Hosting up to 16 guests throughout its space for dinner, JIE feels as intimate as a private kitchen. Its Japanese-inspired zero-waste ethos is enabled by its reservations-only policy; two days' notice is required for groups of four or fewer, with three days for groups of five or more.
Fun fact: Chefs Whye Whye and Kelly hand-pick hyperlocal produce for much of their menu. On Mondays close to midnight, when the freshest fish, poultry and vegetables surface in stock, they personally scour Selayang's markets for the most reliable ingredients.
JIE's setting is soothing in simplicity, coloured by classical illustrations of cranes and peacocks. Watch the chefs work with precision in the open kitchen while a soundscape influenced by Shanghai's century-old jazz standards sets the tone for evenings of enchantment.
Dinner is distinctive even before the first bite, thanks to the tea that welcomes patrons - JIE's house brew of dried jasmine flowers, red dates, poria mushrooms and nourishing roots, floral and fruity with fragrant earthiness to chaperon the meal from beginning to end.
Eight of the 10 courses in the JIE and SHI menus are the same; these courses will remain through mid-March, but the opening salvo is so enjoyable, it deserves to stay longer, a firm favourite for JIE's chefs and customers alike.
JIE does justice to the spirit of congee, soul-warming across East Asia and Southeast Asia, beloved from Hong Kong to Korea to Vietnam.
Here, the congee is crafted with Sarawak's heirloom adan rice, decadently viscous, dark in colour, deep in flavour with clam stock and Chinese wine, harbouring a large local clam with a briny-juiced chew, emphatic in the essence of land and sea without a pinch of spare salt.
The congee is coupled with the Kishu no fudo (KID) Junmai Daiginjo, from a fourth-generation Kansai valley brewery with free-flowing spring water. This sake showcases a mellow, medium-weight umami to match the congee, clean and clear, with soft notes of cherry and apple that shimmer through the glass' sharper lip.
The second course channels the unmistakable character of Lunar New Year lo hei - a crackling, cracker-topped creation of raw marinated salmon with caviar, pomelo, jicama, ginger, fried shallots and pickled cucumber, zesty and zingy with yuzu and calamansi. Terrific for those of us who crave the invigoration of yee sang beyond the season.
With festivities fast approaching, the salmon course can be substituted with a full Yee Sang, jazzed up with JIE's vivacious twists - salmon sashimi harmoniously tossed with carrots, jicama, purple cabbage, fried yam, pumpkin, shallots, micro greens, lemongrass, lime leaves, ginger and pickled cucumber, seasoned with five-spice powder, pepper, peanuts, sesame oil and seeds, plus pineapple juice for an auspicious punch.
The yee sang substitution is available for a minimum of two patrons at a top-up of RM10 per person.
The salmon summons up a crisp, citrusy Riesling - skiing in from the South Australian slopes of Victoria's Strathbogie Ranges, this Mac Forbes 2022 makes an appealing aperitif, piercingly pristine with cool-climate acidity, refined with a fleshy lemon-rind tang.
Taro, tofu and truffle come together in the third course, a meat-free take on Hakka nam yu kau yoke, swapping pork belly for stewed taro, fusing red tofu paste and tauchu for fermented robustness, tinged with truffle paste and powder, topped with crispy taro. Fun fact: JIE harnesses moist Thai taro for the stew and the drier Malaysian equivalent for the julienne.
The taro meets its match in Muchada Leclapart de Univers 2021, a biodynamic white wine with a sterling Vinous 91 rating, a golden-hued early harvest of the classic Palomino sherry grapes of Spain's Andalusia region, complex with a ripe stone fruit undercurrent and a savoury finish of nutty, leafy minerality.
Molluscs make up the fourth course.
For the JIE menu: Australian greenlip abalone, naturally buttery-salty with a full-bodied firmness, braised for 24 hours to absorb the richness of superior stock, suffused with Shaoxing wine and goji berries, propped by glass noodles.
For the SHI menu: A plump Japanese oyster from Hyogo Prefecture, silkily slurp-worthy, poached with chicken oil and fermented tomato broth with sweetly sour-spicy subtleties that strike surprising synergy with the succulent oyster.
Luscious seafood merits luscious wine: The 2021 Louise Vineyard Viognier by the top-tier U.S. Cristom Vineyards is bright-structured with Oregon-origin notes of orange blossoms, peach and honeysuckle, served at a slightly colder temperature for a structured body that holds up with intentionality to the intensity of the abalone and oyster.
The fifth course testifies to why classic soups are revered as an art form.
This Chicken Consomme is potently and preciously produced with a slow-simmered abundance of time-honoured Chinese medicinal herbs, Japanese dried scallops, conch, shark fin cartilage, abalone skirt, winter melon, dendrobium and cordyceps flowers, and goji berries for holistic healing, delicately delectable to the last drop.
This next course hits closest to home for many of us bred on Chinese Peranakan fare - dry-aged red snapper, pan-fried, then finished on a charcoal grill for gentle sultriness, emboldened by lushly spiced Nyonya curry sauce with flourishes of cauliflower puree and curry oil, complete with steamed Japanese pearl rice, rounding up like an honest-to-goodness hug.
JIE's barbecue is also fired up for addictive chicken wings, deboned and decisively engorged with glutinous rice, foie gras and pork liver sausage, concentrating smoky sensations that evoke claypot waxed meat rice into each wing. We could enthusiastically eat several servings.
The stakes escalate with the Vinous 92-point-rated Tenuta Terre Nere Etna Rosso 2022, its provenance in Mount Etna's volcanic soil, with Nerello Mascalese grapes embodying Italy's equivalent of Pinot Noir, with fine tannins that placate the palate with the plushness of cherries and strawberries. cleaving through the luxuriance of the foie gras in the chicken wing.
Household stir-fries of asparagus with ham are reimagined in the seventh course of Peruvian white asparagus, poached and pan-fried, showered with aromatically marbled Yunnan ham and garlic flowers, sprinkled in a gorgeous gravy of Yunnan ham and preserved radish.
At first glance, the glisteningly gelatinous ninth course of the JIE menu looks remarkably like Taiwan's braised pork rice. But the chefs have exiled the swine for Philippine sea cucumber, making a meat-free bowl that takes a week to ready, softened over seven days, braised for 24 hours with leek and shiitake mushrooms, 100% lip-smacking with no MSG or extraneous salt, paired with pearl rice and yacon. Less of the guilt, all of the indulgence of lu rou fan.
The ninth course in the SHI menu shares a Taiwanese DNA, tangled with hints of a Singaporean heritage - slippery scallion oil noodles with sakura ebi shrimp, shredded dried scallops and fried shallots, perked up with superlative Chinese vinegar for a piquant uplift, reminiscent of bak chor mee, well-balanced with a helping of chilli oil for extra wallop.
The Domaine Yannick Amirault les Málgagnes 2021 steps up to the challenge for this pairing with a Cabernet Franc's resilient personality, teasing us with supple tannins of peppery blackcurrants, tobacco and mocha, blushing with the flush of violets that blossom in France's Loire Valley.
The final course culminates in a ten for tantalisation: Panna cotta - wobbly, not stodgy, as tender as tau fu fa - infused with Bentong ginger for an Malaysian edge, layered with lemongrass jelly and pomelo, drizzled at the table with starfruit juice. Scoop from the bottom for blissful mouthfuls of mouthfeel.
Wine pairings crescendo with a rarity in Malaysia - the Vintry Group's latest import, securing a Prädikat-level wine of distinction from Germany's renowned Joh Jos Prüm. The Auslese Bernkasteler Lay Riesling, made from very ripe, hand-selected bunches, is an off-dry dessert wine that feels feather-light in its freshness and sweetness, a revelation in how effortlessly it fares with the panna cotta.
Mignardises mindfully maintain JIE’s choreography of Chinese culinary themes to the conclusion - petits fours leave a lingering impression via Buddha’s hand citron candies along with kneaded cakes of orange peel and sago, their stickiness suggestive of ang ku kueh.
Fujian oolong tea leads us out into the night, its laborious preparation typifying Teochew traditions, with the third and fourth pours being the most beautiful and beguiling.
JIE (界)
73-M, Jalan Setiabakti, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 6pm onwards.
73-M, Jalan Setiabakti, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 6pm onwards.
Tel: 012-325-0885
