KL Food Diary, Post #2 - Sage @ The Gardens Residences

As a belated birthday present for my sister, I treated her to an indulgent 3 course dinner at Sage, located on Level 6 of The Gardens Residences in KL. Walking into the restaurant, my sister and I were cheerfully welcomed by the maitre d' and another waiter. The restaurant is quite spacious with nice soft lighting - it covers a good amount of area and is furnished with simple but classy tables and chairs. The words elegance and comfort come to mind - I liked it :) Definitely a place where you can relax with a cup of coffee or tea after your meal.

On to the food. We were served warm bread with an olive oil and basil dip throughout the meal. We fell in love with both, the bread and the dip!!!

The amuse bouche was salmon tartare with sour cream and black olive - definitely got my saliva glands working :)

As an entree, I had the Hiramisa Kingfish with Smoked Avruga Caviar - it was divine! The kingfish was complemented perfectly by the caviar and sauce it was served with. My sister had the Sea Scallop with Roquefort Cheese and Hazelnut Vinaigrette - the scallop was cooked just right! My sister found the roquefort cheese a tad bit strong, and I thought it was a little weird to pair such delicately-flavoured seafood with such strong-flavoured cheese. Still, a good dish all in all!

For my main dish, I ordered the Smoked Duck Breast with Foie Gras and Red Wine Sauce - the duck breast was just the right magnitude of rare (slightly pink in the middle), and practically melted in my mouth! Loved the crunchy smokey flavour of the skin. The foie gras was silky and moist. And I couldn't geat enough of the red wine sauce! It was the perfect balance of flavours, and such a generous serving size too! I would definitely have the duck again another time. My sister ordered the Braised Lamb Shank with Couscous and Piment d’Espelette. The lamb was also cooked to be slightly rare in the middle, and was so soft and so tasty! It was served with a light garlicky sauce and roasted whole cloves of garlic - need I say more? :p Looked up piment d'Espelette - it's a type of chilli pepper from Espelette, Spain. My sister was very happy with her choice :) Again, very generous serving size.

For the dessert course, I ordered the Dark Chocolate Fondant with Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream. Omg, I was in heaven - warm chocolate fondant with a lovely, gooey centre and the distinct flowery flavour of the Earl Grey tea ice cream. So, so good. I still have dreams about it. My sister ordered the Praline Soufflé with Sorbet of Valrhona Dark Bitter. The souffle had a slightly strong egg taste but was baked perfectly apart from that. The dark chocolate sorbet was definitely top quality stuff. We weren't particularly impressed by this dessert, but it was still very good.

We were then served with tea after (by which time we were feeling like a pair of stuffed turkeys!). The best part about the whole dining experience? It was RM165 (roughly 55 AUD) per person for 3 courses!