Last weekend Le Meridien threw a small party for a few lucky bloggers. The email invitation I got a few weeks prior to the event called it “A Night of Discovery” with no other details. As it turned out, it was a grand tour/food crawl at the various fine restaurants within the hotel, with surprises along the way.

Conservatory Bar at Le Meridien KL
canopes at Conservatory Bar, Le Meridien KL

The evening started out at Conservatory Bar, the lounge at the main entrance of the hotel. A glass of wine in hand and ample of canopes for us to get the stomach ready for what’s next.

We had pan seared cremolate tuna sashimi with sesame wakame salad, diced feta cheese, ratatouille and pine nuts in mini pita bread (pic), martini of tomato salsa, mozzarella mousse and pesto (pic), and even chicken tandoori and minted raita on chili focaccia bread. I had to start pacing myself to not over eat.

Favola at Le Meridien KL
Favola at Le Meridien

We then took the elevator and moved up to Favola, Le Meridien’s Italian dining outfit. More food awaits us as chef Antoine started to explain the seafood centric food laid before our eyes, for examp;e, the fabulous spicy calamari with olive oil & citrus (pic.)

chef Antoine at Favola, showing us the various tomatos
chef Antoine at Favola, showing us the various tomatos

The good chef then shows us the various ingredients important to Italian cuisine that are used here at Favola, including almost half a dozen types of fresh tomato, and the imported as well as one local mozzarella from Langkawi (Malaysia boleh!) that passed his personal quality tests. I can have those cheese as snack all day if you ask me.

Antipasti Duo at Favola
Antipasti Duo at Favola

Our main dishes (or what we thought as main dishes for the night) at Favola were two antipasti.

Smoked salmon with cold cucumber and macadamia puree, grilled peaches, buffalo mozzarella, Pecorino rocket and Radicchio salad. I love the contrast between the salad and the salmon, and I can really use more of that buffalo mozzarella at home, It was so good!

foie gras on wild mushroom risotto, haze
foie gras on wild mushroom risotto, haze

Then there’s the pan seared foie gras on wild mushroom risotto in clear beef broth that was so delightful. This was highly anticipated when chef Antoine told us about it, and the dish did not disappoint at all.

The other part of this antipasta was the chicken meatball in green olive tapenade, onion and roasted bell pepper, that was very good too.

after Favola, we make our way to Prime
after Favola, we make our way to Prime

At this point in time, with some really good determination to not over eat, my stomach stood at maybe 70% full. Then we collectively moved to Prime, my favorite steak house in town.

the beef served at Prime, that's a grade 12 wagyu on my hands
the beef served at Prime, that’s a grade 12 wagyu on my hands

A surprise awaits us at Prime as we stepped into the private room. Slabs of Blackmore Wagyu beef from grade 6 to 12 as well as grain fed Austraian Angus beef were on display as chef Antoine again explained the ingredients used at Prime to us.

The number of days a vacuum packed beef could be kept refrigerated is tightly regulated here to ensure maximum quality that goes into every serving.

it's like choosing between fish & bear palm (chinese proverbs, learn!)
it’s like choosing between fish & bear palm (chinese proverbs, learn!)

Look at the two slabs of Blackmore Wagyu marble grade 6 and 12. These are some of the best beef you can get, the grade 12 Wagyu on the right consists of some 60% fat, not for the faint hearted, but that was exactly what we’re going to have at Prime! Yes, I’m a very lucky man.

blackmore wagyu marble 9, with truffle sauce
Blackmore Wagyu marble 9, with truffle sauce

Undoubtedly, the high light for the night were the steak. The charcoal grilled Blackmore Wagyu chuck flap tail marble 9, with roma tomato confit, brocolini and braised intercoastal on mascarpone polenta. It was absolute heaven, especially with some truffle sauce to go with the red meat.

teppanyaki ice cream, ciki
teppanyaki ice cream, ciki

Dinner wouldn’t be complete without desserts, and for that we were guided to the final destination of the evening – Latest Recipe.

Teppanyaki ice cream is a must have here, and the Belgium waffle personally prepared by chef Antoine was fantastic.

desserts at latest recipe, and macaroons
desserts at latest recipe, and macaroons macarons

We were also served a dessert platter with honey dew sago shot, carrot cake, lychee tart, vanilla creme brulee, agar agar, and my personal favorite – chocolate mousse with citrus jelly. It sounded like an unlikely combination, chocolate & citrus jelly, but the contrast was perfect, I finished it despite the stomach complaining at 150% capacity filled.

fatboybakes, ciki, a lil fat monkey, Damian of Le Meridien
fatboybakes, ciki, a lil fat monkey, Damian of Le Meridien

This was easily one of the best events I’ve attended, the people at Le Meridien were fantastic hosts and have everything prepared meticulously. A big thank you to Damian, Sashi, Harvey, Fauzy, and of course, chef Antoine for the great evening.

map to Le Meridien at KL Sentral

Address:
Le Meridien
2 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
Kuala Lumpur 50470

GPS: 3.135631,101.686476
Tel: 03-2263 7888

A Night of Discovery at Le Meridien KL
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26 thoughts on “A Night of Discovery at Le Meridien KL

  • April 24, 2011 at 4:09 pm
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    macarons, not macaroons :mrgreen:

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    • April 24, 2011 at 5:58 pm
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      kimberlycun: ops salah spell!

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  • April 24, 2011 at 5:40 pm
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    The macarons look pretty ugly and they are NOT MACAROONS.

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    • April 24, 2011 at 6:02 pm
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      Michelle: haha yah wrong spelling, and it was ugly cos I accidentally squashed em :X

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      • April 25, 2011 at 4:26 am
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        Sorry if I overreacted. :{

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        • April 25, 2011 at 8:23 am
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          Michelle: haha, no worries no worries. 😉

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  • April 24, 2011 at 9:36 pm
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    wah all the ladies are looking very good in the pictures especially Haze!

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    • April 25, 2011 at 8:23 am
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      eiling: hey what about the guys?! lol

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  • April 25, 2011 at 11:56 am
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    Already saw the good looking wagyu on your twits/fb a few days back, looks like really going to melt in my mouth…..yums!

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    • April 25, 2011 at 3:02 pm
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      JD: yeah, it was really really good!

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  • April 25, 2011 at 4:52 pm
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    Looks like a delicious night! The foie gras on top of the risotto and the wagyu beef looks amazing!

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    • April 25, 2011 at 5:07 pm
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      Huai Bin: yeah, foie gras is always good, and those wagyu were amazing indeed!

      Reply
  • April 25, 2011 at 6:35 pm
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    u know the problems when you travel for long time? you tend to love almost every food back at your home country.. hate you that keep posting such a nice nice nice food.. good food is pretty much extinct here.. sigh

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    • April 25, 2011 at 10:32 pm
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      TikkoSS: good food extinct? never!

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      • April 26, 2011 at 6:22 pm
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        try if you are in no man land.. some rural area in china where kfc is the best …

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        • April 27, 2011 at 10:38 am
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          TikkoSS: but KFC is always the best! lol.

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  • April 26, 2011 at 1:02 pm
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    ya man, it was an awesome night hor…. damn, just looking at those pics makes me hungry again. nice seeing you and slim head again.

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    • April 26, 2011 at 2:35 pm
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      fatboybakes: yeah, totally agreed! slim head says hi back. lol

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  • April 26, 2011 at 4:25 pm
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    Very nice and you are indeed very lucky to try the grade 12 wagyu. I have never tried that but I usually go to Unifrozen in Chan Sow Lin which happens to be the distributor for Blackmore wagyu.. You might want to try out their 9+ marbling at Rm50+ for 100grams which personally is well worth it. Just don’t screw up while cooking the steak 😉

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    • April 26, 2011 at 4:38 pm
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      James: thanks for the tips on Unifrozen!

      Reply
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