They're back: French Feast heralds the rebirth of KL's beloved La Vie En Rose following its closure on Raja Chulan. Founder Jean-Michel Fraisse, chef Mickael Cornutrait & their team now have a new home on Tengkat Tong Shin, turning a former residence into a restaurant with a ravishing old-world charm. It's the kind of venue where the hours will float by effortlessly, as dish after dish of honest, hearty Gallic cooking emerges to remind us why the French are masters of the gastronomic arts.
If you fervently miss the classic fare of La Vie En Rose, make this your next stop: French Feast has it all, with the team's benchmark-setting house-baked bread & salmon rillettes paving the path for a meal that lives up to the restaurant's name. Start with the achingly creamy-rich foie gras terrine with elegant notes of Armagnac, balanced with fig compote (RM70); the country-style pork liver & meat terrine, rustically textured & winningly partnered with red wine onion jam & pickles (RM34); & the luscious tartare of hand-cut beef tenderloin, an absolute should-try that's exquisitely coupled with smooth, robust-flavoured slices of French Feast's own air-dried duck breast (RM40 for the starter-sized serving pictured here; RM80 as a main course).
Lovingly slow-cooked specialities - showcasing red meat, fish & poultry - form a cornerstone of French Feast. Boeuf bourguignon ranks among our favourites; gloriously tender red wine-braised beef cheeks with glazed vegetables & a side of supremely soft, aromatic truffled mashed potatoes successfully convey both depth of flavour & dimensions of texture (RM75). French Feast's salmon is also revelatory, prepared as a confit with Chateau d'Estoublon extra virgin olive oil & Provencal ratatouille to really bring out the finest characteristics of the fish (RM78). And to complete this comfort-food trilogy, the Toulouse-style cassoulet of duck confit, sausage, pork belly & coco beans is a masterclass in time-honoured cuisine (RM74).
Other temptations include house-smoked pork sausages with stewed puy lentils (RM52) & poached egg with red wine sauce, lardons, croutons & caramelised baby onions (RM28) - soulful recipes that we'd happily have again & again. We would have loved to wrap up our meal with cheeses, creme brulee & sorbets, but we were pretty stuffed by this point. There's certainly cause to come back to French Feast, since the menu is poised to expand - kitchen-made traditional blood sausage, anyone?
French Feast
20 Tengkat Tong Shin, Kuala Lumpur.
Mon-Fri, 630pm-1030pm; Sat, 10am-1030pm; Sun, 10am-2pm. Tel: 03-2110-6283
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