La Vie En Rose, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur

A dilapidated residential bungalow with an inconvenient entrance requiring an acute U-turn and a climb up a steep slope, abandoned for 15 years, transformed into a charming restaurant, with a gorgeous view of the Petronas Twin Towers.

La Vie En Rose, owned by a Toulouse native, Jean Michel Fraisse, is a fine dining restaurant which is a great place for a date.

For you single Sex-in-the-City-type girls, who just want a night out with AMAZING food, this restaurant has another plus point... the easy-on-the-eyes manager… ;-)

Sorry straight boys!!! 

Now on to the ‘la nourriture’

We were served with a complimentary basket of bread and Chicken Pâté.

Shiv: Amazing! My first time trying CHICKEN pâté and it was so good. It was seasoned very well and the pungent liver taste was not present. The bread was ordinary – nothing to shout about.

Kav: My first time as well, and it was just sublime. One of the best pate’s I have tried surprisingly, as you would expect chicken pate to be less rich in flavour. However, this was buttery and creamy and had immense flavour.

Mien: Hate chicken liver, and hated this! However, there was not much of the chicken liver taste as it was spiced well. There was a very distinct clove or aniseed taste. The bread basket was my saviour!!

We ordered the Crème brûlée au foie gras, brioche toastee [Foie gras crème brûlée with toasted brioche] (RM29).

Shiv: Not for the faint of heart. The crème brûlée idea was stretched a tad too far – caramel and foie gras DO NOT pair well. However, the foie gras itself was sublime and I loved the texture of the brioche.

Kav: How do I put this delicately??? Well, dessert arrived a tad too early for me. The caramel was just disgusting with the fatty foie gras. The brioche, however, was soft and the brown crust gave it a smoky flavour, which was lovely. The French and their pastries...hmmm.

Mien: Not a fan one bit. I am not a fan of livers and hence my disdain. However, the brioche... oh my days... so good... felt like I was in France.

Next item we ordered was the special of the day – Tuna cooked two-ways with White Sauce. (RM70). It was served with truffle mashed potato and Ratatouille.

Shiv: The tuna was too tantalising! The accompanying sauce was flavoured to perfection and the truffle mashed potato was divine. The ratatouille provided a nice earthy balance to the other strong flavours. #HighlyRecommended

Kav: OMG… the tuna was cooked to perfection. It was seared perfectly on the outside, while remaining pink on the inside. It was just melt in your mouth goodness and to be honest, it did not require any flavouring as the fish was so fresh and full of flavour. The accompanying sauce was creamy and the sourness from the tomatoes made for a perfect sauce. Ratatouille was good!

Mien: The tuna was oh my days... AMBROSIAL. It was not overdone... still moist and not too dry! The marriage of the sauce and the tuna was delightful! The truffle mashed potato.... JUST HEAVENLY! The ratatouille didn’t fail to impress as well… :-)

Next up, Cuisse de canard confite, purée aux truffes et sauce acidulée [Duck leg confit with truffled mashed potato, sweet and sour sauce] (RM49).

Shiv: Too good! The duck confit was superbly savoury and again, the truffle mash was an excellent starch source to soak up the deliciously briny duck juice. Loved this one to bits!

Kav: Duck, again, cooked to perfection as it was moist and fell off the bone. Loved the sauce as it was salty and had a buttery flavour to it. The balsamic reduction drizzle was a good contrast. The truffle mash was officially the best mash I have ever tasted, so creamy and the earthiness of the truffle coming together nicely.

Mien: Too gamey. Dislike!

Moving on to Poulet fermier cuit a basse température, sauce aux morilles [Slow-cooked free range chicken, morel sauce] (RM58).

Shiv: Usually, I would never order a chicken main in a restaurant such as this, but boy am I glad we did. The chicken pieces were really tender and juicy, with an herb-y edge. Loved the pungency of the morel sauce too.

Kav: The chicken was moist, cooked perfectly, and the accompanying sauce was savoury, salty and flavoured well. The sauce carried that underlying earthy flavour provided by the morel mushrooms. The perfect marriage.

Mien: The chicken was done well, not dry. The morel... sooooo delicious! Loved this dish!

Dessert time!!!

First up: Profiteroles, sauce au chocolat et caramel [Profiteroles with chocolate and caramel sauce] (RM22).

The profiteroles were stuffed with Bourbon vanilla ice cream!

Shiv: Another French delight – La Vie En Rose hit the spot with their version. The profiterole dough was done well, and paired oh-so-beautifully with the chocolate caramel sauce. They could do no wrong with this dessert – a MUST HAVE here!

Kav: Decadence at its heights! This dessert should be illegal, that’s how good it was. The chocolate sauce was not overly sweet and the bourbon ice cream… oh, how I yearn to have some more!!! The nuts were crunchy and went perfectly with the entire dish.

Mien: DELICIOUS! The ice cream, chocolate, caramel, profiterole... a perfect combination!

Next: Tarte Tatin [Traditional upside-down French apple tart, Bourbon vanilla ice cream] (RM22).

Shiv: What a downer. I have never tasted such bad apple pie in my life! McDonalds makes better apple pies than this place!

Kav: Remind me never to order the French version of apple pie again!!! So so so bad… I mean, I don’t even know where to begin…Grrr…Wish I had eaten this before the profiteroles!!! How about we just leave apple pies to the American’s?

Mien: I prefer the American apple pie! This tasted like mashed cooked apples for babies... NO NO!

Due to our dissatisfaction, we ordered ANOTHER dessert.

Finally: Mousse de café et biscuit moelleux au chocolat, crème au chocolat blanc et expresso [Coffee mousse cake with soft chocolate biscuit, white chocolate and expresso custard] (RM22).

Shiv: Nice, strong coffee flavour which paired well with the creamy texture of the mousse cake and custard. Quite pleasant indeed.

Kav: The mousse cake was just alright, although it paired well with the creamy custard. Nothing to shout about.

Mien: Not a fan! Preferred the version served at Nathalie’s Gourmet Studio.

What is a French experience without some French wine.

We had the:

1)  Brouilly, Domaine La Citadelle, 2011 (RM30 per glass)

Shiv: A nice wine to start with. Easy to drink and paired well with the appetisers.

Mien: Medium bodied. It was light. Loved it.

2)  Les Vignes D’Oc, Pays d’Oc, 2011 (RM30 per glass)

Shiv: Heavier and not as good as the first one but pleasant on the palate nevertheless.

Mien: Hmm... I preferred the first wine. This one had a funky taste to it!

Kav was a teetotaller for the night, so she had a hot chocolate. This was on the house as the manager forgot her order and brought it late. Sorry guys, we forgot to check the price on this.

Kav: Loved the chocolate as it was not sweet and it was rich and chocolate-y, just the way I like it.

Verdict: WOK ON!

PRICE: Expensive (RM454.70 for 7 dishes and 4 glasses of wine – 3pax).

AMBIENCE: Appears slightly unfinished, but unassumingly romantic and an amazing view from certain angles, or if you sit closer to the outside portion of the restaurant.

SERVICE: Very good. The French manager that attended to us was as attentive as he was attractive. *wink wink*

FOOD: One of the best French restaurants in KL, serving authentic French cuisine.

LA VIE EN ROSE

39, JALAN RAJA CHULAN,

50200 KUALA LUMPUR

Tel: +603 2078 3883

Email: info@cuisine-studio.net

Website: http://www.cuisine-studio.net

Opening Hours:

Tue – Fri: 12.00pm – 2.30pm; 6.30pm – 10.30pm 

Sat – Sun: 9.30am – 2.30pm; 6.30pm – 10.30pm

Café Café, Jalan Maharajalela, Kuala Lumpur

We decided to go to Café Café to celebrate Kav’s and a friend’s (Guest #1) birthday as it was touted to be one of the most beautiful restaurants in Kuala Lumpur – a fitting place for two beautiful people. :-)

True to its word, the ambience that greeted us was beautiful in an old –fashioned manner, flowers and ornaments adorned the walls and it had a very French outlook. A romantic setting for a date!

We had the option of choosing between four set menus or going with the ala-carte menu (which meant choosing any of the dishes offered in the set menus). We decided to opt for the ala-carte menu in order to try a variety of dishes.

* Please forgive the lacklustre photographs, as we were not allowed to use the flash on our camera. We were informed by a waiter that Café Café has a 'no flash policy' in their premises as it may disturb other patrons.

We were initially served complimentary assorted bread with butter.

Kav: Bread was mediocre. 

Guest #1: Found the sesame bread a bit hard. I would usually go for seconds but thought I'll give my jaw a rest. The butter was delicious, creamy, and had the right texture and proportion of salt. 

Shiv: The butter was delicious but the bread could have been fancier.

Mien: Slices of bread were nothing to shout about. Butter was very good.

Gaj: Although the bread was warm, it wasn’t great but the butter was good.

We had two dishes for starters, the first being, Niçoise Salad, a traditional salad from Nice, mixed premium salad, boiled eggs, anchovies, freshly cut peppers and olives. It was tossed with a special dressing of sundried tomato and roasted walnuts (RM29).

Kav: Thought it was a mediocre salad, liked the combination of olives and tuna. 

Guest #1: The salad was fresh, tangy from the combination of peppers and sundried tomatoes but would have tasted better if there was more dressing - vinegar and olive oil. 

Shiv: I really liked this – very fresh and had a nice tangy flavor.

Mien: Nothing like the ones from Nice….. very unflavourful… 

Gaj: The salad was fresh, but I could not the taste the anchovies and the dressing was very light. Not the best salad that I have tried – it was alright.

The second starter was Escargot in Garlic Parsley. The escargot was cooked in a garlic parsley sauce (RM32).

Kav: It was pungent, savoury and earthy all at the same time. The escargots and the garlic were a mouth watering combination. The pungency of the garlic is not for the faint of heart. 

Guest #1: I found the dish too garlicky, enough to scare any Dracula or date, which overshadowed the natural taste of the escargot and the richness of the parsley. 

Shiv: Was good, however, they could have given more bread to accompany the dish. The escargot itself was amazingly flavoured though. 

Mien: It was good… the best dish I had here.

Gaj: This dish was yummylicious and the garlic parsley was heavenly. Best dish of the night!

The first main we had was Fettuccine with Cod. This dish had an olive oil base, garlic and parsley, shredded cod fish is tossed with al dente fettuccine, garlic and parsley and sprinkled with roasted crushed macadamia nuts (RM55).

Kav: The pasta was too thick and was not flavoured well. To top it off, it was not cooked al dente. FAILURE!!! 

Guest #1: Shame for the poor choice of pasta (not to mention it being uncooked) for it let down a perfectly flavoured cod. I liked the idea of macadamia nuts as it went really well with the parsley whilst the garlic-ness was kept just about right.

Shiv: I like this one. Was very earthy and the cod used was fresh although they could have been more generous with it.

Mien: The flavour itself was good; however, the pasta used was too thick and overshadowed the flavor.

Gaj: I felt like fettuccine was the wrong pasta for this dish as the cod and crushed macadamia nuts did not coat the pasta well as it was too thick. This is a pity as the flavouring (garlic, parsley and macadamia nuts) of this dish was delicious.

For the second main, we had King Prawn. Chargrilled prawns, with mixed Mediterranean vegetables served with Sicilian-pistachio dressing (RM63).

Kav: I don’t get how a fine-dining restaurant can serve stale prawns!!! Poorly flavoured. The only saving factor was the ‘charred’ flavour that went well with the prawn. 

Guest #1: You just can’t serve stale food. 

Shiv: They were relying on the freshness of the prawn to carry this dish, and thus did not over-flavour the prawn. Unfortunately, the whole dish ended up being a failure, as it lacked both.

Mien: The prawn was not fresh! BAD FOR A PLACE LIKE THIS! 

Gaj: The prawn did not taste fresh, it was a bit mushy, however it had a nice char-grilled flavour. Though the vegetables were good, the dish was a letdown.

We waited for the third dish with bated breath as we have heard good reviews about the Duck Confit. The duck is preserved in its own fat, and then, salted, served lightly waxy, and dried with duck flavour (RM59).

Kav: This was the best dish of the night. The duck was flavoured perfectly as it was savoury and there was a strong duck flavour that I loved. However, there is one little complain, which is, the duck was a little dry, probably because it was overcooked. 

Guest #1: Crisp on the outside, tender in the inside. The dish preserved the natural fat from the duck which gave its flavour.  Thumbs up. 

Shiv: The reviews were spot on; the Duck Confit was prepared perfectly and as a duck lover, this did not disappoint.

Mien: Not a fan of duck…. hence did not like this – too duck-ey. However, the flavouring of the vegetables was good.

Gaj: I am not a big duck fan, but this dish was pretty good as the skin of the duck was crispy; the smell not too pungent.

Next up, we had Lamb Medallion, lamb served with mustard honey-vinaigrette dressing (RM80).

Kav: Lamb was a little dry and poorly flavoured. 

Guest #1: I thought the lamb was plain. Not enough dressing… a hint of mint would have flavoured it better. 

Shiv: Not impressed one bit! Poorly flavoured and not well done enough (despite requesting for it to be well done).

Mien: Not a fan of lamb, hence did not like this dish as it was too gamey!

Gaj:  The lamb was not tender enough and I felt like the lamb was not flavoured well.

The last main of the night was Pancette –Roulade of Cod with Frog Leg, pan fried cod fish roulade with pancetta, served with pear-morel mushroom dressing and deep fried frog leg (RM95).

Kav: Stale Stale Stale!!! ABSOLUTE CRAP! 

Guest #1: Again. You just can't serve stale seafood. Period. Seafood and amphibians don't mix. 

Shiv: The cod was not fresh at all and the dressing was laced with too much sugar!!! BAD!

Mien: Cod was not fresh! Not a fan of frog – too chewy! Highly disappointed!!!

Gaj: Very disappointing as the cod was not fresh. I did not understand why the cod was served with a frog leg as it did not complement each other.  Was not a big fan of the frog leg, it lacked flavour.

We ordered 4 desserts and were given one complimentary cake for the birthday babies.

The first dessert we had was Chocolate Cake with Ice Cream, molten lava chocolate cake, served with vanilla ice cream (RM30).

Kav: Loved this dessert. The hot oozing chocolate cake with the cold ice cream was a pair like none other. However, I think I tasted the exact same chocolate cake at Werner’s, Changkat Bukit Bintang. 

Guest #1: Love anything with chocolate and vanilla ice cream. 

Shiv: A true indulgence, however, the vanilla ice cream used could have been of better quality.

Mien: OK… too rich!!!

Gaj: This dessert was divine, heaven on earth – the hot chocolate sauce oozed out of cake and melted in my mouth…deserving of an AMAZE- BALLS!

The second dessert was Tarte au Citron, classic lemon tart served with butter crumbles (RM20).

Kav: Funny how the lemon tart had a fishy taste to it. This was inexplicable!!! 

Guest #1: Didn't like it at all. Horrible fishy taste to it….something must have gone wrong in the kitchen. 

Shiv: WAY TOO EGG-Y!! Had potential as it had a nice lemon tart-y flavour.

Mien: Too egg-y.

Gaj:  This dessert had a fishy taste to it, and though the butter crumble was nice, it was not enough to save this dessert. MAJOR DISLIKE!

Next, we had Crème Brûlee with Espresso. The Crème Brûlee was served with a shot of espresso (RM25).

Kav: Creamy yummy goodness!!! 

Guest #1: I love Crème Brûlee and this one passed the test. The caramelised sugar wasn't too thick; the inside was not too eggy or sweet. 

Shiv: The best dessert of the night… possibly the best Crème Brûlee I have ever had. The accompanying coffee complemented the dessert perfectly.

Mien: Considering I am not a fan of Crème Brûlee … this was REALLY GOOD!

Gaj: Both the Crème Brûlee and espresso were very good, excellent!

We then had Tiramisu, classic version with biscuit  cuillère soaked with Kahlua and brandy, layered with Italian mascarpone with touches of Grand Marnier (RM25).

Kav: Dry and one of the worst tiramisus I have tried. 

Guest #1: Poor choice of liquor (could have been Jägermeister!) in the tiramisu. Bad. 

Shiv: The Cuillère layer was too thick and dry and was not a fan of the type of liquor used.

Mien: BAD BAD BAD… Was sooo disappointed… but I should have expected it as I was in a French restaurant and not an Italian one!!!

Gaj: The tiramisu was bad, very bad – I did not like the taste of the liquor – tasted like medicine.

The complimentary cake was a lemon cake.

Kav: Like the creamy, tangy flavour of the cake. 

Guest #1: Cake was fresh, simple and liked it. 

Shiv: Like this as the lemon cake was tart-y and fresh tasting.

Mien: Love lemon cakes / biscuits. This was a pleasant surprise.

Gaj: This cake was nice, had a nice lemon flavour.

We ordered 2 bottles of wine. Firstly we had the Château D’Esclans Whispering Angel Domaines Sacha Lichine Rouge 2006 Côtes de Provence (RM165).

Kav:  This was a smooth wine. Fruity and light. Loved it. 

Guest #1: Light, fruity without an after taste. Very nice. 

Shiv: Loved this. My first time trying a Château D’Esclans, and it was a pleasant experience.

Mien: Light – which was why I loved it!

The second wine was Petit Mars 2009 Vin de Pays de l’Aude (RM156).

Kav:  Personally didn’t like this wine much. Found it a bit sweet and dry. 

Guest #1: Still fruity but a bit more dry that the previous wine. Would try this wine again.

Shiv: Was heavier and not as good as the first one.

Mien: Light and dry, however, not as good as the first.

Verdict: WOK OFF!

PRICE: Expensive as expected for a fine dining place (RM967.44 for 7 dishes, 3 desserts and 2 bottles of wine).

AMBIENCE: French-like ambience. Good for a date if you are not a firm believer in the 'less is more' concept, as it was slightly overdone and congested.

SERVICE: Good, food arrived promptly.

FOOD: Disappointing as some of the seafood were not fresh and not to the standard of a restaurant of this stature. Unimpressed! 

CAFÉ CAFÉ

175 JALAN MAHARAJALELA

50150 KUALA LUMPUR

WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN

Tel: +603 2141 8141

Website: http://www.cafecafe.com.my

Opening Hours:

6pm-12am, daily