Brunch @ La Vie En Rose

Wakey wakey! La Vie En Rose opens bright & early, serving lunch Tuesdays through Fridays & brunch on weekends.

Earlier entries on La Vie En Rose: Nov. 14, Nov. 15, Nov. 23 & Dec. 8.

Croque tartiflette _ comfort food in a sandwich, plumped up with potatoes, onions & Reblochon, a cow's milk cheese from the French Alps region of Haute-Savoie. Hot & hearty, this might be the ultimate carb-laden nightmare for an Atkins dieter.

The creamiest, most aromatic scrambled eggs we've had in ages, temptingly laced with truffles. Decadence need not wait till nightfall. Served with La Vie En Rose's own pumpkin jam _ a homemade spread that we initially thought was produced from apricot & persimmon.

Two perfectly poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce in a hollowed-out bread. A Gallic twist to Eggs Benedict, every bit as sinfully brilliant. Note: most of La Vie En Rose's egg dishes are available only on weekends.

La Vie En Rose is run by the same folks who operate Urban Picnic at Menara IMC, where customers can also look for lunch on weekdays. Roasted pumpkin, grana padano cheese, rocket, grilled nuts & balsamic vinegar _ many of our favorite salad ingredients in one bowl.

Connetable sardines in extra virgin olive oil & lemon. These sardines from Brittany are a treat, with flesh that's flakier & less stinky than supermarket varieties.

La Vie En Rose's foie gras terrine, filled with apple compote, is absolutely as good as liver gets. Not on the a la carte menu, but ask if it's available.

This photo-edited-till-golden, grouper-only version of bouillabaisse brims with the rich brininess that only something from the sea can supply. Chickens, cows & pigs need not apply.

Don't move our cheese: La Vie En Rose serves nice ones. For cow's milk cheese, try the silky-soft Saint-Marcellin or the firmer Salers from the volcanic mountains of Auvergne.

Abondance, Ossau Iraty & Blue Stilton. Wish we were more of cheese connoisseurs, so that we could appreciate these better. Still, they tasted terrific to us.

Vanilla ice cream, the purest of pleasures with Lodovico Campari's highly honored, sweetly sourish 15-year-aged balsamic vinegar of Modena.

Time for tarts: lemon tart with strawberry sorbet.

Guanaja chocolate tart, boasting a bittersweet intensity.

Anise-flavored Mauresque (Ricard & Orgeat) & Perroquet (Ricard & mint).

Kir Royale (champagne, creme de cassis).

Red, red wine, stay close to me....

Got vinegar? La Vie En Rose's store sells it! This is simply a sample though.

La Vie En Rose,

39, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2078-3883

La Vie En Rose & PH Pastry House

A Tale of Two Houses: two very different restaurants _ La Vie En Rose & PH Pastry House _ opened this month, sharing one similarity: both were transformed from residential bungalows into beautiful eateries that could become firm favorites for KL's foodies.

Let's kick off with La Vie En Rose; an abandoned location for 15 years at Jalan Raja Chulan, this is now an immensely charming outlet where strains of Edith Piaf's signature song waft across the romantic alfresco setting in the evening.

La Vie En Rose joins the ranks of French restaurants like Le Bouchon, Cafe Cafe & Ma Maison, dishing out delicious traditional fare cooked by Toulouse-born chef Jean Michel Fraisse.

Complimentary bread with duck rillettes. Fraisse is no stranger to KL; he landed here in the 1990s, eventually founding the French Culinary School in Asia & spearheading eateries like Cuisine Studio & Urban Picnic.

Pate en croute with sweet & sour pearl onions, red cabbage, mustard seeds & blackcurrant chutney (RM22++). Artisan bread is painstakingly baked on the premises, while many other premium ingredients are imported, but prices are far from crippling; a three-course dinner without wine should cost below RM150.

Musketeers' salad: duck confit (with smoked duck bacon), sauteed mushrooms & violet dressing (RM28++). La Vie En Rose's menu is a tribute to time-honored recipes, some of which Fraisse learned from his mother; this is the type of hearty, no-nonsense nosh that we envision when we watch a movie like Ratatouille.

Chicken Marengo, a recipe favored by Napoleon Bonaparte _ grain-fed free-range chicken, sauteed with yabbies & tarragon-flavored tomato concassee (RM58++). Our only complaint about La Vie En Rose: while driving here, we had to make a perilously sharp turn up a hill (slightly past a Shell gas station, before the St Andrew's Presbyterian Church). The restaurant recommends that customers park across the road in an open-air lot instead.

Tea-smoked Muscovy duck breast with warm organic green lentils (RM58++). Notice a pattern in this post? We prioritized poultry for our orders, but there was no tiresome feeling of deja vu, since each recipe was uniquely enjoyable in its own fashion.

Wishful drinking: beer served in champagne glasses. But it's no regular booze; reputedly the first beer created to pair with food, Estrella Damm Inedit is the brainchild of Damm brew masters & Ferran Adria, Juli Soler & El Bulli's sommeliers' team (RM120++ for 750ml).

La Vie En Rose currently opens for dinner, Tuesdays through Sundays, with last orders at 10:30 p.m., and for brunch on Sundays. It also sells everything from olive oil to pasta machines. We have faith that it'll prove itself to be one of 2011's best new restaurants.

OK, next up: here's a look at PH Pastry House, a former family residence at Imbi that's cultivating a chic, contemporary bakery-cafe vibe.

PH Pastry's trump card might be macarons; by the end of November, this outlet _ run by a trio of Malaysian entrepreneurs _ promises to introduce funky flavors of savory macarons, such as foie gras, black & white truffle, extra virgin olive oil & smoked salmon with dill.

In the meantime, try the "Guilty Confession" Sarawak pepper macaron, comprising salted caramel, apricot ganache, sea salt & pepper _ sweetly sticky, with a subtly spicy aftertaste. It costs a hefty RM7.90, but PH offers cheaper varieties (rose, green tea, dark choc) for RM3.90.

Pumpkin soup (RM9++). PH Pastry's business hours will please many customers; breakfast starts at 7 a.m. daily, with the outlet remaining open through 10 p.m. Last orders are at 9 p.m.

Pasta Puttanesca, with smoked salmon, egg, anchovies, tomatoes & capers (RM13.90++). PH Pastry's food is fair, considering the prices; the manager says the menu is a work in progress, but expect to see everything from pizzas to poached cod fish here in the months ahead.

All in all, PH Pastry has potential. Let's put it this way: have dinner at La Vie En Rose, but for a casual breakfast or lunch, PH Pastry might prove perfect.

Best bets for beverages at PH Pastry: milkshakes, coffee & affogato.

At PH Pastry, beer is available, but not wine, for now.

La Vie En Rose,

39, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2078-3883

PH PastryHouse,

54, Jalan Utara, Off Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2141-2208

La Vie En Rose

Back to La Vie En Rose @ Raja Chulan. Earlier entries: Nov. 14 & Nov. 15.

On a steamy, sultry night, best to begin with La Vie En Rose's lightest, most scintillating starter: coral trout belly tartare, served on ice with fennel, green apples & citrus zest Chantilly cream.

Pan-fried duck liver, caramelized apples & aged balsamic vinegar. Not bad, but not the best ever. Maybe the tastiest foie isn't always found at French outlets.

Escargot vol au vent with garlic & anise cream sauce. The black sesame pastry was nice & buttery, but what thoroughly wowed us were the snails, spectacularly soft & luscious.

Ocean trout with Pantalleria capers, lemon confit & croutons. This rustic recipe feels like it could have come straight out of a provincial restaurant on the Mediterranean coast.

Evocative of quiche: tart of duck lardon & mushrooms with carrot & cabbage slaw. Moist but far from soggy, with an unexpected meatiness attributed to slivers of air-dried duck inside the tart.

Again, let's pair La Vie En Rose's Gallic savories with the French sweets of Les Deux Garcons. We keep returning to this Bangsar patisserie for the white truffle macarons, but we're also learning to appreciate the garlic macarons _ pungent but pleasurable.

LDG's eclair ranks among the most excellent we've eaten _ light choux pastry brimming with rum-laced (we think) vanilla creme patissierre. Also delectable: Le Pagode Noire, a milky-nutty combo of choc ganache & black sesame praline.

La Normande _ heavenly Granny Smith mousse with financier base & salted caramel cream _ alongside a less exquisite but still enjoyable almond tart layered with joconde & sour lemon curd.

Le Favori (pistachio biscuit pate a choux, raspberry brulee & pistachio mousseline).

Earlier entry on Les Deux Garcons @ Telawi: November 15.

Coffee, hot & black, partnered with the pastries for an affair to remember.

Arthur Metz, Cremant (Alsace). Cheaper than Champagne.

Fresh sourdough loaves for sale at La Vie En Rose. Get 'em while they're warm!

La Vie En Rose,

39, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2078-3883