Max @ iHaus, Bukit Bintang (Visit #2)

Hubby wanted to treat The Unc to a nice lunch before he headed back to Germany - so we decided to take him to Max @ iHaus, another one of our favorite restaurants in KL. We had a fantastic first meal here, so expectations were high.

The original plan was to sample their lunch menu, but unfortunately we came on a Public Holiday, so only the degustation and a la carte menu was available. Very easily, we decided on the 5-course degustation menu, but a quick check with the kitchen first to confirm that none of the items on the degustation menu today were the same as our previous meal here as I wanted to try different things!

The many faces of Chinese opera singers adorn the wall

Red lillies

To recap, Max Degustation Menu includes 2 appetizers, 1 fish course, 1 main course and 1 dessert plus a glass of Italian Prosecco. All courses are concocted and selected by the chef from fresh daily ingredients, so we only had to choose the main course from the a la carte menu.

Warm bread with balsamic vinegar/olive oil dip served while we waited

I guessed that the first course to arrive would be a salad, and I was right! The duck was seared lightly, it was extremely flavoursome with a hint of black pepper. The salad was made up of fresh cherry tomatoes, roast peppers, orange segment, fennel and olives.

Black peppered duck breast salad

I was delighted when the next course arrived - Seared Sea Scallops in a Vegetable Ragout. The scallops were sweet and juicy, but then again, anything with scallops is a sure winner for me! The wholesome vegetable broth/ragout was made with grilled yellow courgettes, olives, tomatoes, carrots, peppers and celery. So good we soaked it all up with some bread!

The fish course was also very good - Pan Seared Halibut with Roe and Leeks. The fish was delicate, complimented well by the creamy white sauce.

Having tried some of my main course during our last visit here (and being impressed), Hubby decided to order the Shiraz Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks, served with couscous, mushrooms, sauteed sugar snap peas in a red wine sauce. It was as good as we remembered it, the beef cheeks were tender and flavoursome and the vegetables nice and crunchy.

The Unc ordered the Black Angus Beef Tenderloin with Truffled Soubise, Crovis Grain Mustard Cream and Wilted Asparagus. (RM15 supplement charge for this particular main course). Anyway, when his main course arrived, we couldn't help laughing at him as it was a ridiculously small portion considering the supplement charge plus The Unc is the biggest eater amongst us. The beef tenderloin was tender but it wasn't worth the extra you had to pay for it.

I had the Char Broiled Hillside Farm Lamb Cutlets on Artichoke Barigoule and Garlic Confit. I must really learn to read menus more carefully, as I was drawn to this dish because of the word "lamb" and totally missed the part about it being charbroiled. The lamb cutlets were a little too charred for my liking, and artichokes were really not my thing. So, the main for me was a bit of a miss.

Before we had desserts, the restaurant manager came over to let us know that we would be getting 2 desserts instead of 1. One which came with the degustation menu and another was complimentary (on the house). The story goes like this...After I wrote my first review of this place, Hubby forwarded the link to iHaus and they thanked us for the wonderful write-up and posted it on their Facebook page. Jancy, the director, asked us to let them know the next time we were coming and we did.

So, thanks a lot to Jancy and everyone at Max for the complimentary dessert!

The dessert that came with the degustation menu was a rich cheesecake with a lemon sorbet. A really delightful dessert!

For the complimentary dessert, we got to choose from the a la carte dessert menu. Seeing that we've just had a rich cheesecake, I opted for a vanilla creme brulee with late harvest Gewurztraminer poached pear and chocolate sauce. It was rich and velvety, with the prerequisite crunchy top. Yums! And I love the vanilla ice-cream here!

I recommended the Valrhona Bitter Sweet Chocolate Souffle served with seasonal fruits and cafe latte ice-cream to The Unc since I enjoyed it so much the first time around. And he enjoyed it as much as I did.

Hubby had the warm Almond-Chocolate Brownie with Blood Orange-Mascarpone Cream with Rum macerated Mango and Dragonfruit salad. When it first arrived, Hubby commented that the fruit salad looked a little out of place, but after taking a few bites, he retracted his comment and said it was there for a reason and goes really well with the brownie.

Another wonderful relaxing lunch here at Max. The service was immaculate as usual and the food was delectable and met all our expectations. I could keep coming back again and again!

Price: RM120+ per person

Location: Max @ iHaus, Lot No.32, Jalan Jati, Off Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Tel: 03-2142 9720

GPS coordinates: N 3.14642, E 101.71961