Sunday Brunch @ Maison Francaise

sunday brunch

Disclaimer: I have received numerous invites from a friend to Maison Francaise for a long time now but never did accept until recently (or since). It’s not that the food is bad, coz it’s actually quite decent. The service by regular staff was very nice too (at least for the girl who served us). It was just the front-of-house manager (?) who seemed brusque and actually dropped a cup full of desserts on our table, *shattering* the cup and sending dangerously small shards flying before giving a curt and insincere sounding one word apology which totally put us off.

shattered cup

However, I have been informed that the front-of-house manager is new to the job. I’ll just chalk that up to ignorance and inexperience and leave it at that. I do hope that he has improved coz we weren’t impressed at all. We had just gone for a very nice French dinner the previous night by visiting One Michelin Star Chef Alexy Fuchs and gladly paid RM 700++ for it, so going to such a different experience the very next afternoon was extra jarring.

I must add that the service by regular wait staff was excellent and attentive, and to be fair, the food was quite good so take that as you will.

Bread basket

bread basket

This is a very nice selection of bread to start the brunch. They’re all warm and we particularly liked the brioche like slices and the chocolate filled roll. There’s also honey, compote and butter on the side.

First serving

Smoked duck breast salad and balsamic dressing
La salade de magret decanard fume vinaigrette au balsamique

smoked duck salad

We both thought this was very nice – the smoked duck breast was flavorful and all the fat has been rendered down so there’s none of the chewy unrendered fat you find sometimes. I also liked the interplay of textures between the fresh greens, crunchy potatoes discs and duck.

Potato and leek soup
La soupe de poireaux et pomme de terre

potato leek soup

I had this one – the combination of potato and leek works well together.

Second serving

Grilled rib eye steak with green pepper corn sauce
L’entrecote grillee sauce poivre vert

grilled rib eye steak

The steak was cooked, seasoned and rested to perfection! Even my better half, who doesn’t really eat beef, liked it. I wished they trimmed some of the inedible gristle off it first though.

Le filet de merou poche au vin blanc
Poached grouper in white wine

poached grouper white wine

This is another impeccable dish – it’s delicious and plated beautifully, with just the right portion to get you wanting more. My better half had this and she loved it.

Cheese course

Cheese platter
L’assiette de fromage

This is a very French thing – having a cheese course before or in lieu of dessert. It’s not something my better half likes since she doesn’t generally like cheese (all the better for me coz I ate all her cheese in France) but I loved it!

cheese platter

It’s done wonderfully at Maison Francaise – the cheeses are selected well, and there’s a scattering of nuts and a quenelle of chutney to pair with the cheese.

The platter is also frozen before serving so the cheese doesn’t wilt, a nice touch that’s appreciated.

Desserts

Fresh fruit salad
La ssalade de fruits frais

Chocolate volcano
Le moelleux au chocolate

chocolate volcano

We actually got a selection of desserts, including two slices of cake and it was decent enough. Unfortunately, the name “chocolate volcano” evokes similes to molten lava cake or a self-saucing pudding so we were a bit disappointed when we cut into the cake and there’s nothing inside.

I wasn’t sure if it was overcooked or it’s meant to be like that and when we asked the front-of-house manager he didn’t seem to get what the question was and I was annoyed at his cavalier attitude towards such a dangerous incident which could have resulted in injury (dropping the cup from serving height and shattering it on our table) so we just left it at that.

Maison Francaise

Sunday brunches at Maison Francaise is priced at RM 188++ with wine and RM 148++ without alcohol. There will be soft drinks and chilled juices available for the latter. The prices listed are per pax and you can choose one item from each course listed. The menu is changed regularly.

Maison Francaise
5, Jalan Changkat Kia Peng,
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 21441474

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14 thoughts on “Sunday Brunch @ Maison Francaise”

  1. Food certainly looks great, classy high-end dining…but with a front manager like that, yes, I certainly would think twice about going back there again, thank you very much.

    Reply
    • Yeah, that’s the thing about service! 🙂

      It has to be great all the time, especially for places like these. There’s a lot of other fine dining places competing for your money which offers better service for an equal quality of food and people will always choose better service, all things being equal.

      The actual service from the regular wait staff was excellent though, it would have been better if just interacted with our waitress.

      Reply
    • Yeah, the food was actually pretty good! 🙂

      It was just the bad service from one person that spoiled the experience – it was irksome the cavalier way he reacted to such a potentially dangerous incident (there were even shards on my phone, close to me).

      I agree, I hope there would be improvements too.

      Reply
    • Yeah, the chef is actually very good! 🙂

      He was trained in a Michelin star establishment too, before he came here. The food was good and I like the little touches in the cheese platter that made it one of the best I had in KL.

      Reply
    • The service was actually pretty good too! 🙂

      We were served originally by a nice waitress but then the front-of-house manager came over and interrupted our meal several times, he made a lot of service related faux pas – might just be that he’s new and confused of our respective roles.

      The thing is, you can accept bad service in hawker stalls but in supposedly fine dining restaurants, people vote with their dollars and their feet, you have to be great to justify the prices. I’ve never even encountered the stereotypical “snobbish French waiter” in France, we had wonderful experiences in Paris!

      Reply
  2. Food looks very good, fine dining, high class place, not cheap, but with that newbie front manager and what he did, errr, I’d go all out and complain about him til he looses his job.. Ok, kidding, I’m a nice person *wink*
    My favourite has to be that rib eye and cheese platter, slurrrppp..

    Reply
    • Yeah, the food is good! 🙂

      The rib eye was great (barring a bit of gristle which was left on the steak) and the cheese platter is the best I had over in Malaysia! Some purists don’t like a quenelle of chutney/jam/compote with cheeses but I’m alright with it and most Parisian Michelin Star restaurants serves it that way anyway. It’s a bit of a food trend now.

      Haha! I just didn’t want to concentrate on the rude and condescending front-of-house manager and list down all his (sometimes puzzling) statements here, it’s done and dusted, so I wrote mostly about the food instead.

      We also had an awesome dinner by Chef Alexy Fuchs the previous night, and going to another French place with such a different service level seems extra jarring. Like I said, he’s new and I think he’s confused about our respective roles. That being said, the food is pretty good here.

      Reply
  3. I’m normally very anal about service because I’m in the industry myself. Nobody forgive me for accidental mistakes so I tend to be quite unforgiving too. HAHA.

    But that said, I’m also very anal about my own service, I try to give the very best all the time, because I believe everyone deserve not just good but great service. 🙂

    Luckily the food made up for it though! The food seems pretty complicated for a Brunch. Haha. I think the kampung tastebud in me would trade that for a good plate of nasi Lemak. Hehe

    Reply
    • Hello Mel! 🙂

      Hey, what happened to your blog? I’m redirected to a parked page.

      That’s a wonderful mission statement to have – giving your best all the time, I really like that, and if I ever open a restaurant you’ll be my first pick to be front-of-house manager! Seriously!

      Yeah, I get what you mean. I’m actually usually pretty easy going and I forgive most small things since it’s Malaysia, which hasn’t really caught up in terms of REAL service. It’s just that this was just way over my tolerance level (and I’m quite tolerant) – I can’t in all honesty call this a fine dining restaurant!

      I just put it in that category – it’s “fine dining for Malaysia” but compared with Michelin Star establishments in France, London and Germany, it’s a far cry in terms of service levels. I’ve always been asked if I had any food allergies or if there’s anything I don’t eat (e.g. gluten, nuts) when I am at a European Michelin Star restaurant but you really don’t get that here.

      Also, I was sitting with an empty juice glass for a very long time and actually had to summon someone to get it filled. These things don’t happen at a “fine dining” restaurant – you have a higher wait staff to diner ratio and there’s always a trained eye on you (not uncomfortably, just to see if there’s anything you need).

      Reply
  4. The food sounds and looks really good but as I am not into fine dining (even by the standards here), I think I will have to give this a miss.

    Reply
    • Yeah, the food is good! 🙂

      The service by the front-of-house manager leaves a lot to be desired though – I’ve never been back although have been invited to. Oh well, he’s new so I guess he doesn’t know his place and our respective roles.

      Reply

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