Lunch @ Soleil, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

I keep a list of "Restaurants I want to visit" on my iPhone and we finally struck Soleil off the list during my birthday week. Soleil can be considered a fine dining restaurant, serves modern European cuisine and specialises in seafood dishes, something which their head chef Evert Onderbeke is known for.

Chef Evert used to head the kitchen at the now defunct High Tide (one of the best we tried at that time, we thought) and later on he worked on for a bit at Cuisine Gourmet by Nathalie. So naturally we had pretty high expectations for our lunch here at Soleil.

My favorite dish of the afternoon

The decor is minimal yet classy with lots of natural sunlight. They have a pretty small menu here and you can choose from a la carte, set lunch (RM75 for 3-course) or signature lunch (RM125 for 3-course). They also have a changing specials board. We decided to go a la carte since we're on a celebratory lunch ;)

After placing our order, we saw a familiar face - Effendie, the ex-restaurant manager from Sage KL is now at Soleil. We were served some nice, warm bread with butter and black salt while waiting for our food.

Bar area

For starters, I ordered the Marinated Crabmeat with Avocado, Momotaro Tomato and Basil Sorbet (RM40). Beautifully stacked with Chef Evert's signature garnish, the pea shoot. Clean, refreshing flavours, I certainly enjoyed this - it scores high on both the taste and looks department. I especially like the basil sorbet which gives this a unique touch.

Meanwhile, Hubby had the Pan Fried Hokkaido scallops with Sauteed Belgian Endives and Mustard Mousseline (RM40). The scallops were well-seasoned and plump,though we wouldn't mind a bigger portion of scallops.

For mains, we both chose from the specials board. Hubby had the mushroom risotto with pan fried veal sweetbread (RM85). The risotto was nicely done, and being a first-timer with sweetbread, I thought it tasted very similar to chicken. When I saw mussels on the specials menu (in the starters section), I knew I wanted that for my mains. The Dutch mussels (RM45) were steamed in white wine,herbs butter and lemongrass. However, they were not as good as I expected them to be and the mussels were pretty small compared to the ones I had here.

Pretty, like a butterfly!

For dessert, I had the Passion Fruit and Mango Cannelloni with Pineapple Cremeux, Citrus Crumble and Mango Sorbet (RM26). It looked really pretty on the plate and the overall combination was pretty good with lots of different textures going on.

Hubby's pandan crepe (RM26) came looking like a parcel (tied with a pandan knot) and once opened, revealed caramelised bananas. This was served with a refreshing coconut sorbet.

Verdict: Nice ambiance with beautifully presented plates of food. A great place for a celebratory meal. 


Opening times: 12.00pm - 2.30pm; 6.30pm-10.30pm. Closed on Mondays.

Pork-free.

Price: Total bill RM290 (visited in Nov 2013).

Location: Soleil, 22A Jalan 17/54, 46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-7932 5989

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Soleil/326050024194499

GPS Coordinates: 3.12599, 101.637093



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