Sneaking a peek at two relatively upmarket restaurants that have opened in Ipoh in recent weeks: Garvy's In The Park ...
... & Myth Eatery, both of which feature lovely settings. We nibbled lightly at both outlets, so this entry is far from an exhaustive evaluation, but we're not sure we'd return to either for now; there seems to be a sense of style over substance at both.
Garvy's is interesting, but head here prepared for the trappings of a fine-dining experience. It isn't a venue where three customers who come in wearing T-shirts & shorts & decide to only order two dishes will feel warmly welcomed; your starter & dessert will arrive all at once & you might need to repeat your questions & requests to a service team that's arguably inattentive, even when this French restaurant remains empty early in the evening.
Prices are relatively steep for Ipoh (the cheapest starter, a smoked duck salad, is RM49 before taxes), but that's forgiveable, as many items are imported & the restaurant aspires to a KL-level benchmark. We chose two dishes first to test whether we should proceed with the remainder of the menu (foie gras, scallops, lamb rack & Atlantic cod), but the Brittany oysters with champagne sauce gratin (RM55) leaned closer to good than great, with only passing-grade freshness.
White chocolate lava cake with pineapple compote & vanilla ice cream. Tasty, very nearly meriting the RM40 price tag. The creamy molten centre had rich complexities (a hint of caramel?), but one of our main waiters insisted it was white chocolate & nothing more. We skipped the wine; there was nothing by the glass in the RM30-something range.
So we moved on, taking a 10-minute drive to Myth Eatery & Bar, the new hotspot at M Boutique Hotel. Note though, the "bar" part of the restaurant's name isn't totally suitable for now, as wine isn't presently served here.
Myth is an intricately designed outlet that'll leave Instagram addicts hyperventilating; every corner, every chair, every cushion is worth admiring. We would have happily lingered here for hours, but ...
... our trial order was a miss. The unagi pizza (RM35 before taxes) was well-laden with eel, but the flavours clashed mightily with & were ultimately overpowered by the tomato sauce & cheese. The crust was reminiscent of some strange sort of crunchy-airy biscuit that disintegrates on each bite.
Maybe the rest of Myth's menu is more successful. Beef sliders, smoked salmon salads, herb-crusted lamb racks & garlic butter cod fish are among the other potential highlights; it's a wide-ranging menu with sufficient imagination.
Garvy's French Dining
275, Jalan Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh, Perak
Open for lunch & dinner. Tel: 05-255-8082
Myth Eatery & Bar
M Boutique Hotel, 2, Hala Datuk 5, Ipoh, Perak
Tel: 05-254-8133
The latest edition of Eat Drink KL: 100 Favorites for January-March 2014 is now available online, featuring 100 pretty nice eateries, including more than 20 new entries for this quarter. The eBook can be read & downloaded for free, convenient reading on computers, tablets & smartphones.
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