MIGF 2014 at Signature @ The Roof

To thrive in today’s fickle culinary landscape, restaurants are adapting at dizzying speed and the more unique or exciting a menu, the better.

And one would hope to be assailed by extravagantly conceived menus paired with amazing wines, especially during this Malaysian International Gourmet Festival (MIGF) season. The city’s high-minded culinary circle would expect no less. That’s right, MIGF menu’s that run close to RM300 per head with wine pairing, should be nothing short of spectacular.

We arrive at Signature at the Roof.

Hello soft shell crab! 

We are led to the main dining area, shown the MIGF 2014 Signature menu, and very soon after, dinner starts.

First up was a Summer Salad.

It arrived on a wooden plank and it looked pretty enough.

Starter of a Signature Summer Salad

As it turned out, our starter of Soft Shell Crabs served on a bed of arugula with Plancha & tangy Mango Summer Salad was more style over substance. As far as soft shell crabs go, it was OK but not great. Not the opening wow factor we had hoped for. Not by a long shot.

This opening number was supposed to be paired with a glass of Weignut Dr. Loosen Reisling. The wine arrived after we noticed it was missing from our table, and only after our near empty plates were taken away. All we can say is that the Reisling was light on sweetness and easy to drink.

Signature Seafood soup

Then came a clear Coconut Seafood Soup Paired with a glass of Terrazas Chardonnay. I can’t say for sure why they omit the wine vintage from the MIGF menu – is there a reason for this? It didn’t matter. The soup was thin and rather boring. The seafood consisting of baby octopus, clams, shrimp and mussels was mostly overcooked.  The Terrazas Chardonnay was sharp and young and did nothing to enhance to flavours of the seafood soup. What a let down.

 The mains are served.. 

 Mains – DIY Steak

A rather interesting steak of New York Strip-loin appeared before me. Browned on the outside and very rare inside,  the beef was glazed with teriyaki sauce and served with a saffron infused capellini. The diner was given the interactive role to cook it to the right ‘done-ness’ on a mini Japanese style grill. A hearty serving but ingenious for fine dining? We think not.

The sautéed vegetables in an over baked capsicum bowl didn’t lift our spirits any higher either.

Loved the Striploin that had a nice smoky flavour to it. The Teriyaki sauce was super sweet, but it’s sugariness was nicely dampened when paired with a glass of Chandon Shiraz. The saffron infused capelini was delicious.

Crispy Baramundi

Well it was either the fish or the steak, and hubby chose the fish.

We weren’t sure what ‘oriental style’ meant as stated in the menu – the ‘Crispy Baramundi’ that came on a sizzling hot plate should have been called the ‘Dry and Rubbery Baramundi’. The accompanying thick mystery yellow sauce didn’t alleviate the dryness either nor did we approve of its taste. We were puzzled why the fish had to be served on a hot plate. The only thing refreshing about this course was the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2013 and the spicy, sweet tangy Vietnamese noodles.

The tangy sweet spicy Vietnamese glass noodle side dish was probably the saving grace. Again not sure what the purpose of this sauce was if not to alleviate the dryness of the fish.

A Deconstructed Cendol concluded the meal. Served with a dollop of homemade coconut ice-cream this dessert of pandan mousse, red beans and palm sugar brittle was rather monochromatic – sweet, overly creamy, with little textural contrast. It was just OK for me. We couldn’t finish the servings.

Signature really needs to tweak their MIGF dishes in order to make them more appealing to taste conscious patrons.