Bidou bids bonsoir in Bukit Damansara, a heartfelt homage to French traditions, bridging chefs born in Lyon a century ago to their counterparts now seeking modern meaning in Malaysia.
For those of us who can’t tell Escoffier from Eiffel, a prix fixe dinner here remains distinctive and delicious, leaving us with lovely memories of sea bass baked in bronzed puff pastry.
But if we care, it nudges us to see how echoes from kitchens past still resonate, to recognise the creators of loup en croûte and choron sauce, storied chefs Paul Bocuse and Alexandre Étienne Choron respectively.
From either perspective, Bidou is easy to embrace. In spirit, it evokes eating in a French friend’s home, its stairs like a passage to Paris leading to a white-trussed space with framed portraits of Batman (chef-founder Darren Teoh’s comic book favourite) and a menu from Au Jardin (one of two French restaurants in Singapore where he once worked).
The challenge? Choosing from Bidou’s set (RM377 for four courses with deep classical roots stretching into contemporary branches).
To start, beef tongue with pommes Darphin, Provençale sauce and rouille Marseillaise rounds up France’s regional rusticism, melting through meat, potatoes and sauces, the foundation of French flavours.
But why not the salade gourmande with foie, hazelnut dressing and prune compote, inspired by nouvelle-cuisine vanguard Michel Guerard; a tart of caramelised onions and olives, honouring 1970s-defining Roger Vergé; or another with tomatoes and mustard that nods to Daniel Calvert, today’s wunderkind of Tokyo’s SÉZANNE?
Predicaments persist: Duck-chicken farce or pâté en croûte, one braised with pumpkin and chestnuts in cabbage, the other invigorated with Maltaise blood orange hollandaise? Skipping the beef consommé with wine jelly is a misstep that ages like milk, not Malbec.
There’s more to say, about the house-baked rolls, crayfish au gratin and ornate glassware, but visit the first new restaurant in a decade from the man who manifested the avant-garde Dewakan, nourishing us with meals that convey more than social media content, each plate balancing history’s weight with imagination’s lightness.
