Thursday, 24 September 2015

Neighbourhood French

 First published in Life+Style, Digital Edge Weekly, September 12, 2015

Authentic French cooking made accessible in a casual neighbourhood restaurant

Near the bustling commercial area of Bangsar, yet a little apart from it, Lorong Maarof is just a turn off Jalan Maarof. Rows of houses flank the relatively quiet residential road, except for a row of shophouses which feature a number of Indian banana-leaf restaurants, and a French restaurant. 

Rendezvous occupies a corner lot, open on two sides. To many Malaysians, French dining and ‘casual’ do not occur together, yet that is just how the restaurant feels. Plain wooden tables and chairs line the verandah outside, while within, it has a simple décor, with a plain cement floor and tables and chairs, extending to a long bar on one side, while the main feature of the other wall, with windows into the kitchen, is a large aquarium.  Red folded napkins on tables provide a visual connection to the deep-red painted walls. 


Overhead, rustic wooden lamps occupied by incandescent bulbs make for intimate lighting at night.  The bustle of the open road, exposed at both open sides of the restaurant, is never far away, although a row of potted bougainvillea plants provides a semblance of a screen. Although air-conditioned within, seating at the periphery of the restaurant invariably means being exposed to the natural humidity of the night. 


The menu is quite extensive, and struck me as being particularly, and idiosyncratically, French, more so than you tend to find in Malaysian restaurants, which often make some concession to being in Malaysia.  That isn’t surprising, considering that the restaurant proprietors are two French men, Arnaud Chappert, and Chef Florien Nigen, who hails from Brittany, which might explain the strong representation of seafood in the menu.

The restaurant provides a number of fixed price dining sets, but we chose from the A La Carte, with suggestions from the waiter.  We started with drinks, an effervescent Virgin Mojito (Rm16) of mint leaves, lemon juice and brown sugar in soda water, and an invigorating Le Kir Classique (Rm24) of white wine combined with Crème de Cassis.

In relatively quick order, a simple amouse bouche appeared, plain bread smeared with mellow blue cheese, which contrasted with a small slice of caramelized green apple.

We followed that with the Fish Soup (Rm 16), in a large deep bowl, surrounded by shredded cheese, a rouille of mayonnaise and paprika, and a slice of bread with cheese.  A deep orange, the seafood soup was, in a single word – superb.  Velvety smooth without the slightest hint of fishiness, it was a bouillabaisse, a painstaking reduction of exquisite balance with a little saffron and white wine, thickened by the addition of the rouille, and good to the last drop. 

I’d opted for the French pate (Rm19), two blocks of textured mild pork pate seasoned with pistachio nuts.  Livened up by caramelized green onion and a small side salad, it was coarsely-textured and pleasing, simple and rustic food typical of rural France, eaten with excellently dense baguette bread.

My main course was another French salt-of-the-earth preparation of Rabbit with Whole Grain Mustard Sauce (Rm46). It was a creamy concoction of rabbit pieces with onion and carrot in a thick yellow stew, which was as comfortingly hearty as a roborant on a cold wintry night. The mustard stew was pleasantly mid and appetizing, for dipping bread into. If you could distance yourself from the memory of those small white furry creatures with long ears which you might have had as pets in your younger days, the rabbit tasted like thick chicken pieces, with chunks of smooth meat.


The Seafood Platter (Rm119 for one person portion) was served in a small wooden sampan facsimile, making for a grand entrance.  In a bed of crushed ice were arranged raw oysters, whelks in shells, boiled prawns, mussels, winkles, clams and a small portion of cooked baby prawns.  Accompanying this was an aioli, garlic mayonnaise and shallots in brown vinegar. We’d inquired about the freshness of the food and had been reassured that it was freshly flown in twice a week, and indeed, there was no cause for complaint on that score.

Other than the oysters, everything else was lightly cooked. The oysters were briny mineral bursts of flavour, the whelks and winkles, extracted with a small fork, were coldly chewy, best dipped into one of the sauces, the prawns were sweet and fresh, while I would have preferred my mussels hot.  It was quite a feast if you were a seafood lover, with the sauces serving to enhance the natural flavour of the seafood.  A big bowl was provided for the discarded shells.

 Finally for dessert, we shared a chocolate mousse (Rm 12) and a French Apple Tart (Rm12). The freshly made chocolate mousse, topped with cream, was light and effortlessly smooth, and a wonderfully familiar treat, especially if you like Milo. The French Apple Tart wasn’t quite the upside down version first created by the Tatin sisters in the 19th century.  Rather this was cooked caramelized apple pieces accompanied by vanilla ice cream, but it was sweet and sour, soft and warm, contrasting with the cold ice cream.

The restaurant had filled up while we were dining, and quite in keeping with its neighbourhood image, diners were casually attired.  Service was briskly efficient, with the head waiter well-schooled in the intricacies of the menu. The restaurant manager, a young Frenchman who went by the name of Fred, was also disarmingly friendly.

Sometimes considered exotic, authentic French cooking is made accessible at Rendezvous.  Its neighbourhood location, casual ambiance and easy-on-the-wallet pricing gives it an informal, unintimidating disposition, the sort of place to return to again and again, if you have a hankering for good French food. 

Rendez-Vous Restaurant & bar,
100 Lorong Maarof,
59100 Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

Business Hours: Open Daily, 12pm-3pm, 6pm-1am. 
Fridays and Saturdays from 12pm-1am


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