DineOut
BISTRO RICHARD @ SENTUL PARK
July 01, 2016More and more restaurants are coming up with the 'dining in a jungle' concept, or offering their patrons a dining area that looks out onto lush greenery. Saw photos of this Bistro Richard (though this restaurant isn't new) on Facebook recently and the idea of lakeside dining with a French flavor seemed not bad, so I suggested for us to have our Father's Day lunch celebration there.
This bistro is nestled beside our famous Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center (KLPAC). We were told that they close for the afternoon session at 3pm when we called up earlier. We arrived at about 1.45pm and there were 2 tables occupied. They left shortly after, so it felt like we kinda 'booked' the whole place to ourselves. Hehe. Having said that, it was lucky that they left because our princess threw a tantrum fit and refused to eat her lunch, or else we would probably get evil looks from the other customers for robbing them of the serenity they deserved >.<.
Though the waiters and waitresses smiled, I felt they were kinda reluctant to serve us. Maybe they were thinking if we weren't there, they could have rested earlier or something... Not the kind of attitude I would have expected since we called before going and were told that it was absolutely fine to go at that time. The waitress SURPRISINGLY told us we couldn't change to a more spacious table although the whole place was empty. If it isn't because we had driven all the way there and were hungry, we would have most likely walked off. One waitress even accidentally kicked the leg of the baby chair when my LO was sitting in it, not ONCE but TWICE.
We chose the escargot for appetizer. Well, can't get more French than escargot, right? For our mains, we decided on the oven baked lamb rack and pan-seared black cod, and also ordered 2 glasses of their house wine (RM25/glass) to go with our meal. Oh, by the way, they did not tell us that they only serve EVIAN mineral water when we asked for warm water and it was RM10 for that 500ml bottle. Pfft!
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| The oven baked escargot with garlic butter, served with 2 slices of garlic bread (RM28). |
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| Apparently this is one of their bestsellers. |
One might say, "How could something drenched in garlic and butter not be delicious?" but these were a wee bit too dry. They were probably not that fresh either as they didn't have that pleasant, lightly earthy taste that they should.
Not long after that, my cod fish arrived. The menu says black cod fish served with stewed leek, baby carrots and saffron sauce, but mine came with blanched spinach instead. Not sure what the fried stuffs on top were... Fried onion strings maybe, coz they tasted like onion. The sauce? So so so salty!! And the cod smelled fishy. Another sign of not-so-fresh ingredients.
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| Pan-seared black cod (RM65) |
Then, the lamb rack came. When we saw it, we just knew it was gonna be another disappointment. They did not ask us how we wanted our lamb when we placed our orders and my hubby forgot to tell them he wanted it medium rare too. So, it was waayyy overcooked and the grilled sweet potato slices were too dry.
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| Oven baked lamb rack with garlic herb crust, served with beans and grilled sweet potatoes (RM52). |
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| Overcooked and unattractive. |
The restaurant and its surrounding?
Tranquil, romantic yet homely? Definitely, yes. BUT I personally think that the view was better from Samira by Asian Terrace, the Thai-Vietnamese restaurant next door.
For those who enjoy dining in a serene ambience more than food quality, this would probably be quite a good spot to go, or you could try Samira next door.
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| The way in. |
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| Main entrance. |
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| Bar area. A variety of wines and beers on the rack. |
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| Lots of greeneries. |
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| View of the lake from the walkway at Samira. |
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| View of the lake from the walkway at Samira. |
For those who enjoy dining in a serene ambience more than food quality, this would probably be quite a good spot to go, or you could try Samira next door.
Conclusion:
Did they compromise on the food and service quality just because they were rushing to close? No idea, but for me, definitely NO next time. I will not pay this price again for the not-so-good service and most importantly, food made from not-so-fresh ingredients!
Food: 4/10
Ambience: 7/10
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