Senses @ KL Hilton – The organic experience

Senses KL Hilton
Choose to be healthy this September, we were told!!
( I don’t look very healthy guzzling my drink right.. damn.. don’t know who went and took such an ungainly photo.. :P)
Experience the merits in Organic dining offered by Senses for lunch and dinner!

After being invited by FBB and failing to make the monumental food tasting with Chef Michael Elfwing at Senses last month, who carefully selects organic certified produce to create exciting, pollutant-free organic dishes..we felt so gutted. We just HAD to return and try his unique, cooking methods with premium ‘organic only’ produce.

Also, after the way FBB Oo-ed and Ah-ed and gushed on his blog, and Frat fainted (photo on FBBs blog), we just had to see what the fuss was all about.

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Picking from the organics menu was a breeze. It was after all, only one tiny page long.
The menu consists of nine dishes of various organic produce, to be exact. Also, we immediately saw that most of the FANTASTIC off the chart graded Wagyu were not on the menu. Where were the Kagoshima, Wagyu, Mayura Station Platinum Wagyu, Angus cross Wagyu, with marbling scores from five to TWELVE that FBB was raving about? Hrrmph.. had they removed it from the menu? Oh… too sad.. but what to do.. too late to walk out right.

Anyway, there were plenty of other goodies to partake of, so nae bother. (actually.., I was pretty bothered.. hah! See the unhappy faces.. oh wait.. no photos, so you cannot see.. we came all the way and no organic wagyu.. upset!)

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Well, FBB was spot on saying that the bread with 100% lightly salted(or unsalted, take your pick) butter was excellent. Don’t go overboard or you will not have space for the organic onslaught.

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My amuse bouche. How visually appealing.. small and petite. I tried to drink it just as petite-ly, ..yar, indeed.

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Oh, I wanted to jump up and applaud!
The butternut pumpkin soup, served with seared scallops and slices of summer truffles was a blanket of smooth, silken cream, chased by a heady, musky truffle after-taste. Not unlike a drug, I was soon getting a rush from this soup. Maybe it was just the sugar content, but I was feeling pretty loving after that.

What can I say.. Full of depth and aroma and feeling…
(.. nothing more than feelings.. try to forget my.. etc etc.. )

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The beetroot and seared Hokkaido scallop salad soon distracted me from the wonderful soup. I sunk my sparkling white teeth into the beetroot and scallop and salad… and thought..

not just a pretty dish!

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It was meaty (the scallop), earthy (the beetroot) and healthy(no points for guessing) all in one.
Come on chef Elfwing.. hit me baby one more time.

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The Australian, grass fed organic beef is tougher and a bit of a fight, but by no means hard. It’s weird that this natural taste actually feels foreign because we’ve become so accustomed to beef made artificially ‘soft’ or ‘tastier’ or ‘stronger tasting’. I like the unadulterated edge this organic beef has to it.

I also realized that Malaysians tend to put so much emphasis on taste, rather than preparation and quality of the starting material. Saying “if it tastes good and isn’t too high in fat content, it’s healthy”, is just so wrong. There are other things in there that could kill you, besides fat.. for e.g. mercury.
We should be looking so much more at the ‘source’ of the food, if it is indeed organic and then looking for shorter, less complicated, methods of food preparation, so as not to overcook that intrinsic goodness and freshness of simple organic food.

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The golden brown Queensland goldband snapper served on a bed of organic vegetables and lightly drenched in creamy tomato basil beurre blanc was just so-so for me.
Don’t get me wrong. It was good. Its just that it didn’t really knock my socks off.
I will just say that I was happy I was eating an organic, healthy version of the fish and vegetables;)

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Dessert from the non-organic menu!
This picture is as Gorgeous in taste, as in looks.

The hot lava center of the chocolate pudding, complete with a berry sorbet and garnished with fresh berries, fruit and edible flowers was divine.

More truffles and sweets, with compliments from the Chef.

All in all an interesting dining experience and an eye opener. We learned to appreciate the subtleties of organic cuisine, in the gorgeous atmospheric surroundings of Senses KL Hilton.
We felt blessed indeed!

Add:

Senses,
Hilton KL,
3 Jalan Stesen Sentral,
KL
Tel : 603 2264 2592

7 Comments

  • "Joe" who is constantly craving says:

    im sure the price to pay for a healthy meal was not exactly very healthy hor..

    hmm scallops n truffles..i would b in heaven too

  • 550ml jar of faith @minchow says:

    That's so true… how we often overlook the sort of rubbish that goes into how our food is prepared in order to make the hyper taste-obsession mark. Simple and basic does it!

  • Brother B says:

    is the portion still as "petite" as before?.Somehow Senses always gives me the impression of style over substance

  • genuiness says:

    The whole concept of a meal which is healthy for you was popularized by Chris Horridge (google him) who goes to great lengths to devise a menu which is proven to be nutritionally balanced and healthy for you. So much so that he employs a nutritionist to work on his menus.

    My personal opinion on the whole nutrition thing is "as long as it tastes good". I exclusively buy organic produce simply because it tastes better. But I wouldn't pay full money for a meal that is healthy but doesn't taste good. I can eat my alfafa and salads at home. When i pay full whack, I want to be spoilt. I want explosions, I want fireworks!

  • thenomadGourmand says:

    The dessert!! So pretty!
    Edible flowers??

  • CUMI & CIKI says:

    joe:
    yar, pretty expensive ,better if you go with a big crowd!

    faith:
    totally agree. Light cooked is always better.. having said that.. there's only so much raw food i can stomach though its healthy for you!

    Brother B:
    small portions but just nice for me. Im not sure about the regular menu but the organic menu was an eye opener.

    genuiness:
    agree

    TNG:
    should be.. ?! too late – I ate em all;)

  • aly says:

    Hey, great post! 🙂 We must go back and dig out some wagyu… been hit by the craving recently… x

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