Ultimo @ Solaris Mont Kiara

Honestly, I don't really venture into Solaris Mont Kiara, knowing that I would be lost in that area and true enough, I was taken on a long ride en route to Ultimo even with the GPS! I thought of using my own sense of direction and luckily I didn't or else I'll never made it on time for dessert at the recent food review @ Ultimo, invited by the Qguides and the young chef, CQ (whom is no more than 30 years old).

Ultimo and its deco, me in the background caught on cam.

It was very inviting when I walked into the restaurant. The deco was simple and there was nothing pretentious about the whole place. They have a open kitchen concept and lucky the ventilation is working very well except for the air-condition which is not chilling very well as we progressed into more drinking. I think it looked very much like one particular fine-dining place I liked in Singapore. This place consists of 3 floors and private dining is available on 1st and 2nd floor.

Frat Mustard posing with Peter Lehmann Semillon 2005, Lisa from Qguides, the home-made bun and CQ.

Well, it was a brave move for CQ to venture into Ultimo, as they call it the modern Australian fine dining where he had been in oz for sometime and before this, he was also a chef at Senses in KL Hilton that serves modern Australian cuisine as well.

A bottle of Bosca Verdi Spumante, the Italian Salute, Jek from Qguides and
Alan & Cheng Yi (FatBoyBakes)

The dinner is started with a obligatory salute from a bottle of the Italian Bosca Verdi Spumante which is a low alcohol content (5%) bubbly that will help to cut away the fattiness of the salmon which we were having. Everyone frowned when we heard that it was only a 5% alcohol drink but as we progressed, we actually have another 6 bottles of wine to go. We were served a degustation menu that consist of 8 dishes and a dessert!

Salmon

This salmon platter has an array of salmon prepared in tataki, confit and roast styles. In tataki, the salmon slices are lightly seared at the sides, before being quickly dipped in ice cold water. I like this dish as there were 3 different tastes and textures to experience.

Next up, we had the Scallop and Prawn Raviolo served with spinach, lobster bisque, shellfish vinaigrette. It looked very much like a giant chinese "sui kow". But this one has got whole prawn hiding under it's pretty skin. It went down very well with the Australian Peter Lehmann Semillon 2005 from Barossa with lots of notes of lemon and grapefruit.

The Steamed Eastern Star Coral Trout is served with baby bok choy, leek butter, caviar and mousseline sauce (in simple terms, Hollandaise blended with whipped cream). One comment though, the fried shallots actually did affect the taste of the Australian Katnook Founders Block Chardonnay 2005 from Coonawarra. The Katnook also appeared to be lighter than the P. Lehmann Semillon, and they should have served the Katnook first.

Oh, the Quail. The quaint quail consists of a crusted breast and a leg farci (which mean stuffed with finely grounded meat) served with chestnuts, shallot confit and cognac jus. I think the cognac jus wasn't that apparent but the overall dish turned out to be a fine combi of imgredients. It was paired with a bottle of Beaujolais Villages Joseph Droughin 2007. A burgundy!

Day Braised Pork Belly with a seared scallop and cauliflower puree was a delight. I love seeing a minimum three-tiered pork belly and this was not roasted like your normal "siew yoke". It's braised and it taste a little like the pork knuckle vinegar dish. A German Riesling 2007 by Fr. Loosen was chose to go with the dish. The sweetness of the riesling paired well with this dish.

The Lamb dish was a saddle of lamb served with fondant potatoes, garlic puree, pepper coulis and cute little cubes of mint jelly, so small that some people actually didn't even notice it on their plates! I generally isn't fond of lamb and this one goes down well pretty well since I have a glass of Chateau Franc Cardinal Bordeaux 2003 to go with it.

I was stuffed to the brim and it was already past 10pm. But we saw the last dish on the menu and Cheng Yi blurted "Even if I have to throw up, I need to have the wagyu!" Exclamation mark, exclamation mark!

And so, we have the wagyu...

Actually, I'm not really crazy for wagyu. I can be happy with just any beef that is tender. This wagyu dish here is cooked with red wine and served with galette potato (thinly sliced potatoes), mushrooms, sauteed vegetables and a baby red tomato. This tomato is so sweet and according to CQ, they are planted by a friend in Cameron Highlands whom does it for leisure and not available for sale. Therefore, supplies is limited and not consistent. I asked him if he could just serve these sweet baby tomatoes as appetisers?!! He grinned. The last dish here is paired with a bottle of Australian Evan & Tate Gnangara Shiraz 2007 from Margaret River.

Evan & Tate, Shawn the Floor Asst Manager and taking wines the Sean style.

I am so full, I am so full and it's almost midnight. Why are we still eating?!!

This was my expression when I saw the dessert.
Meena (A Whiff of Lemongrass) is happy!

The dessert that we had consisted of a strawberry white chocolate tart, chocolate bavarian decorated with gold leaf and a classic creme brulee. Before that, we were given a melon sorbet to clean our palate. I liked the chocolate bavarian and the strawberry tart as I find the creme brulee a little to watery for my liking.

The chef's 7 course degustation menu is priced at RM228++ per person not inclusive of wines from Tuesday to Sunday. I think it's quite a good deal considering that they have items like foie gras and scallops in the menu. The degustation menu changes and you can check it out from their website here.

To make your reservations, try Qguides. It helps you make reservations a breeze and all you need is to register yourself, make a booking and wait for the confirmation email. No more waiting on the line and wasting time. The more bookings you make, the more points you would be rewarded!

Ultimo
13A Jalan Solaris 4,
Solaris Mont Kiara.
Tel: +603 6204 0887.
www.ultimofinedining.com