Exploring New Menu with Chef Thierry @ Maison Francaise, KL

Whether for a special occasion Prix fix meal or casual bistro dinner with family & friends, French food, like thick cream, still rises to the top. There was a time when it might have been merely possible to divide the city’s French offerings into the categories of casual bistro and upscale dining room, Maison Francaise, is part of a national shift in the definition of what makes a great French restaurant. A place where some of the most exciting cooking is happening.
Thank goodness! We witnessed venerated haute cuisine kitchens like those of Chef Thierry, the brilliant new chef at Maison Francaise.

Here we are at Maison Francaise, a sophisticated, romantic & comfortly laid out restaurant that guaranteed pretty pictures taking, exploring their new ala carte menu whipped out by Chef Thierry & his team. With his philosophy of having said French gastronomy is based on the ingredients themselves and on detailed, careful preparation of the food. We also learned that the simpler the food, the harder it is to prepare it well. You want to truly taste what it is you’re eating, and that goes back to the trend of fine ingredients. And definitely, technique still counts. There have been so many chefs that have even spent time in France learning to flambé, sauté, and julienne, as well as learning all about sauces preparation & how a structured kitchen system would be like.
With Chef Thierry around, he managed to pull it off as we were all impressed with the dishes that he presented. And this will dictate what qualifies as the perfect French meal.

Here’s Chef Thierry’s French cuisine.
He welcomes you to Maison Francaise, where along with his team he will do everything for you to have a most pleasurable dining experience.

Amuse bouche – veal terrine, quail egg, with gribiche sauce
A great glimpse into the Chef Thierry’s approach to the art of cuisine. Appetite ignited with this combination of bite-sized, chilled, terrine that’s not too mushy & dry, mayonnaise-style cold egg sauce & quail egg. Laying it on a small piece of cabbage resembling a spoon that you can just grab a bite.

 

Foie gras terrine with cucumber jelly. Served with Mascarpone quenelle, diced apples (Granny Smith) & caramel sauce.
Terrine or pâté if you ask me, I’ve always preferred terrine and foie gras terrine? Oh yum!
The amount of fat is well balanced out with the flat top of cucumber jelly that gives off a cooling effect plus a nice gelatinous texture too. A combination of rich but refreshing at the same time. Sitting on the spooned out caramel sauce is not just 2 dollops of some ordinary whipped cream. These are the nicely shaped Quenelle foam with that natural sweetness & crunch from the diced the Granny Smith apples. Oh we’re in love!

 

Smoked Norwegian salmon, served with Dijon Mustard Cream Tuile with Orange, and some Tartare celery beetroot cream and lemon juice.
This was another very good dish. There are a few elements going on this plate itself. Fresh, thinly sliced Norwegian salmon smoked in-house at Maison Francaise. Every bite was so fragrant with its smokiness. Then there are these “Tuile”, a thin crisp, sweet or savory wafer rolled up that is commonly used for garnishing on top of desserts. Meanwhile, Chef Thierry cleverly uses orange in his Tuile that created that zesty crisp flavour and filled it up with Dijon mustard cream that has that salty & creamy texture that complements its outer shell so well. The pretty purple element that is made up of beetroot & lemon juice serves the palate igniting purpose that heightened both the flavours of salmon and mustard cream tuile.

 

Lamb loin with Crusted Herbs, sautéed Quinoa with lamb sauce, Tomato Ratatouille and Baked Potato
Chris had lamb and he would still prefer his portion to be medium rare instead of medium. Guess the chef might have mixed up my portion of duck and his. Oops! However, it’s beautifully presented with drizzles of hazelnuts crust on top, and sitting on a bed of sautéed Peruvian Quinoa. Flavours & the mixture of textures from different ingredients were great, it was just the medium rare issue. Even cherry tomatoes were stuffed with ratatouille in it. Such detailed!

 

Crispy duck breast, served with a Coconut foam, sides of Pepper Couscous, Apple and Cinnamon roll.
And so I had this perfect medium rare duck breast that still retains the moisture in it & pink! These meat texture and flavours complemented very well with the right sweetness of the apple & cinnamon roll that has that crisp.
And as for the pepper couscous, it was beautifully presented in a packed cylindrical form with great colours combination.

 

Pear sorbet, served with Tart Apple Safron Chocolate Mousse.
You’ll get that cooling, light refreshing fruity pear flavour on one side and a rich chocolate with crumbly tart crust underneath on the other end. Of different elements, these 2 blend so well together. We wiped the dessert plate clean!

 

Overall we had a great experience exploring Maison Francaise’s new menu with Chef Thierry who he himself carefully introduced his dishes and the staffs were very accommodating too. I shall see myself and Chris stepping into this French house again of course!

Great companies. Great food 🙂

 

Maison Francaise
5 Jalan Changkat Kia Peng
50450 Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia
Tel: +603 2144 1474
Monday to Sunday DAILY: 11.00am – 11.30pm (last order)
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/maisonfrancaisekl