GoodyFoodies: Valentine's Lunch @ Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar, The Gardens Residences, Kuala Lumpur

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Valentine's Lunch @ Sage Restaurant & Wine Bar, The Gardens Residences, Kuala Lumpur

Our daughter and I woke Baby Sumo up to the sound of "Happy Valentine's Day", followed by "Would you like to go to SAGE for lunch today?"

Sage offers a different Lunch Menu each week and conveniently posts the menu online at the start of each week. To the delight of our tastebuds more often than not the Discover Lunch Menu has more potential hits than misses. This week, we were both unanimous in our menu choices and proceeded to order 2 each of Roasted Foie Gras with Sea Scallops and Black Truffle, Grilled Angus Rib Eye Steak with Mashed Potato and Natural Jus and Warm Chocolate Tartlet with Vanilla Ice Cream.

The alternatives were Poached King Prawn with Celeriac, Rice Wine Vinaigrette, Sea Garoupa Cuit a la Vapeur with Abalone and Sauce Nori Seaweed, and 2 choice Artisanal and Fermier Cheese with Fig Terrine and Homemade Bread.

The bread served at Sage that afternoon had raisins, walnuts and orange peel, an improved variation of their more plain version, enjoyed with Basil dip their signature accompaniment.

Roasted Foie Gras with Sea Scallops and Black Truffle

Foie Gras or Sea Scallops offered individually would probably have been selected by us as the first course. Eating them together was a new experience for us and effectively two dishes for the price of one.

The Foie Gras was firm in appearance, appearances however can be misleading as like all good foie gras this serving was very delicate in texture and the outer later was paper thin exposing luscious liver. I often find it intriguing how many people detest many liver dishes yet thoroughly enjoy foie gras, I myself am one of those people.

Grilled Angus Rib Eye Steak with Mashed Potato and Natural Jus

The Angus Rib Eye Steak was arguably the best meat dish served up by chef Daniel and his crew since we have been visiting this establishment. Cooked medium rare at our request, the meat presented to us was tender and succulent with a boundary layer of fat enveloping the meat which was equally tender and added to the experience and flavour. I personally enjoyed the mustard which was plated with this dish. For me this course was best enjoyed sampling a little of all the components together in each mouthful. Simple yet very tasty.

I guess in all walks of life, it is the signature of a real professional when things look simple when we all know in reality it is not so easy.

Warm Chocolate Tartlet with Caramelized Banana and Vanilla Ice Cream

We fondly discussed possibilities of how this dessert was prepared. The tartlet itself had a perfect appearance matched by two contrasting yet complementary perfect textures. For me, the caramelized banana didn't add much to the dish other than being a filler, however the richness of the chocolate filling and the crisp yet buttery biscuit-like shell combined with the smooth vanilla ice-cream could on this day only be likened to an arrow and the bow of Cupid's weaponary. Chef Daniel and his team had hit the bulls-eye with today's lunch, well done to them.