Croisette Café Goes Oink-Oink!
Here’s another reason to visit Croisette Café if you haven’t. The French café has taken on the hog and vamp up its menu with new pork dishes. Of course there are many reasons as to why one should visit this café hidden in Cascadium Condo in Bangsar besides the new swine attraction.
Croisette Café is helmed by Chef Pierre C. with his wife, the lovely Michelle. It is a cozy and personal place to enjoy French soul food whipped up by Chef Pierre himself. The dishes are hearty and delicious and dining at Croisette won’t burn a big hole in your pocket. The biggest reason for me would have to be the desserts. The desserts are handmade by Chef Pierre and they are just so damn sexy and good. Saving room for desserts at Croisette is a requirement and not an option!
Our evening meal kicked off with pate on toast… Pork Pate to be exact. This amuse bouche is a French classic turn miniature bite. The homemade Pork Pate is cut thick and lies on a golden piece of crostini before being crowned with baby gherkin, tomato and herb. Despite its miniature size, the flavors of the pate are marvelously rich, creamy and nutty.
A brilliant amuse bouche that left me wanting more…
Savor the Pork Pate with wine and your senses will be elevated even higher… after all, the French savors the very best of their cuisine with wines.
If I can raved a whole paragraph about their amuse bouche, imagine what other dishes would entail. So please bear with my mad ravings of what Croisette has to offer…
The Salad Landaise served with duck confit, gizzards and smoked duck looked so pretty at sight. All at once, I can see colors and textures in the salad. Mixed mesclun greens provides a soft bed for slices of pink smoked duck, crunchy gizzards and shredded rich duck confit. Cubes of croutons, tomatoes and a light citrus dressing seals the deal. Despite all the meat and offal, the salad is light and easy to enjoy.
We moved on to another French dish that uses butter to its maximum effect. Baked Mussels with Herb Butter, Escargot Style is just as good as I had remembered on my last visit. Plump orange mussels literally swim in a glorious pool of luscious herb and garlic butter. A light squeeze of fresh lemon juice brightens up the rich butter sauce and the sweet mussels.
Simple and so good!
There really is nothing to hide with scallops. If cooked well, the bivalve mollusk is a sea treasure to enjoy. Here, the Pan Fried Scallops with Leeks Fondue has nicely seared scallops enjoyed with slow braised creamy leeks. One can feel the love in this dish. Pretty on the plate, the flavors are sweet and creamy with a delicate leek fondue that is so yummy.
You may not want to share this dish… I know I didn’t.
Bavarois Prawn Bisque, Avocado Cream and Cream ‘Grelette’ seems to be a mouthful. And yet, it is simply a dish that has three main components. Savory chilled prawn bisque set with gelatin is accompanied by pureed avocado cream and a cold savory cream sauce.
Texturally unique, the bavarois has a mousse consistency and a bit of crunch from crushed cracker base. The dish overall is very creamy from the prawn bavarois to the avocado cream and another cream sauce. I don’t mind the richness of the dish and find myself spooning a few happily. I do like the intense flavors of the prawn in the bavarois. This dish could be debatable since many may not succumb to its chill savory factor of mousse since we are used to sweet ones.
Grosse Raviole Crèpe is one big ravioli stuffed with mushroom and duck foie gras, scented with truffle oil cloud. It’s a dreamy dish… one that I could just keep savoring endlessly.
Thin soft pasta enrobes earthy sautéed mushrooms with creamy and nutty foie gras. What takes the ravioli to another level is the highly prized truffle oil and perfumed the dish as we savor it bite after bite. The sauce has earthy mushrooms essence and goes well with the ravioli, making it extra juicy. This dish won the thumbs up among our table that night.
Chef Pierre’s Duck Confit with Potato Sarladaise and Mesclun Salad is a proven fact that the French does the best duck confit. I have enjoyed this several times and each time is always a delicious moment. The duck leg is rendered slowly in its own fat till it is soft and rich in a wonderful meaty duck flavor. Just before serving, the leg is crisp up in a pan till golden brown.
As what I had also raved previously, the Potato Sarladaise is really good. Cooked in duck fat with lots of garlic and parsley, the potato is flavorful and a perfect accompaniment for the duck.
We also enjoy the Salmon Fillet with Braised Green Lentil du Puy and Merlot Reduction Sauce. The salmon is nicely cooked but I would have love a crispy skin. The lentils are braised till just tender and cooked with a deep robust sauce. It’s pretty much a comfort dish that evokes French fair cooked with lots of care.
Another main course that really exudes French soul is a piece of good beef prepared well. Our Beef Rib Eye Flambéed with Brandy, Black Pepper Sauce and Gratin Potato has all the elements of a great dish.
Rib eye with a little fat is seared to medium raw and flambéed with brandy for the oomph flavor note. Though the rib eye is already good enough as is, the black pepper sauce gives the meat another flavor. It is creamy and rich, peppery and bold. The last check would be the potato gratin. Baked till tender, it has a lovely crust and is creamy and tasty.
Simply a beautiful plate of flavors…
We finished our main course of the night with a Fillet Mignon Pork with Grain Mustard. Using the fillet mignon of pork, the eye fillet is cooked to a medium pink. The pork is tender and moist. The grain mustard sauce really goes very well with the pork. I like the bold mustard sauce as it gives the pork such a punchy note. Another dish that takes minimal ingredients and elevates them into a scrumptious dish.
Desserts are definitely Chef Pierre’s forte. Choosing one would be almost impossible. So why not savor a few? We had Bavarois Pear and Chocolate, Gateau Fraisier and Chocolate Parfait with French Macarons. The Bavarois Pear and Chocolate had a dark rich chocolate mousse with a light ginger cream while the Chocolate Parfait oozes with dark bittersweet chocolate cream and candied orange peels. The Gateau Fraisier with Patissiere Pistaches has sponge sandwiched with fresh plump strawberries and a pistachio crème pâtissière.
There are more awesome desserts on Chef Pierre’s repertoire so make sure to try as much as possible. I still remembered fondly of his Passion Indulgence where passion fruit meets chocolate indulgently.
I like Croisette Café a lot. Having a meal there is always a pleasure. Everything is laid back and inviting unlike most French restaurants where they tend to go fine dining. Now that Croisette Café has taken on the oink, there is even more reasons to visit. In addition, Croisette Café is heading up north where Chef Pierre and son are opening a branch in Penang. So folks up there north, do follow their Facebook for updates on the Penang branch… you won’t want to miss this!
CROISETTE CAFÉ
Level 3, North Block Cascadium Condo
28, Jalan Penaga Bukit Bandaraya
59100, Bangsar Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 016 330 4477 / 014 665 7944
Their dessert always so impressive~~
ReplyDeleteLove their presentation of food and great photos as usual Jen :)
ReplyDeleteYa, classy. Duck looks so good...
ReplyDelete