October 24, 2018

5 Elements Pop- up Experience @ Lafite, Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur

METAL, WOOD, WATER, FIRE, EARTH

These 5 elements, we have been listening a lot on it especially when we come across feng shui. But, how are we going to imply it in our daily life besides feng shui?

Let’s check out what Lafite offers with these 5 elements!

5 Elements Pop- up Experience

In Lafite
From 18 September until 24 Novemeber 2018
Available during Lunch, 12 noon to 2.30pm on Weekdays
And Dinner, 7pm to 10.30pm on Mondays to Saturdays.

“Although the Five Elements concept is intrinsically complex and abstract, it is flexible enough to apply to nearly every aspect of life.”

Pretty agree with above statement.

As we entered Lafite, we were guided to the digital screen to discover our elements that hidden inside us with our birth date. Get to find out that mine is Metal, while Chris and Christine are Water and Earth respectively. We got to try each of the dishes presented!

I am seriously astonished by this 5 Elements Pop-up Experience at Lafite specially curated by Executive Chef Olivier Pistre. Rm 260 nett for the 3-course menu, it definitely worth what you are paying for.

Complementary bread to start, with butter.

METAL

Starter:
Mussels Sauce Poulette / Pommes Grenailles
Ahhh, that’s a huge pot of mussels complemented with baby potatoes that was richly herbs and buttered. Again, I couldn’t help wiping clean the garlicky creamy gravy in the mussel pot. This was just too good as a start for my meal.

Main Course:
Red Snapper
Potato Liegeois, Grenobloise Sauce
On the main, you are given choices of fish or lamb for Metal Course. I had the fish to pair with the recommended wine – Fransola Torres, 2005 (Rm 70). The fish was absolutely amazing, beautifully finished with the tangy grenobloise sauce and side with the flavourful potatoes

Dessert
Cherries’ Surprise
Cherry Mousse & Marmalade / Cherry Ice Cream
The dessert in my Metal Course was stunning. I am a huge fan of cherries and I went ohh and ahh seeing this dessert. It was a piece of art. Just too pretty to be eaten. With cherries mousse and marmalade encased with the crusty shell, and the plate was decorated with cutie meringue, cherry cream and sandy biscuit and the touched with edible gold leaf, that’s lovely little representative of metal.

Wine Pairing with
Fransola Torres, 2005 with my red snapper

WATER

Starter:
Confit Tomato with Lemon / Herb Jus Injection / Red Capsicum Coulis / Ricotta Espuma, Basil Pesto, Crispy Foccacia / Cadoret Oyster / Tomato Tea
Beautifully presented in a square-ish acrylic box that was decorated very much similar to aquarium. The staff then demonstrated the injection of herb jus into the confit tomato. The tomato was pretty sweet that helps to boost up the appetite for next course. On the side was the Cadoret Osyter and remember to finish the course with Tomato Tea served along the course.

Main Course
Grilled Octopus
Slowed cooked Japanese Black Garlic / arugula Pesto / Corn Cream / Shaved “pecorino Romano”
For the main on this Water Course, we were given choices of Octopus or Beef. We opted for the octopus after some delicious recommendation from the staff. It was another piece of art, looks like Chinese drawings to me! And no doubt, it was delicious!

Dessert
Candied Lemon
Limoncello Espuma / Caramel Crumble / Lemon Sorbet
According to Chef, this requires a very long hours and many process to be made. Not many will fancy due to the sourish tone with a hint of bitterness of the lemon in the dessert; but once you are into it, you will be hooked! I like it, the combination of sourish-bitterness-sweetness of lemon sorbet was refreshing.

EARTH

Starter:
Duck Rillette / Chicken Egg Parfait & Sorrel Sauce
Another eye-feasting starter, decorated with natural wood and moss, with the duck sit in the cone and and chicken egg parfait with sorrel sauce.

Main Course
Roasted Quail / Arborio Rice & Black Truffle
Confit Tomatoes / Arugula / Reggiano Parmesan

Dessert
Valrhona << MANJARI >> 64% Grand Cru Chocolate
Choclate Espuma & Meringue cooked in Nitrogen / Chocolate Soil / Vanilla Creme Anglaise

As Christine is not suitable to have alcohol in her dessert, she swapped her dessert to Omelette Norvegienne (Baked Alaska) without flambed it. This is how easy-going this 5 Elements Pop- up Experience is, you can swap from course to course as you wish or mix and match yourself. Do not feel rigid to the course that the chef has set.

FIRE

This course had our attention the most as we saw the menu.

Starter:
Marinated, Grilled Hokkaido Scallops & Tiger Prawn / Smoked Celeriac & Granny Smith Remoulade
You can perform your grilling skill too!

Main Course:
Rosemary Smoked “Hokkaido” Scallop
Sicilian Gamberoni / pickleweed & Lemon Caviar Sunchoke Follie’s / Shellfish Sauce
Packed with essence from the sea, the scallops were succulent and plated in a very eye-catchy way. Indeed a memorable dish and I was drooling when writing on this.

Or
French Duck Breast & Foie-Gras
Pan seared Foie-Gras & Duck Breast / Broad bean & Smoked Breast Ragout / Romaine Lettuce / Baby Carrot / Cherry Gel/ Duck Jus
If you love meat, go for this! The duck breast was huge and so did the foie gras that came creamy and compatible so well with the tender and juicy duck breast.

Dessert:
Omelette Norvegienne Edition 2018 Flambéd with Rum
Caramelised crispy puff pastry / blanc manger / Vanilla ice cream / Vanilla crème Anglaise / Vanilla Reduction
Dessert in the Fire Course is da bomb! Yes I love my Metal Course’s dessert – Cherie’s Special, but this Omelette Norvegienne had a touch of fire on it – flamed with Rum!!! It’s another amazing session to the sight and of course Instagram.

Lafite serves 5 Elements’ Cocktail too! if you fancy a pre-dinner drink, do order yourself a cocktail (Rm 65 each glass) and chill around before the course dinner. We sampled a few as below.

Fire – Inferno
Jamaican Rum, grapefruit, lime juice, sugar syrup, Sambuca
Let’s fire it up! Truly amazed with this cocktail especially during the fire up time! Beautiful!