Samplings on the Fourteen @ Berjaya Times Square Hotel, KL: MIGF 2011

It’s the time of the year again when we all get to indulge in a month’s long of fine dining experience as the celebration of this year’s Malaysia International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) kicks in!
This prominent gourmet festival will be held over 31 days (from 1st – 31th October 2011) with the country’s very best restaurants taking part.

Theme for this year’s festival:

It’s Raining Chefs!

Being pampered with the surrounding exclusive fine dine that we know of, we were honoured to get the privilege of enjoying a night out at Samplings on the Fourteen @ Berjaya Times Square Hotel together with the lovely duo ;kampungboycitygal. Special thanks to Siew Yee.
Greeted by friendly staffs and ushered attentively to our table. Romantic & cosy ambiance with a very posh setup that would accommodate patron’s preference.

 

Alongside with the elegant dine-in experience, they have an open kitchen concept where you could witness the master chefs in action. During daytime, it is run by the students & served as a a practical site for Berjaya University College of Hospitality. However, as the night pours in, Chef Valmurugan (the Sous Chef) & his team would be taking over this new starlet restaurant

Open Kitchen Concept

Chef Val & his team of chefs!

Samplings on the Fourteen, as stated on its name, is located on the 14th floor of the Berjaya Times Square Hotel (East Wing), strategically overlooking the KL skylines and bustling traffic that meets the eye with the multitude buildings dotting the lighted landscape during the night. Window seats are just so perfect! Great for dates 😉

 

Their ala-carte serve western classic fine dining cuisines with 7 courses which are ‘To Begin’, ‘To Warm’, ‘To Grain’, ‘To Fish’, ‘To Meat’, ‘To Grill’ and ‘To Finish’.
And in conjunction with MIGF 2011, we feasted with the MIGF Festival Menu (5 courses) with Wine Pairing.

 

Cheese bread & butter to start off with

 

*The MIGF 2011 Festival Menu (Wine Pairing Menu)
Also special thanks to Lawrence to pairing our meal with his special selections of White & Red Wine

 

Appetizer
Combination of Seared Foie Gras, Tomato and Onion Tart &
US Scallops with Yellow Mushrooms, Chive Salad
****
Cloudy Bay, Chardonnay

The Seared Foie Gras, Tomato and Onion Tart combo were arranged prettily almost resembling a mini burger enriched with lotsa goodness. The foie gras were seared till the right texture creating a flavoursome soft touch and matching it with tomato and caramelized onion that were tossed with the foie gras oil was an excellent combination. The crispy tart beneath were also a clever idea of churning out another level of different texture.

The fresh scallops were pan seared over high heat to retained its juicy bits and having a bit together with the mushroom augmented its freshness.

 

Soup
Light Smoked Duck Essence
with Ginseng Root and Raviolini
****
Cloudy Bay, Chardonnay

Not like most of the servings of creamy soups, the thought by Chef Val to present this smoked duck essence; a Consommé, was a great warm up to our tummy before we welcome the main course. An intelligent twist of adding the ginseng root created an oriental luxurious touch yet preserving the classic western dish where we get to enjoy the raviolis wrapping the smoke ducks fillings.

 

Sorbet
Celery Mint Sorbet
A natural cooling delight

 

Main Dishes
Roasted Australian Pistachio Crusted Baby Veal Rack
served with Greens, Potato Comfit and Truffle Jus
****
Nicolas Catena Zapata, Malbec

This Baby Veal Rack dish is Chef Val’s signature or star dish. Beautiful ‘blushing’ meat colour that felt tender and has its juiciness retained was very memorable. With sprinkles of pistachio on its outer skin and roasted till perfectness calls beautified this dish. Chris just loves his veal.

or

Cajun Spiced Black Cod
Seared Prawns, Vanilla Oil and Escarole Risotto
****
Puligny Montrachet

While the guys were enjoying their red meat share, we girls choose to have cod instead. Fresh & smooth black cod that was lightly seared were sandwiched between the prawn and the risotto which was arranged in a potato ring. The combination of flavours were very unique and brought out the natural taste of the cod.

 

Dessert
Ricotta Cheese Cake
Chestnut Mousse with Raspberry Coulis and Almond Crisp
****
Peter Lehmann Barossa Art Late Harvest Frontignac

The dessert was only the downside for this meal as it tasted quite bland.

This set comes together with Coffee or Tea

Samplings on the Fourteen, a MIGF participant this year, is offering 3 special menus for the whole month of October:

Full Festival Menu RM350++ per person with wine, RM180++ per person without wine
Light Festival Menu RM100++ per person

Patrons entertained by unplugged band and you could request your favourite songs 🙂

A vibrant fine dining scene with creative memorable dishes are what we found at Samplings. Celebrating this gourmet festival @ Samplings is definitely a great starting point to our gastronomic adventure for MIGF 🙂

With citygal & Chef Val

Samplings on the Fourteen
Berjaya University College of Hospitality
14th Floor, East Tower,
1, Jalan Imbi,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: +603 2117 8000 ext 8131
Fax: +603 2117 8155
Email: bth.samplings@berjayahotel.com

Business Hours: 6.30pm – 10.30pm (Monday to Saturday)