Exquisite French, with Chef Thierry @ Maison Francaise

There’s a new Chef in the house.

And I cannot help but ogle at the food he lays out before me.

And I think many would agree with me, food blogger or otherwise. Sometimes your food photo shoot almost resembles a porn shoot. For example, you battle traffic, and drive all the way to KL, to get to Maison Francaise, and instead of eating your foie gras terrine with cucumber jelly, you spend 20 minutes angling for the best lighting, getting the perfect shot of white light glinting off the delectable morsels on your plate, uploading it to the world-wide web, so that your friends and fans can get off on it when you post the pictures! Well, no wonder they call it food porn.

And if there are dishes worthy of a frenzied fawning over, it would be Chef Thierry’s French cuisine.

Amuse bouche – veal terrine, quail egg, with gribiche sauce

What a great way to open up the appetite,with a gribiche sauce – a classic French mayonnaise-style cold egg sauce. Loved the chilled, gelatinous terrine, with terrific flavours of veal and egg all fused into one lovely mouthful.

Foie gras terrine with a flat top of cucumber jelly. Served with Mascarpone quenelle, diced apples (Granny Smith) &  caramel sauce.

I don’t think I’ve had cucumber jelly and foie gras before, but this pair was just heavenly. The fresh acidity and fragrant cucumber, that had a nice gelatinous texture, totally complemented the rich, smooth foie gras. The Quenelle foam, shaped with two spoons was light and airy and imparted nice intermittent textural crunch, thanks to the Granny Smith apples. So, so good.

Ah, yes indeed it’s a pleasure to sample Thierry’s playful pastry-like creations, like this Dijon Mustard cream Tuile with orange, while watching the French chef move back and forth in the kitchen, dressed in his tall white toque. He charmingly stopped by our table to answer any questions we had, and looked rather amused at our food porn antics. Well, I guess it’s nice to know that people ‘get off’ on his food.

Norwegian salmon smoked in-house, served with a Dijon Mustard Cream Tuile with Orange, and some Tartare celery beetroot cream and lemon juice. The tuile (pronounced “tweel”), or a French cookie, is traditionally made with almond,  but here chef uses some Orange in it. This gratuitous garnish added a nice tart orange flavor as well as a nice kick from a tempered mustard cream – a smooth, creamy yet light center, that heightened the smoky flavours of the salmon remarkably well. Loved it.

prompt service, and well-informed staff

 Lamb loin with Crusted Herbs, sautéed quinoa with lamb sauce, tomato ratatouille and baked potato

Lamb served medium, with a lovely hazelnuts crust, on top of some Peruvian quinoa, flavoured with garlic herbs,  served with tiny cherry tomato ratatoullie and lamb jus. Although I would have preferred this dish medium rare, it was still flavourful and moist – a good choice for meat eaters. The Quinoa though felt like it had been undercooked, but when we asked the Chef, he said that it was a type of Peruvian species that had the texture of tough beads, when cooked. Fair enough.

I loved the tiny cherry tomatoes, that had ratatouille in it. So amazing – how did they stuff it into those tiny tomatoes. Must have used really tiny utensils!

Crispy duck breast, served with a coconut foam, sides of pepper couscous, apple and cinnamon roll… the perfect medium rare

loved the presentation of the pepper couscous, and the sweetness of the cinnamon roll that went terrifically well with the duck

Pear sorbet, served with Tart Apple Safron Chocolate Mousse. It had the texture not unlike that of sabayon

The dessert was an irresistibly crumbly, tart crust that disintegrated in the mouth, giving way to a smooth and light Apple Safron Chocolate Mousse. A Pear sorbet was the perfect fruity match for the deep, earthy flavours of the dark chocolate.

So now there’s another great reason to visit Maison Francaise, apart from indulging in food porn – to dine at Chef Thierry’s table and be amazed by his French concoctions. Totally worthwhile and satisfying!