Cuisine Gourmet by Nathalie

Cuisine Gourmet: Round Two. Earlier entry: June 28.

Finger food to keep our hands & mouths busy: tuna & avocado mousse on blini, foie gras in brioche & scallop with Szechuan pepper foam. A hefty compilation of starters; not a mere appetite-whetter (though our appetites were whetted for sure).

Beef cheek pot au feu with celery espuma, served cold. A strange recipe; everything was chilled till even the broth turned gelatinous. In terms of texture, it was like leftover stew that had been out of the freezer for one hour. But we loved how it tasted beautifully beefy and earthy, with the root veggies complementing the meat very well.

Tuna tartar with pan-fried duck liver. Fish & fowl? A match made in heaven! Every spoonful of the finely chopped, sweetly herb-scented tuna cohered into something special with the beyond-luscious liver.

Squid ink ravioli stuffed with eggplant-&-mozzarella confit with tomato emulsion. Would fit in seamlessly at KL's top Italian outlets (we're thinking Il Lido or Favola!).

Veal with sweetbread, shallots & carrot jelly. We'd say "ooh la la" to this _ as close to traditional Parisian cooking as Nathalie might get. Note: the menu here is completely changed once a month and is kept different from Nathalie's Gourmet Studio in Solaris Dutamas.

Crepe Aumoniere, stuffed with pears & apples, accompanied by pear sorbet & apple caramel. A pleasant change from ordinary flat crepes. Presented like a purse-like parcel, with crisp edges keeping all the sugary fruit slices sealed within.

Jivara & orange chocolate tart, with cocoa nougatine & vanilla ice cream. Freshly made and served warm, so it took a little longer to reach the table. Worth the wait; kinda like a cross between chocolate lava cake & a lime tart.

Albert Bichot Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis, Burgundy (2007) & Kaesler Old Vine Semillon, Barossa Valley (2008). In rousing news for fans of wine, Cuisine Gourmet will feature different varieties by the glass every month.

Cuisine Gourmet by Nathalie,

Menara Taipan, Jalan Punchak,

Off Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2072-4452