Chef Gary Chef has over 15 years of culinary experience around the globe, including Switzerland, London, Dubai (opening team of The Atlantis), Macau and Malaysia. He hopes to showcase hotel-quality food, all made using quality ingredients and served at affordable prices through his restaurants. In December 2017, he opened his first restaurant, Champignons and in May this year, Taste by Champignons.
The menu at Taste features breakfast favourites, burgers, sandwiches, soups, salads, pasta, grilled items, mains, tapas and pizzas. They also offer a weekday set lunch from 12pm to 3pm, with the menu changing every two weeks. Diners get to choose a main course along with a starter (soup or salad) and beverage, with prices starting from RM18.
Start your day right with the Taste Big Breakfast (RM28), a delicious ensemble of two eggs (omelette or fried), homemade pork sausage, streaky bacon, sauteed mushroms, pork bolognaise, grilled tomato, baked beans, hash brown and country bread. My favourites were the juicy pork sausage, which is made in-house using select cuts with a nice balance of lean and fat, as well as the yummy mushrooms and crispy hash brown. A simple dish, very well-executed.
For the health conscious, the Garden Salad (RM13) is given an interesting, refreshing twist with an orange dressing, roasted nuts, garlic-cheese croutons and tea-soaked raisins. You can also opt to add on smoked salmon (RM6) or streaky bacon (RM4) for a more wholesome meal.
One of the chef recommended dish here is the Squid Ink Pasta (RM38) with fresh seafood such as salmon, squid, prawns and mussels, along with cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms, Parmesan cheese and basil.
We also had the Grilled Homemade Burger - diners can choose from Australian beef (RM28), Spanish pork with sage (RM22) or Crispy red snapper (RM18). We went for the pork burger, which comes with a juicy patty made from Iberico pork, served with sauteed onions, lettuce, cheese sauce, tomatoes and grilled bacon. You can add-on French fries or sweet potato fries for just RM3.
For desserts, head on over to The Champignons Cake Shop which is located next to Taste. In fact, we've already eyed up a couple of their amazing looking desserts before we entered the restaurant as they're all beautifully displayed in the cake counter at the front.
Helming The Champignons Cake Shop is Group Pastry Chef, Kingsley Kwoh, who previously honed his skills in five-star hotels such as the Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur and Mandarin Oriental Macau. He specialises in French pastry and here at The Champignons Cake Shop, you can find his incredible creations. Currently he is showcasing his "Summer Collection" which includes fun, cute-looking desserts such as the Gelato, Coconut and Flamingo as well as his signature desserts, the Elderflower and Chocolate Hazelnut. There are also a selection of macarons, cookies and croissant which you can enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.
Not only are they amazingly intricate, we were blown away by the taste and texture of each individual dessert too. These dainty French delights were well-constructed and beautifully put together.
Matcha latte (RM12), cappuccino (RM10)
The Apple (RM16), features green apple mousse, fresh green apple compote cooked with orange juice, almond crunch, lemon chiffon and a Sable biscuit base and is shaped exactly like a green apple.
Elderflower (RM18), the signature dessert, features elderflower mousse, guava compote, strawberry and pink guava jelly with vanilla genoise and biscuit. What a work of art!
The Coconut (RM18) gives out all the holiday vibes, with a cool coconut, complete with a chocolate straw and mini umbrella. Drawing inspiration from the pina colada, this creation features coconut mousse, exotic compote (passion fruit), pineapple, banana and mango), coconut Gianduja, coconut sponge, lime zest and a touch of dark rum.
A la carte menu at Taste by Champignons
Operating hours: 10am to 10pm daily.
Location: Taste by Champignons & The Champignons Cake House, Lot G31 & G32 Ground Floor, Eko Cheras Mall, Batu 5, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Parking rate RM1 per entry on weekdays, RM2 per entry on weekends).
Tel: 03-9134 9288
Nearest MRT: Taman Mutiara (5 mins walk from station via covered walkway).
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Oh my! That Big Breakfast platter is gorgeous!!! Everything looks so nice here! So beautiful! That guy sure is good with his hands.
ReplyDeleteThat squid ink pasta looks to be quite a treat.
ReplyDeleteHad very bad experiences visiting Taste by Champignons twice in a week.
ReplyDeleteThe restaurant serves wine so it is considered to be in between a fine dining and casual dining restaurant. But seriously with such service and attitudes it is better to eat at a fast food restaurant. But get this! Their food is NOT fast.
On Friday, I took away lunch from Taste. Set lunch comes with free salad or soup. The waitress told me it was their own in-house made mushroom soup, so I decided to choose the soup. However, after returning to the office and eating the food only I realised they had given me spinach soup. The takeaway food taste ok but their sauces are too watery and have no taste.
2 days later, I decided to give them a second chance and try their weekend Roast special - Porchetta. I was told that on different weekends they alternate between Porchetta and Ribs. I confirmed with the Chef on Friday (when I took away lunch) that this weekend it would be Porchetta.
Thus I brought my family on the weekend specially to try the Porchetta roast but guess what, the weekend menu changed to short ribs. I was told by the person in charge, the kitchen decided to change the menu. I believe it was the Manager and he was simply unprofessional and did not even offer an apology or give further explanations. What is the point of me asking on Friday then? Basically no point. The word of the Chef or waitress or manager is useless. There is no communication within the restaurant itself.
The Manager very unwillingly said ‘sorry’ because I was clearly upset that my weekend lunch plans had been spoiled. When I told him I was just going to order food from the à la carte menu, he just walked away and passed another waitress to take the order without informing me. How rude and unbecoming of a restaurant manager.
Unfortunately, my troubles did not end there. I ordered a pizza, salad, french fries, two pasta dishes and grilled chicken. They served us the pizza, salad and french fries all within 10 minutes gap of each other, after that I had to wait for another 30 minutes before the pasta dishes arrived. When serving a big group (more than 5 pax), should the restaurant not serve the food almost together so we can enjoy eating together? Or are we expected to have some diners eat and finish first, while we wait for the rest of the food and watch the balanced diners eat then.
While the food and price is just average, I rate the service (especially the manager or person-in-charge) terrible. Initially I thought of trying their very pretty desserts but after being disappointed by them (twice!) I don’t think I will ever be back. I think they are still new in food service industry and lack the experience in daily operations.
Our 2nd visit to the Taste was great! My son was surprised that they provide such excellent service.
ReplyDeleteFor those who had bad experience should give them another chance because you could be the reason for them to improve and maintain their good service. Thanks to you!