Mandarin Grill @ Mandarin Oriental KL

Seriously it doesn't help when one is on diet and has to edit all these food pictures, write about them and then post it up. Honestly, I felt that I'm so out of shape and finally I decide to do something about it. All the eating and drinking obviously did damage to my once-skinny-size.

The whole diet thing is going so well until a friend text me and asked me out for dinner on Monday night. I cannot miss this dinner because I demanded that he treat me to a meal at Mandarin Grill @MO since I have not tried this place. Btw, I did him a big favour by exhausting my network to save him from misery in exchange for this treat and it's not that I like to extort free meals from people.



This place, situated just right at the lobby where Pacifica used to be was newly renovated and was opened about 2 months ago. Faruk, the assistant restaurant manager whom have worked at Lafite previously was very friendly. The deco is simple, sleek and very contemporary. It's a clever use of fibre-optics lighting, fire place and white panels. The wine cellar, a clear glass room, from floor up to the ceiling is housing wines that you'll dream of drinking!



To start things off, we had a glass of wine. Yeah a glass (since I'm on diet and he can't drink much) you heard me right. They had 4 choices of red wine by the glasses and I chose the Paul Jaboulet Aine, Cotes du Rhone Parallele 45 year 2006. It wasn't one of those great wines from Rhone but it was smooth. There's blackberries and some woody hints on the palate. At RM55/glass, don't expect it to be fantastic.

Then we ordered some starters. The first dish that came was complimentary. It was a piece of duck served with mangoes and black olives with a drop of balsamic vinegar. Next, we ordered a Asparagus Carpaccio since asparagus is their promotion theme of the month. It was surprisingly light, delicate but I find it lacking in taste. It was visually appealing though.

Then we had the Mandarin Grill Appetizer Sampler which consists of crab cakes, smoked salmon loin and slow cooked lobster served with some tiny julienne cucumbers and caramelised onion. At RM125 for this platter (that I can easily finish) I must say that I am not impressed at all. The crab cakes was nicely done but I don't see why I should pay so much for this. It wasn't in anyway special. Their single dish appetisers start from RM42 - RM95.



Before you have your steak, someone will come with a big box of knives for you to choose. I fancy something special and so I took the green knife. It was the lightest. According to Faruk, these knives cost RM500 each and don't even think of stealing it because everyone will be eyeing on you. And besides, he told us that it wouldn't work outside the vicinity of the restaurant (haha, so lame... I know...).



For mains, we had the Australian Wagyu Grade 9 - grain fed 360 days which is a 140g tenderloin at RM190. The steak comes with 2 side dishes that you can choose and I chose the roasted potatoes with rosemary and baby spinach. For the sauce, I chose the Bearnaise which is clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks and flavoured with herbs. It can be considered as a "child" of the Hollandaise sauce. When the steak came, we didn't like the veins that was ingrained and we asked to change and they did without any questions asked.



The next one that they replaced was perfectly done medium rare and when you sink that knife in, you could feel that this is a good piece of steak! It melts in my mouth... They carry an array of beef such as the Australian Master Kobe Grade 10 - grain fed 300 days for RM488 if you want a 250g Sirloin. An Australian Black Angus, grass fed 42 days is only RM110 for a 250g Sirloin. Besides that, there is a US Prime and also the new 1824 steak where you can order a 1kg T-bone at only RM320. You practically can feed 4 people with that!



The dessert - the much anticipated ending to a meal. I'm kinda predictable. Yes, I had the Manjari Chocolate Ganache. It's a profession disease that I had to try every restaurants' chocolate dessert. This dessert comes with a chocolate sorbet and coffee anglaise. When the chocolate touches my palate, I know this is good chocolate. You get the bitterness of the cocoa and a tinge of sweetness afterwards. I knew it had to be good chocolate and so I asked Faruk. Although he doesn't know the brand, I can pretty much guess it was Valrhona Manjari since he said that it was a french chocolate. For RM32, it was pretty reasonable.

After our meal, I had a long talk with the manager and how I enjoyed the steak and dessert but not the appetisers. He was right, if everything was so good, it'll be a 3-star Michelin rated restaurant! heheh... I like the wine list too and their champagne list is quite complete with the likes of Cristal, Krug and even the Nicholas Feuillatte Rose that I love very much. He showed me his wine cellar and the labels he liked and one particular label reminds me of a great dinner I had years ago. It was none other than a vertical tasting of Chateau Angelus. He was pretty impressed that I have drunk almost all the labels he mentioned but after all the conversation we had, I still can't get him to reduce the corkage charges. It's RM90/bottle here and it's NON-negotiable.

I think the whole dinner consisting of 2 appetisers, a steak, a dessert and 2 glasses of wine is easily RM600 for the two of us. It's not a every-day-restaurant but if I have to return, it's definitely for its steaks and dessert!

For more, you can check out Masak-Masak, A Whiff of Lemongrass and KYSpeaks.

Mandarin Grill
Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2179 8960