Perched over the hill of Jalan Raja Chulan, La Vie En Rose (LVER) resides in a bungalow and is located directly next to Shell Station, it’s easily missed so do look up to your left upon passing by Shell station because you’ll need to do a sharp LEFT on a small laneway. I’m being specific because my friend got lost despite through my detailed instructions. New babies to owners of Cuisine Studio (no longer operated in both Tropicana and Sierramas), these people have history behind French cuisines and we were already anticipating a good dining experience with them.
I do have a soft spot for bungalow turn restaurants; I’ll always take my sight on the surroundings, first before settling myself in a comfortable spot. The special thing about LVER is that they’ve opened up the constructed wall facing the main road creating a semi-indoor and alfresco dining. In another word, one eye sees all; it’s quite a refreshing ambience, although the interior does seem a bit under-dressed. Also alfresco is their bar, which serves very simple liquer at the moment.
LVER menu is at the upper end pricing in town. You are looking at
RM30+ for starters,
RM70+ for main courses. We felt barely filled that night after damage to wallet of
RM150 each (without desserts and alcohol too!! Read on...)
Our Amuse Bouche – Salmon Pate topped with peppers, red berries & champagne jelly
I’ve been hankering for some good truffle dishes and somehow have the misperception that they serve plenty here. I suppose I should have just stick to Garibaldi for that.
Instead we settle with their
Cepes mushroom soup, grilled duck ham & truffled whipped cream, which I’ve heard is one mean little soup, so I’m all for it, but unfortunately turns out slightly too watery to my liking, though faint truffle taste is present. Perhaps if the soup thickens slightly with cream would uplift my opinion of this dish
The
Petuna trout belly gravlax on green tea blini & Anise whipped cream was ordered after second thoughts. Sounds good on context but probably the least memorable dish- at this point, 3 days later, I wasn’t able to recall how this dish taste like except that the green tea blini definitely needs improvement for being too soft, and much to my dismay, it was a pretty tasteless overall dish
Just as I was second guessing my decisions on dining here, came the savior.
Escargot puff with garlic and anise cream sauce plays well to my palate. An almost perfect executed dish, we were rewarded with lovely crunch to its puff pastries and those snails was done with sheer tenderness with a nice bite to it, Critically, it was the absences of those “garden” taste in the snails that make me dup this dish one of my favourite of the night.
(most restaurant just can’t get them right!!)
But notice how I said “almost perfect”? Now if only they’ve gone a little bit more heavy on those seasoning.
Pan fried foie gras, caramelized apples & aged balsamic vinegar cost a whooping
RM68, and worth every cent of it. One of the better ones in town with two generous pieces, both perfectly seared. They’ve went easy with the sauces so not to overpower the taste of the foie gras.
The
3 musketeer salad was as decent as salad goes: flavorsome, fresh and crispy greens. What I enjoyed about this dish was that they used all my favourite ingredients: duck confit, smoked duck bacon, and plenty of sautéed mushroom. Now, we can’t complain much with that, right?
We then progress into our mains, we were utterly incapable to walk away from this when we saw it on the menu, and waste no hesitation ordering it-
Tournedos Rossini; medium done beef tenderloin topped with pan seared foie gras, served with port and truffle sauce, side with truffle mash. Slicing the steak through reveals a blushing center (which was good), however the texture of the meat left us in disappointment with its chewy consistency instead of a tender cut. The sauce compliments well but again truffle scent was absent.
Facts check: “
Tournedos Rossini is a French steak dish, created for composer Gioachino Rossini, this original dish comprises of beef, pan fried with butter, served on crouton and topped with slice of foie gras” Wikipedia.org
Decent recipe but a dish that did not impress us is the
Grouper fillet bouillabaisse style, with garlic crouton & saffron mayonnaise, mainly due to the coarse flaky texture of the fish, and the weak broth
Aside from their fixed menu, LVER does offer some chef's special which will change from time to time- take for example this Grilled King Prawns.
We skipped dessert (which is super rare!) but we weren’t too keen on that since we’ve had our share of disappointment that night. That being said, I believe LVER still has its potential, their menu does have some interesting items, just hoping the recipes will be improved in time.
Ratings:
Food: 5.5/10
Service: 5.5/10
(not quite attentive, though polite)
Ambience: 7/10
Presentation of food: 6.5/10
Overall Ratings: 6/10
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La Vie En Rose
39, Jalan Raja Chulan,
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-20783883
