisitely fresh, creatively crafted dishes by the man himself , Chef Takashi Kimura, is what keeps me coming back to Cilantro. Be prepared to dine on contemporary cuisine in a soothing atmosphere where you will be treated like the princess that you are. Trust me when I say that Cilantro is the luxe version of Sage. Everything is taken up a notch. And yes, of course I love this place for the Truffle butter that they serve . This stuff does not come cheap and due to the perishability of the truffle, it can last only a couple of weeks, tops. The butter that is used to make it is far creamier than normal butter. Eating crackers in front of the T.V. just got way more expensive.

Chef Takashi Kimura's resulting dishes ultimately are a reflection of his prowess in taking a bit from each ingredient, throwing them together and then letting the flavours merge to wonderful, harmonious effect. Although inspired by French cuisine, Cilantro employs a lot of Asian ingredients that are seasonal and superbly fresh. You can see the careful construction of aesthetically pleasing contemporary French-Japanese cuisine come alive on your plate. The colors, textures, shapes and finally flavours are just a delight to behold.

3. Millesime

Baked "Open" Hokkaido Sea Scallop Pastry Pie Capsicum Relish with Emince of Gulf Prawn, Sea Trout Roes and Crustacean Oil

Millesime, which opened its doors late 2010, in a grey space in one corner of Solaris Dutamas on Mont Kiara, is what we call a mellifluously named restaurant (the word means "vintage" in French) with familiar innovative dishes on the menu that people have come to recognize as the trademark of a well-travelled, even eminent, chef overseeing the kitchen. .

Settling into the dimly lit, dining section of the sprawling Millesime restaurant is like settling into a seat in your own living room — if your living room happens to be done in the fashion of industrial modern minimalist architecture, that is. Oh yes, I feel very much at home here indeed. Perhaps the smiling Chef who cooks in the open kitchen just inches away from where I sit is yet another brownie point towards putting me at ease. I love this sort of informal dining. Chic yet laid-back.

If there is one thing to try here, it would be the degustation menu, which is constantly evolving in terms of using better and higher quality ingredients. The restaurant has diligently taken into account customer feedback and challenged themselves to work harder to provide a better dining experience for us , the diners. Simply put, their cooking is more mature and exciting than when they first started.

Take for example the Baked "Open" Hokkaido Sea Scallop Pastry Pie Capsicum Relish with Emince of Gulf Prawn, Sea Trout Roes and Crustacean Oil which is my all time favourite dish in the degustation menu. It looks unbearably pretty and tastes fabulously light and oceanic as well. The term "open" refers to the pastry pie that is a lighter version of an encaged pastry pie, a la traditional mode. A simple yet well baked puff pastry top, served together with the Japanese Hokkaido sea scallop which had been caramelised and cooked al dente, is what I would refer to as, my sort of "perfect dish".  A glaze of white wine enhanced the flavours. The base sauce was covered with chopped sea prawn from the Arabian Gulf, prepared together with a mild — vinegared mixed capsicum brunoise (cubed) in a lobster bisque and finally garnished with sea trout roes and crustacean oil. So you see, they actually went through a lot of trouble, to make something seem light and delicate tasting. A lot of effort, to seem effortless. I like this. This should be the motto of every good fine-dining restaurant, I reckon.