Becky’s 1 Minute Summary:
What: Casual-fine dining. Food here takes its influence from Spain, Italy, Morocco and Turkey and some are given a slight Asian twist. Good wine selection with an experienced resident sommelier.
Value for money lunch sets, live bands on Friday nights and an elegant, cosy dining ambiance.
What to order here: My last experience here was in April 2011. You can read about it –> HERE but do note that that is an outdated review.
For this session I only sampled the Vietnamese inspired beef noodles (part of the daily set lunch & I would confident recommend it!) and some items from the Christmas and NYE menu.
Overall experience: Some of the out-of-ordinary dishes offered on the Christmas and NYE set dinners are worth trying. Prices are acceptable for the quality and taste.
Besides, Mezze offers the flexible of adding dishes and wines to your basic set dinner if you wish, so you can order more to share and also plan your budget accordingly.
For the long story, read on. 🙂
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Christmas and ushering in the new year are 2 celebrations that transcends races, cultures and religions. Everyone can celebrate Christmas & NYE and everyone should!
It can’t be denied that the key element of all celebrations is food. With Christmas less than 10 days away, chefs of every F & B establishment are ready with their menus for this festive season.
For Chef Yves of Mezze his Duck, Pork & Nut Terrine, foie gras pork sausages and lamb rump certainly hit the mark for me.
I have attached here both the Chrismas and New Year’s end menus here for your reference. The subsequent dishes you’ll see below are some of Chef’s creations that we got to sample yesterday. 🙂
Duck, Pork & Nut Terrine with sides of fruit chutney and sourdough.
This was a very agreeable terrine; chunky with meat and nuts and not particularly gamey. In fact I could finish this on my own minus the need for any bread. It would just like eating a slice of meatloaf!
Mezze’s Christmas Ham is available for takeaway at RM 75/per kg. Some slices were passed over to us for sampling and I liked it. It has a good balance of sweet and salty and again, great on its own minus the need for any sauce or bread. Anyhow, Chef Yve did painstakingly prepared his special raisin sauce should the situation calls for it.
The Crispy Duck Egg with Sauteed Mushrooms and Celeriac Puree was next. The egg was sous-vided, coated with Japanese breadcrumbs before going into the deep fryer. The result was molten sunshine gold, flooding over the celeriac mash and sauteed mushrooms. While I personally liked the idea of execution for the egg, I wished there was more of it left after deep frying!
We had a Chablis with the appetisers and as we moved to the mains, a rose (wine, not the flower!) was served. While I do favour rose over white or red, I find this rose rather fresh and crisp; excellent match for our next dish no doubt though I personally prefers a sweeter rose.
I was intrigued from the moment I read ‘Foie Gras & Black Truffle Pork Sausages, served with sides of Caramelized Apples & Mash’ on the menu. A sausage with truffles and foie gras! That’s a first for me.
At first bite it was a bit dry though no less flavourful. Umei said it was like minced meat in a sausage casing and I do concur. However Chef Yve explained how it was made, and it made total sense thereafter.
The texture was different from the usual sausages as this was done in french ‘boudin blanc’ style, which literally means ‘white sausage made of pork without the blood’. Its a delicate smooth sausage with milk and breadcrumbs added.
At this juncture I was rather pleased with what we sampled so far. The terrine was superb, the duck unique, the sausages are certainly something new. Yet, nothing was overboard or too complicated.
And the next dish didn’t disappoint either.
Lamb Rump with Black Olives, served on bed of Couscous with Chutney Rolls.
How often do you see lamb served in this manner? And brownie points to Chef Yves for not only the presentation but taste as well.
The couscous was cooked with pears, plums, figs and sun dried tomatoes. Other spices and herbs includes chervil, mint, coriander and more. With the myriad of ingredients that went into its preparation, it was a darn tasty couscous!
As for the lamp rump, it as roasted with a coat of kalamata olives (almost like a tapenade) which imparted a strong, salty flavour.
Mezze set lunches are pretty value for money. There are choices of sandwiches, burgers and a non-typical Vietnamese noodle dish which we were privileged to sample today.
The Mezze people had avoided naming this ‘pho’ as that would give a certain level of expectation of its taste if was labeled so. After all, the recipe differs, though it does have close association with the popular Vietnamese beef soup.
This bowl was served with bean sprouts, fish and chilli sauce (both imported from Vietnam) and hoisin sauce from Hong Kong. I didn’t see the need for any of the sauce, for the meat was soft and tasty and the broth robust with beefy flavours. A combination of oyster blade and oxtail was used for the stock, which took 5 hours to prepare. The tenderloin was added just before serving.
Ever tried a red wine with beef noodle soup? It works! 😀
Desserts.
Cold Chocolate Fondant as opposed to hot chocolate lava. One of the owners of Mezze saw this in New York and she thought it would be perfect for our hot and humid Malaysian weather.
With an ice cream within its cold Valhorna chocolate walls.
Last but not least, Mezze’s delicious ready-to-eat TAKEAWAY menu, evocative of this festive season should have you ready to host a party without the need to even fire the stove.
Start with a luxurious pork, duck and nut terrine or a perfectly glazed Christmas Ham. Follow this with their fabulous choice of roasts and then indulge yourself in their deliciously decadent desserts.
For game, how about a juicy bird of turkey or a more interesting choice of capon?
FOR TAKEAWAY ONLY.
Please allow a minimum of 48 hours for your order. Available now till 31st December 2013.
Festive Weekly Specials are available from Monday, 26th November all the way till New Year’s Eve.
Do call us at 03-2095 0122, Ling 012-2015794 or Magic 016-6085585. Or book now at [email protected]
Mezze Bar & Bistro
132, Jalan Kasah, Medan Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia03-2095 0122
https://www.facebook.com/mezzebarbistro
The TA menu sounds perfect for my office Christmas party!