The Restaurant, The Club Saujana Resort Kuala Lumpur: The Steak Promotion

It’s All About Black Angus & Wagyu!

There’s something just primal about savoring a darn good piece of beef! Our carnivorous instinct gets purely satisfied when we enjoy succulent and flavorful meat (speaking on behalf of myself and other carnivores). In my case, it has to be either pork or beef. Since it’s about beef today, I‘ll leave the other meat for another day. A cut of quality well-marbled and juicy beef cooked to medium with a pinch of salt and pepper does it for me. The beef oozes with richness of fatty deliciousness with hints of savory notes and its texture of perfect tenderness that allows me to savor the pleasures of beefy flavors and textures is what satiate my carnivorous senses.

With all that ramblings of my desire for a great piece of beef, I am always on the lookout for a steak dinner. A week ago, my fixation on the great beef was thoroughly satiated at The Restaurant at The Club Saujana Resort Kuala Lumpur. From now till end of September, 2014, The Restaurant is running The Steak Promotion with the best cuts of Black Angus and Wagyu.

Chef Alexander Waschl has been the innovative master chef behind The Restaurant. He continues to inspire his guests with his creativity and talent of creating countless dishes that pushing the boundaries of gastronomy. This round, he whips up a menu dedicated to the highest quality of beef, the premium Black Angus and the diva cow, *Wagyu.

* Yes, I am admitting to borrowing a line from some conversation I overhead the wagyu is being coined as the diva cow. It’s a very much near perfect name for it don’t you think so? A cow that gets massage, drinks beer and listens to music is pretty much in a diva category of its pack. Back to my story….

The Steak Promotion offers everyone a glimpse of beefy sensation through Appetizer to Soup and Main Course. A lucky night for us indeed, eight of us went through the whole list of beef dishes in the menu!

The Restaurant is an elegant fine dining restaurant that has been feeding its guests with fine courses of premium and luscious gastronomy together with its impressive list of wines and other liqueur. The Restaurant is elegant and set in a minimal but modern contemporary design. The ambience is perfect for private business dinners or simply a romantic courtship. The Restaurant has an impressive list of wines and even carries their own label of house pouring wines.

Our evening took off with Chef Alexander’s amuse bouche of Lobster Panna Cotta. The one bite hors d’oeuvre is packed with lobster condensation infused into the cream. The minute details that goes into this amuse bouche is pretty impressive!

My plate of Spiced Black Angus Beef Tartar is gorgeously plated in a landscape of ingredients. Black Angus is carefully diced into tiny cubes and seasoned with spices and bits of onions. A pan fried quail egg crowns the tartar and a landscape of marinated peppers, zucchini, eggplant and herbs with micro greens completed the ensemble.

Now normally beef tartar is served with raw egg yolk but I really enjoyed this pan fried quail egg as its cuts the richness of the tartar to a more enjoyable stage for me. The tartar may look deceivingly plain but one bite and I get a good blast of spices in my taste bud. The Black Angus beef is tender and very enjoyable with its hint of peppery spices and sweetness of onions. I tasted a beautiful balance of salty notes of the beef that is balanced up with the sweetness of the vegetables. There are many textural components here too. The dish is well crafted and cleverly thought through. Many non-tartar lovers might just be converted with this dish!

My other half savored the Black Angus Beef Carpaccio, another piece of presentation that looked more like modern art on a plate. Cut to a precise thin and rectangle slice, the raw Black Angus beef is beautifully marbled and pink. The bed of beef Carpaccio provides the platform for the condiments of a red onion chutney, Dijon mustard mousse, bread chips and garden micro herbs. A drizzling of reduced balsamic finished the presentation.

The beef itself is delicate in flavors and is cleverly enhanced to another flavor level with the sweet tangy red onion chutney and balsamic reduction. The mousse enhanced the creamy levels of flavors while the bread chip lent a textural component. The garden herbs played a crucial role in the flavor component too, lifting the overall rawness of the beef to a fresh and aromatic finished.

Our second course was the Oxtail Consommé which showcased handmade oxtail ravioli bathed in a beefy consommé accompanied by pearls of vegetables. The consommé of bold essence of beef notes is already a winner by itself. Soothing with each spoonful, the consommé denoted a beautiful sense of savory beef essence with a touch of sweet undertone. The tender pasta filled with bits of oxtail filling goes well in the consommé and the little touches of pearled zucchini and carrot lent texture and completeness to the dish.

Out of the eight main courses available, I had the Light Smoked Black Angus Beef Ribeye served with Grilled Vegetables and Organic Herb Mashed Potatoes. The cut of Black Angus is large and medium thick. I can smell the wondrous smoky aroma as soon as the plate landed in front of me.

Cooked to medium pink, my ribeye is so succulent. Just look at the moistness of the meat and the gorgeous chargrilled edges. The brown jus made this even more flavorful. The organic herb mashed potato was so heavenly and buttery. I shared some and many also agree on how delicious the creamy smooth buttery mashed was. Perfect steak dinner of a darn good piece of ribeye with awesome mashed potato and grilled vegetables!

My other half had the Wok Roasted Cubes of Black Angus Beef Tenderloin served in a pot with steamed Basmathi rice, grilled spring onion and braised vegetables. The tender beef cubes are sauced up Teriyaki style and has lovely balance of sweet and savory notes. It goes well with the braised root vegetables and the aromatic grilled spring onions and rice. There’s an Oriental touch here among the rest of the more western dishes.

I managed to get a taste of the Soya Braised Organic Beef Cheek and it was truly scrumptious! Melt-in-the-mouth tender, the beef cheeks has been slow braised to perfection. It sat on a bed of creamy smooth mashed and is topped with a spicy Asian vegetable mix. I like the hint of delicate heat in this dish and the fork tender beef cheeks does rock beautifully in this combination.

Olive Oil Poached Black Angus Beef Tenderloin showcased a different texture of the beef altogether. The tenderloin is so tender that it didn’t really resemble the usual beef texture. Poached in low temperature for long time, the beef is delicately flavored with the oil and flavored up with Horseradish Cream. Pan-Roasted Potato Gnocchi and Garlic Roasted Bean completed this dish.

The foodie who had the Black Angus Beef Skewer said this dish was excellent. Tender grilled beef was juicy and it was paired with mixed garden lettuce, bell peppers and a BBQ sauce.

Now comes the Wagyu part of the menu. This has to be the most expensive burger I have seen in KL for now. Deluxe Wagyu Beef Burger is a force to be reckon with on the price tag but one will understand it as it comes with Foie Gras shavings, sautéed onions, Portobello mushroom, cheddar cheese, home pickled gherkins and hand-cut potato chips. The almighty wagyu burger is quite a sizeable portion and has a thick patty of the luscious wagyu nicely grilled and sandwiched with the ingredients. Go ahead, splurge on this if you love wagyu and burgers!

One foodie was generous enough to pass me a cut of his Wagyu Beef Striploin served with Oven Roasted Sweet Corn on the Cob, Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Herb Butter Jus. The cut is very luscious. I can taste the well-marbled creaminess of the wagyu and it is also very tender and juicy. I also like how the thickness of the cut made this beef even more desirable as one can really enjoy the full flavor and textures of the wagyu sirloin.

Last on the list is the most expensive on the menu. Leading the beef pack is Grilled Wagyu Beef Tenderloin served with Truffle Risotto, Sauteed Spinach and Black Pepper Sauce. I heard delicious comments from the foodie who enjoyed the dish. If a tenderloin is already a popular cut famed for its tenderness, imagine how the wagyu tenderloin would be as it would definitely be more flavorful from the marbled fat and the tenderness would be almost like butter.

We ended the evening with Chef Alexander’s latest dessert of Vanilla Souffle with Salted Gula Melaka Ice Cream. The soufflé was so light and fluffy coupled with the salted caramelized ice cream, it was a pleasurable dessert to end the evening with. This dessert is not in the current menu but do ask Chef Alexander nicely as he might just make it for you…

It was certainly a beefy meal, a diva beefy meal! Do check out The Steak Promotion at The Restaurant from now till end of September, 2014. The promotion was extended to September due to demand. Price ranges from RM45nett to RM245nett for the dishes above. The Steak Promotion is only available during dinner hours.

THE RESTAURANT

The Club Saujana Resort Kuala Lumpur

Jalan Lapangan Terbang SAAS

40150 Shah Alam,

Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Phone Number: +603 7843 1234

Fax Number: +603 7846 2789

Website: www.theclubsaujanaresort.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheClubSaujanaResort

*More photos available at my Facebook: Chasing Food Dreams