La Vie En Rose

La Vie En Rose

July 2012
It takes a lot of guts and conviction to convert a house that has been abandoned for 15 years – not least because it has an immensely inconvenient entrance that necessitates a torturous U-turn and a vertiginous uphill climb to access &…



Advert ID #3496

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July 2012




It takes a lot of guts and conviction to convert a house that has been abandoned for 15 years – not least because it has an immensely inconvenient entrance that necessitates a torturous U-turn and a vertiginous uphill climb to access – into a fine dining restaurant. Enter Jean Michel Fraisse, owner of La Vie En Rose, a Toulouse native who has called Malaysia home since the 1990s. No shrinking violet, Fraisse rose to the self-imposed challenge with aplomb and conjured forth arguably Malaysia’s best French restaurant to date, and the dilapidated bungalow, like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, now looks like a totally different creature.

Timing, as they say, is – next to location – everything. Fraisse, who also launched the French Culinary School in Asia, must have gauged the zeitgeist just right, and realised that the collective Malaysian food psyche was ready for classic but creative French food that ventures far beyond the confines of the ubiquitous escargots, frog’s legs and steak tartare. At La Vie, the food is anything but pedestrian or clichéd. Complimentary amuse-bouches can range from the unpredictable (salmon rillette with grapefruit jelly) to the slightly more conventional but no less delightful chicken terrine.

This mood of playful impetuousness is evident throughout the menu. Nourishing tasty soups are given a decidedly playful tweak: to wit, a crayfish bisque is paired with parmesan crackers while the cepes mushroom broth plays host to several slivers of smoky grilled duck ham. Similarly, the unmistakably rustic salads (some of the best I’ve had in a restaurant to date) are distinctive because they dare to be different. The salade des mousquetaires – although there is no vestige of d’Artagnan et al – comprises a tousle of salad greens with smoked duck bacon, duck confit, sautéed mushrooms and a shy but voluptuous violet dressing, while the more feisty gorgonzola salad is an adept exercise in textures, with pear, duck crackling and Manuka honey all playing off each other eloquently.

For mains, a duck leg confit is paired with truffled mashed potato and a sweet and sour sauce, while tripe gets as dance companions Pantalleria caper berries, saffron sauce and steamed potatoes. The juxtaposition between different flavours, textures and aesthetics meld most serendipitously and it’s this winning formula that has diners reasonably touting La Vie as the Next Big Thing. For novices to French food who are leery of diving into the deep end, the traditional French weekend brunch using only the best ingredients will serve as the ideal introduction. For the rest of us Francophiles, La Vie is cause for celebration indeed. Fay Khoo

Awards

Food 40
 

Food 40 is our monthly, definitive guide for where to eat in the Klang Valley. No entry into the Food 40 has provided any Time Out team member with a free meal or other incentive. If you have eaten somewhere that you think should rank amongst KL's top 40, email us and we'll check it out: [email protected].

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Kedai / shop location (lokasi kedai) listed as per on the address / map to go there (alamat / peta) here offers variety of product to sell item for sale (barang untuk dijual) and services offered by the company (syarikat jual barang dan perkhidmatan) to the customers. Shop office branch selling cheap stuff (barang murah in rm) and best deal services in malaysia. Some of ads (iklan) Here shows the Business product dealer outlet with promotion best price & rate.(Cawangan pejabat / Kedai barangan murah di malaysia. Produk perniagaan beserta harga promosi pembekal barang terbaik) The opening hours or business hours (waktu operasi buka) from am to pm stated on the shop. Normal office hour will be from 8am-5pm. Any time extention depends on the store or shop. You can contact the shop owners for more info to buy or get the services. This is just a listing to promote the info. Any thing please email us at admin at sz.my.

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