Wednesday, March 31, 2010

My old love is back!!!


My all time favorite restaurant is called Cilantro Restaurant & Wine Bar. It is a fine dining restaurant located in MiCasa All Suite Hotel on Jalan Tun Razak. I was pretty distraught when I found out that the hotel would be undergoing refurbishment works and that the restaurant would also be closed down during that time. It's not that I frequent this restaurant often (otherwise I would be flat out broke), but even though I only went once a year, the food and the service never disappointed me. So you can imagine how devastated I was when my husband braced me to hear the news that Cilantro was supposedly never going to re-open!!!

Fortunately for me, we found out that Cilantro DID decide to re-open and my hubby decided to take me there to celebrate my birthday. All smiles!!! I couldn't wait to find out if the restaurant was going to be able to maintain its level of service and food quality. So here goes.....

On arrival at the restaurant, I did not notice any change to the entrance of the restaurant. On the interior, nothing had been changed at all except for perhaps some lighting fixtures and upholstery being done on the furniture. Otherwise the layout was entirely the same as before. Cilantro is not a big restaurant. The whole restaurant probably holds about 14 tables with 4 private rooms. In the basement, there is a room that can accommodate a party of about 20. There are also sofas in the basement where you can adjourn to for after dinner drinks and perhaps, a cigar. :))

As for the food, my hubby decided to go for the Degustation Menu which consisted of a little of everything. 'Degustation' is defined by Wikipedia as a culinary term meaning 'careful, appreciative tasting of various foods" and focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culinary art and good company. The degustation menu was priced at RM300++ per person. For a full description, please refer to the Cilantro link.


Appetisers under the Degustation Menu


Main Course of Lobster under the Degustation Menu

As for me, seeing that I'm a less adventurous person when it comes to food, I decided to order a Cream of Truffle Soup (RM58) as my appetizer. Boy, was it delicious but that's because I like truffles. They used to have a Truffle Souffle in the previous menu which I absolutely loved but the soup is a good substitute. For my main, I decided to go with Maine Lobster Acqua Pazza with Asari and Pistou (RM238). Yes, I had to ask the waitress what it all meant! Hahaha....Basically you get three large pieces of lobster meat, one gigantic asparagus and small clams in a dish with some soupy type of sauce. It was uber yummy as well.... Oh, and they also brought some more vegetables and asked if we would like extra on our dish. I thought that was good of them. There was nothing left on the plate by the time I had finished with it. :))


My all time favorite butter with mixed with olives (although it might be truffle this time) ... I get confused... But it's good!


Cream of Truffle Soup


Maine Lobster


I must apologize in advance as I forgot to take pictures of the dessert that I ordered. I had the Ginger infused Blanc Manger with Mango Sorbet (RM35). Basically it's a soft jelly like pudding which has a slight ginger taste to it, accompanied by a scoop of the most delicious and smooth sorbet I have ever tasted. The sorbet was so good that we ordered two more scoops each of three different flavours to be shared with my sisters, brother in law and soon to be brother in law. SO SO SO good.....


My sis had this dessert - Chocolate Terrine with Pistachio Ice Cream


The only little grouse we have about Cilantro is that the coffee is not very good. The coffee has not been able to measure up to our expectations but what the heck, everything else is good and I'm NOT a coffee person. Hehehe.

Has anyone eaten at Cilantro lately? Let me know what you thought of it!