Cilantro @ MiCasa All Suite Hotel

For an entire generation of Malaysian restaurant devotees, Cilantro evokes memories of some of their best meals in KL, haunting its patrons' dreams with specialities like braised unagi with foie gras & roasted pigeon de Bresse with red wine reduction. The Grande Dame of august gastronomy is now poised for a renaissance, following a recent extensive refurbishment - the result is a refreshed look for 2017 & beyond, sleeker than ever before but still elegantly soothing & comfortable. With a terrific service crew firmly in place, this remains one of the city's worthiest choices for a top-flight feast.

Chef Takashi Kimura & his team continue to work their magic with food that's founded on French inspirations with a flourish of Asian inflections. Chef Takashi, a stalwart of KL's restaurant scene for more than a decade now, compelled us to indulge in Cilantro's weekly lunch, taking place every Friday afternoon. The lunch menu changes every week & can be glimpsed in advance at cilantrokl.com/menus - on this occasion, we kicked off with a gorgeous duet of sea urchin, stirringly luscious & sweetly briny, coupled with botan ebi that's blanketed with delicate consomme jelly in a creamy combination that brings a new perspective to savouring raw shrimp, illustrating Chef Takashi's mastery of reinterpreting ingredients in his signature styles.

Fine, fresh produce, woven together into a tapestry of temptations: There's a deceptive sense of effortlessness & delightful facade of simplicity in ensembles like this buckwheat tagliolini with scallop & endive. The creation looks tempting on the plate but tastes even more tantalising on the palate - perfectly al dente pasta that fills the mouth with flavour & texture, partnered with an irreproachably tender mollusc & a crisply nutty vegetable that merits a more prominent presence on Malaysian tables.

For the main course, the hakkaku sailfin poacher is a beautiful representative of Japanese fish, ideal at the tail end of winter; a true treat, paired in a basil mustard sauce with another delicacy, France's springtime offering of white asparagus from the sandy fields of southwest Landes. A marriage that gracefully unites the season's bounty from the Japanese sea & French soil.

The alternative main option also carried a clear allure - lamb that grazed on the Australian outback's Saltbush pastures, slow-roasted to sheer exquisiteness, with most of the flesh entrenched in succulence on the bone & some stuffed in a piquillo pepper for double the enjoyment. Lamb at its most satisfying, each bite conveying rich dimensions of unadulterated flavour.

Even dessert defies expectations - a warm chocolate cake with ice cream & Bentong ginger may sound nondescript on paper, but with every component so peerlessly prepared & playing pleasurably off each other, it's a sumptuous symphony to revel in. 

Cilantro is also open for dinner, Mondays through Saturdays, with a full a la carte menu. As part of the restaurant's renovation, the bar has also experienced a face-lift, & there's a private room beside the wine cellar, complete with a kitchen for customers to bring in their own personal chefs. We look forward to many more years of Cilantro; thanks to the team here for having us.

Cilantro Restaurant & Wine Bar,
MiCasa All Suite Hotel, 368-B, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

Direct Line: +603-2179-8082 

Email: cilantrosvr@micasahotel.com

Cocotei Tokyo Japanese Cuisine @ Raja Chulan

Throughout the past decade, Cocotei's founders have cultivated a consistent reputation for crowd-pleasing cuisine, reaching back to their creation of Hajime on Jalan Damai to their subsequent reincarnation as Cocotei on Jalan Delima. The restaurant now continues its evolution, moving to a new location on Jalan Raja Chulan - a sprawling space with intriguing corners, including beautiful private rooms, for customers to come together over a capably executed Japanese meal in the city centre.

Cocotei's menu ploughs through the pillars of Nippon-inspired fare, focusing on fresh, nourishing produce to complement its naturalistic-themed setting. The ideal introduction might be the Zensai Santen, a collection of three appetisers that change every week to illustrate the kitchen's reliance on seasonal seafood & vegetables, with firefly squid, spinach in sesame sauce & a cute chick-shaped prawn fritter among the recent highlights. Also for whetting the appetite, the Coco Salad boasts a heap of crunchy, clean-tasting soft-shell crab on a crisp mix of veggies, poured over with creamy, house-made sesame sauce.

 Sashimi is well-represented by the requisite staples, plus specials like this sayori, the slender halfbeak fish that's best before the early summer spawning period, recommended for patrons who enjoy light, pure nuances in their raw seafood. It's elegantly presented, with the head & tail deep-fried on request to a deliciously edible brittleness.

 Our favourite orders at Hajime were often the ceaselessly addictive sushi rolls - Cocotei's mastery of maki will spur greedy gobbling too; the modern classic of Black Spider Maki is a treat for fans of soft-shell crab with a hefty, flavourful bite, while the Dragonfly Maki crowns a roll of shrimp tempura & avocado with a luxury-loving flourish of gold flakes & roe.

Inaniwa udon on ice makes for a memorable finish, exemplary in both its delicate taste & smooth texture, followed by ice cream in can't-fail flavours like yuzu, black sesame & wasabi with red beans. Many thanks to the Cocotei team for having us.

Cocotei Tokyo Japanese Cuisine

84, Ground Floor, Annex of Holiday Inn Express, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur. 

Open daily, 1030am-2pm, 6pm-10pm. Tel: 03-2164-5265

March Azalea Kitchen @ OUG

Fun fusion fare, bringing together Malaysian & Japanese flourishes: March Azalea's rice bowl is a should-try, with the warm, creamy rice blanketed in a medley of mildly spicy prawn sambal, petai, sweet-salty pork floss, cucumbers & a ravishingly runny egg - it may sound like a mess of flavours & textures, but it's a beautiful one, with a delicious interplay of dynamics & dimensions (RM13.80). The chicken chop is also prepared fresh to order, its crunchy bite yielding to a juicy chew, slathered in thick Japanese curry sauce & complemented with corn on the cob, broccoli & mashed potatoes for a fulfilling meal (RM18.80).

March Azalea Kitchen

40, Jalan Awan Hijau, Taman Overseas Union, Kuala Lumpur. Kitchen opens for lunch & dinner, Wed-Mon. Tel: 03-7972-7330

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