Saturday, June 30, 2007


Its In My Top 10

One of the more under-rated restaurants in KL is Chalet Suisse. Its located inside Koreatown in Ampang. The food ranges from good to unbelievably good, and it does not cost you an arm and leg.

The place opened in May 1996 and all the wood paneling were constructed from old sea freight containers. The place is littered with real antiques sourced from Switzerland. It really feels like a swiss chalet near the alps, now all we need is snow outside the windows.
Heinz Bauert, the owner, was born and educated in Horgen, by the Lake of Zurich. After his Chef training he attended the Hotel -Management School in Lucerne and left Switzerland soon after that for England and then to Thailand. Since 1969 he has been in the Hotel and Restaurant business in Asia and before coming to Kuala Lumpur, was the Franchise Holder of the Moevenpick Group in Singapore.

I am at this place at least once a month. There are a few dishes that must be sampled:

1) Chicken liver terrine with asparagus - at only RM16.50, its a steal but don't tell that to the chef. Goes very well on toast with any of his soups.

2) Sizzling Burgundy Snails - served in their shells in a garlic heavy pepper sauce.

3) Crab Bisque - Thick and flavourful

4) Truffle pasta with fresh duck liver - to me and many of the people who have dined there, this is probably the BEST DISH in the world under RM40.00. I know that sounds over the top, but you have to taste it and tell me it isn't so. All my friends who have had this dish rated it as very good or just unbelievably good, and its really just a simple dish. I cannot say anything greater than that. If I can eat this once a day for the rest of my life, that's as good as it gets. I tried replicating the dish, and it was about 60% there but it cost me RM40.00 and its just plain truffle pasta, no duck liver yet!!! So, I have given up making it.

There are tons of other items on the menu worth trying and keep an eye for his promotional items and specials. Bring you own wine and the entire experience will not cut a hole in your pocket.

http://www.chalet.com.my/web/chalet/chalet.nsf/frmHome?ReadForm

4 comments:

Jomaropol said...

salvatore, any chances of starting a food blog? btw, am going to try it, have been trying to find a place with snails to rival klimnts for a long time now.

SalvadorDali said...

jom,

lol, i don't think i qualify as a food critic, i just like good food, if its good, i tend to rave about it, a bit over the top, not subjective enough... you will love the snails and remember the truffle pasta.

T T's blog said...

HI Salvatore, have you tried le bouchon at changkat bkt bintang? It serves almost the same fare I think. What do you think monsieur connoiseur?

SalvadorDali said...

yep, am good friends with sebastian and phillip le francois, they have a new place called La Terrasse, the yellow thingee on the side road of Istana hotel as well.. La Bouchon is also good, esp their terrine, good basic French country cooking... i think Chalet Suisse is worth trying just for the Truffle Pasta... seriously good.