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The Star
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
At Cezanne, Malaysian flavours meet Western techniques in inside an art gallery
As far as restaurants go, Cezanne is as anomalous as they come. To begin with, there is no actual sign to indicate that you've arrived at the restaurant, which is secreted within Qing Arts Club – an art gallery in Kuala Lumpur boasting a motley assortment of art pieces from both Asian as well as international artists. But walk straight on from the main door and you'll discover another door that leads to a small dining space and a wine cellar. This is not Cezanne either. You'll have to walk through this space before finding yourself in an impossibly tiny little restaurant which consists of 12 seats dotted around an open kitchen. This is where head chef Brendon Chen and sous chef Llewelyn John reign supreme. Both are graduates of the prestigious culinary arts school Le Cordon Bleu Malaysia. The two ended up working at numerous restaurants together, including at Playte in Damansara Heights, KL, which Chen co-founded with a few friends. Cezanne is a 12-seater restaurant with an open kitchen. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star Chen recalls how just as Playte was closing – he was approached by art collector and Qing Gallery founder Patrick On – to open Cezanne, which is named after famed French post-Impressionist artist Paul Cezanne. 'When Playte was closing, one of the regulars at the restaurant brought Patrick along. So at that time he told me that he wanted to start up a restaurant together with the gallery. So that's how it began. 'I thought the idea was special. I mean, like, a fine-dining restaurant living within the walls of an arts club. It's not something that you can commonly find in Malaysia. I think there are only a few of these types of restaurants in New York and Singapore,' says Chen. Chen (left) and John are the creative forces behind the restaurant's East-West refined fare. In putting together the menu, Chen was inspired by the rich, varied tapestry of art on display – the creative genius of both Asian as well as Western artists. 'With the gallery, the artworks are a bit of East-meets-West as well. That's what the cuisine that I'm doing right now represents. So it's mostly French or European techniques but predominantly Asian flavours so I think it fits quite well with the whole concept,' says Chen. Cezanne only serves tasting menus, which are priced at RM348++ for five courses or RM548++ for seven courses. There is also the option to tack on wine pairing options as well as non-alcoholic pairings – at an additional cost. The five-course menu offers the perfect opportunity to sample some of Chen and John's best work without too much overindulgence. The shisho and avocado puree in a pie tee shell makes for a memorable one-bite wonder. Highlights from the menu include the opener which features a shisho and avocado puree slotted into a pie tee shell. The shell is delightful – thin but not too wobbly with a brittle, crispy structure that falls gently into submission upon being bitten into. The filling is creamy and yet not overly rich, which gives you the opportunity to really savour the flavours. The French bean tart is lively and very energising. Then there is a French bean-centric tart with tofu cream that is a lively, riotous one-bite wonder with a natural effervescence and freshness. The meal then opens with the first of the five courses – a Striped Jack (shima aji) that is lightly cured and served alongside tomato water and fig vinegar in what proves to be an invigorating, lip-puckering offering designed to perk you up instantly. The fish itself is velvety soft and supple and this is juxtaposed against the rusticity and tanginess of the tomato water and the astringency of the fig vinegar in a coupling that blossoms into pure bliss. Silken, velvety slices of fish and tangy tomato water are the highlight of the striped jack. Up next, you'll get the Soy Milk Custard with pickled daikon and a caramelised onion soup. 'The soy milk custard is a take on chawanmushi but just doing chawanmushi would have been boring so we replaced it with soy milk and duck egg and added a French onion soup as the base,' says Chen. The Soy Milk Custard with pickled daikon and a caramelised onion soup. The custard is enhanced with engawa (flounder fin) and almonds and is silken smooth and understated, a subtle nod to Japanese finesse and the power of restraint. It may not be as memorable as the other dishes on the menu, but its quiet elegance carries through. Part of the meal also encompasses a serving of homemade sourdough bread and seaweed butter drizzled with salt. The restaurant also serves homemade sourdough bread with seaweed butter, which is pretty phenomenal. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star Honest-to-God, this is the stuff of dreams! The bread has a crusty outer edge that gives way to fluffy doughy goodness with just a hint of tang permeating its musculature. This is complemented by the rich umami flavour of the butter, which is perfectly salted and so good that you'll want to eat it by the tubful. The main course is a choice of either Aged Duck or A4 wagyu (RM150 top-up). The duck is served two ways – the first part is a fried duck confit with hoisin sauce, pickled cucumbers and black garlic heaped atop a buckwheat crepe. A riff on Peking duck, this is a meal that is meant to be eaten like a taco so that all the flavours collude to provide an explosive flavour bomb. The first part of the main course is meant to be eaten like a taco. The breakout star here is the duck confit which is rich and intensely satisfying. Chen then brings out the big guns with his 14-day aged duck, which is cooked so perfectly, he should conduct masterclasses on the subject. The skin of the duck is burnished and golden, crispy and crackly to the touch and yet the meat embedded under this armour is insanely succulent and oh-so tender. It's spectacular cooking really. The 14-day aged duck is incredibly good and boasts crispy skin and tender, succulent meat. The yuba tartlet served on the side features yellow wine marinated foie gras parfait topped with caramelised pineapple and preserved lemon. It's a punchy, poignant offering that sluices through the richness of the duck with layered citrusy, tropical notes. This is followed by Local Ulam, a refreshing, cleansing offering made up of kedondong, guava and different types of ulam. The dish is herbaceous with clean, astringent fruity notes. The Local Ulam dish is a kedondong and guava treat that really refreshes the palate. End your meal with dessert in the form of Roti Bakar, an interpretation of kaya toast. Modern riffs of this classic breakfast dish have been making their rounds in fine-dining eateries throughout the city with varying levels of success. Cezanne's permutation though is particularly well-executed. Here, caramelised French toast lays at the bottom of the plate and this is topped with pandan mousse, Earl Grey ice-cream and brown butter powder. Cezanne's version of the kaya toast, Roti Bakar, is particularly well-executed. The French toast is eggy and chewy while the pandan mousse adds South-East Asian nuances. The ice-cream serves as the tea element here while the brown butter powder adds nuggets of oily energy to the plate. It's a clever infusion that turns something known and familiar into something entirely new – and very good. Moving forward, Chen says the plan is to localise the menu even more. 'We're looking at including more Malaysian elements and creating more familiar flavours,' says Chen. Address: Block C-G-01, Plaza Arkadia, 3 Jalan Intisari, Desa Parkcity, 52200 Kuala Lumpur Open Tuesday to Saturday: 6pm to 11pm
Malay Mail
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Inside Desa Parkcity, Cézanne charms with their modern European dishes seen through an Asian lens
KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — Three years ago, Playte closed to the dismay of its regulars who enjoyed the contemporary European offerings with an Asian tilt served at the Damansara Heights eatery. Many mourned the loss of their superb, aged duck, labelled by some as 'best duck in the Klang Valley', lovingly prepared by Playte's chef owner Brendon Chen, a tribute to his childhood favourite, the Peking Duck. Well, these same fans will be ecstatic to find out that Chen is back with an intimate chef's counter at Cézanne which is tucked inside Plaza Arkadia. Located inside Qing Gallery, the restaurant's sombre brown and grey palette comes as a surprise as you have to walk through the gallery's wave of colours and bold expressions to reach it. The restaurant's quiet ambience describes Chen's approach which is born out of his Le Cordon Bleu days with stints in Taipei's Mume, Sitka and Nadodi; see him quietly painting a plethora of small modern European plates that subtly touch on Chinese and local elements. There's one tasting menu, ranging in size between five-courses (RM348++ a person) or seven-courses (RM548++ a person), with an option to add wine pairing or a juice and tea pairing. Your meal opens with two refined one-bite snacks such as a seaweed tartlet and braised abalone in pai tee shell. The crisp ebony black tartlet with burnt chilli pesto and tiny chopped century egg, may sound like a wacky flavour combination but its restrained heat, cooled off with the tofu cream and a whisper of savouriness from the jellied preserved egg whites rather than the pungency from the yolk. The second one-bite leans more towards a mix of textures and subtle flavours, as a pai tee shell cradles chopped braised abalone, shiso, avocado, a subtle ginger mayonnaise crowned with bits of fried kale reminiscent of seaweed. There is also the sourdough bread paired with a divine butter with an intriguing saltiness, using fermented black beans. Refreshing and light striped jack is combined with tomato water and sprinkled with ginger flower powder. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi The first course is the striped jack presented with a clear tomato water and fig vinegar dotted with fig leaf oil, showered with ginger flower snow, giving it an ethereal smoky mist, leaving a clean yet complex flavour on the tongue as the floral fragrance tickles your nostrils. A perfectly seared Hokkaido scallop sits on curry, where spicy notes are tempered with the sweetness from pear and pumpkin, layered with smoked eggplant puree, fried preserved radish, and pucuk manis. The bright orange curry with just a hint of spiciness dotted with curry leaf oil, balances out the plump scallop finished with kulim brown butter, making one wish you could mop up the curry with a piece of bread. Pan seared Hokkaido scallop is placed on a pear and pumpkin curry, smoked eggplant and 'pucuk manis'. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi The push-and-pull of flavours from refreshing to slightly spicy, switches into a delicate mode with the soy milk and duck egg custard, dotted with earthy maitake mushrooms, almonds and salt baked jicama for crunch. A beautiful golden hued caramelised onion broth pulses up the silky chawan mushi with a delicate sweet, umami flavour from the slow cooked onions. Soy milk custard is a dreamy dish with maitake mushrooms and golden caramelised onion broth. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi As you're introduced to the sea bream dish, you might be thinking that the pickled green chillies are an outlier. Turns out it's Chen's interpretation of a sharks fin soup where the slightly thick broth is replaced with a refreshing sake and fish broth with flower crab and edamame beans, paired with a flaky sea bream and crunchy rice puffs. Sea bream is served with a sake and fish broth, flower crab, edamame beans, rice puffs and the unusual pickled green chillies. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi Then it's time for the main event, a choice of their aged duck or Japanese A4 wagyu beef with an oxtail and coffee sauce. With the selection of the aged duck, the first part is an interpretation of Peking duck pancakes, where a buckwheat pancake uses a duck leg confit shaped into a roll, to be eaten like a Mexican taco. Sweet soybean sauce is swapped for a cherry and black garlic puree, a nod towards the classic French canard aux cerises dish where duck is paired with a tart cherry jam. On the side, one gets an unexpected flavour in the form of a yuba tartlet filled with yellow wine-marinated foie gras parfait and pineapple. Duck leg confit with buckwheat pancake and cherry and black garlic puree (left) takes inspiration from Peking duck pancakes and yuba tartlet with yellow wine 'foie gras' parfait and pineapple (right) is a burst of sweetness and creaminess. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi It's a melange of sweetness from the wine that floods the mouth with one bite, followed by creaminess from the foie gras and the refreshing pineapple. The 14-days aged duck was as good or maybe even better than I remembered, with a thin, crispy skin together with the moist, juicy meat, on a tamarind and mandarin peel jus. The chef's famous 14-days aged duck with crispy skin and juicy meat is excellent. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi As we wind down for desserts, an ulam granita with a cocktail of pickled guava, kedondong juice and dill oil, cleanses the palate with its puckering refreshness, Dessert takes inspiration from the classic morning coffee shop ritual with their modern rendition of roti bakar. There's also banana madeleine and a choux puff with pandan mochi and gula Melaka cream for petit fours. The cloud-like roti bakar reinterpretation starts with a base of French toast, where the egg is in the custard soaked bread, pan fried to replicate the toasty flavours. 'Roti bakar' is reinvented into a dessert of French toast, Earl Grey ice cream, 'pandan kaya' mousse and brown butter powder. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi Your cup of tea is reimagined into a smooth Earl Grey ice cream with pandan kaya mousse, topping the bread and given a final flourish of brown butter powder. It's definitely a show stopper to end a meal that tugged on nostalgic flavours with Chinese and Asian links, cleverly conceptualised with European techniques, and cooked right in front of you at the chef's table. Cézanne Restaurant, Block C-GF-01, Plaza Arkadia, 3, Jalan Intisari, Desa Parkcity, Kuala Lumpur. Open: 6pm to 11pm (Tuesday to Saturday) Closed on Sunday and Monday Tel: 012-5773229. Website: @cezannekl Instagram: @ * This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal. * Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
