Chateau Dionne Celebrates Four Years with Tasting Menus & Free Corkage!
Words: Monica Tindall
Photos: Han Sen Hau
Chateau Dionne celebrates four years with anniversary tasting menus AND free corkage!
Coming up to four years of operation, this French fine dining restaurant has already won the hearts of gourmets from KL and further afield. It started as a pandemic baby but has now sold over 16,000 signature soufflés and added siblings, Nice and Doux Doux, in PJ. It’s a noteworthy milestone.
Chateau Dionne Anniversary Tasting Menus
Chef Andy Choy and his team have chosen the most popular ingredients and recipes from the last four years to include in a duo of anniversary tasting menus – the Anniversary Tasting Menu (RM300++ per person) and the Anniversary Prestige Menu (RM480++ per person).
Furthermore, they have made corkage free! They do have a quality selection of wine available (such as three of less than 20 bottles of Champagne Salon in the country!), but now you can bring that special bottle from home and perhaps treat yourself to some extra dishes. We enjoy Chateau Dionne’s wine list with a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Brut Yellow Label (RM668). Bubbles are a flawless choice for an anniversary!
Amuse Bouche
Sous Chef Wei Han presents a quadruplet of small bites to begin. The celebration begins by cheersing a tiny beer mug of passionfruit and mango mixed with malty hops. Then, what looks like a black fish skeleton (charcoal tuile) holds salmon gravlax with dots of mayonnaise and edible flowers. Next, a green cup resembling a pie tee case is actually the “Waldorf salad.” Green apples, celery and walnuts are topped with grape espuma. It already has a nice crunch, but the surprise of popping candy turns it into a fiesta. Lastly, on the crystal stand, a choux sphere is inspired by French onion soup. The mini ball is filled with onion mozzarella cream, topped with gruyere cheese and crowned with a parmesan tuile. Yum.
Bread Course
When bread is as good as it is at Chateau Dionne, it deserves its own dedicated course. Home-made brioche made with French Isigny (AOP) butter is the best brioche we (all) have ever eaten. It’s soft and buttery with a mild sweetness and a sprinkling of sea salt. On the side, the kitchen’s signature truffle butter shaped like a canelé is just as good but not necessary when the bread is this superb.
On top of being so darn delicious, the bread is a nod to the team’s other achievements in the past four years. The butter shaped from a canelé mould is in honour of their pastry café Doux Doux by Chateau Dionne, and the olive leaf decoration reminds us of their bistro Nice.
Capellini
The first course is a small mound of angel hair pasta with a focus on a single ingredient – eight luscious grams of Caviar Colony Kaluga Hybrid. The Singaporean owner has numerous caviar farms in China, so he hand-selected the best for his brand. Chef Andy recommends appreciating the caviar first on its own and then mixing it through the thin strands of capellini to have a dual experience. There’s a faint earthiness from the truffle, a light citrus thanks to ponzu and a gentle bite because of tiny cubes of red onion. It’s exceptionally well balanced in flavour and texture – absolutely delicious.
Rougié Foie Gras
Rougié Foie Gras from French ducks is partnered with various textures of fig – torched, fresh, chutney and a Port wine reduction with tiny pieces of the fruit. Breaking up the richness of the liver is a pecan crumble bed, and adding to the fun is a red wine jelly shaped like a duck sitting on the inside of the bowl. It’s another outstanding dish.
Lobster
The Canadian Lobster Tail can display its glorious ocean flavours thanks to rapid poaching and a light grilling. The length of the tail is incredibly moist and juicy in every bite. A reduction of the crustacean’s shell and head is poured over upon serving – full-flavoured but unnecessary. A duo of cauliflower textures – mash and pickled slices – are delicate, subtly enhancing the dish. Once more, it’s a wow!
Mains
For the Anniversary Prestige Menu, guests have three main choices: seafood, a beef pie, or wagyu (an additional RM120).
The first choice, Bouillabaisse, is made with Japanese fish for its freshness. Using a seasonal catch, the soup usually has three different kinds of fish. Local seafood is also found with clams bulking up the plate. Rouille, a Provençal sauce with garlic and chilli, is an essential component of every fine bouillabaisse. Saffron potato shaded by a pretty red pepper tuile adds colour to the plate, and a few drops of Pernod liqueur finish it off with a scent of anis.
You don’t often see Pithivier in Kuala Lumpur, let alone Bœuf Pithivier. The traditional French pie hails from the town of the same name but is normally made with pigeon or game. Here, wagyu beef cheek and oyster blade are used instead. Mushroom and spinach are layered within, and Bordelaise sauce is drizzled on them upon serving. The pastry is similar to beef Wellington with a flaky outer and malleable middle, but the individual portioning means you benefit from the pastry on all the edges.
If you want to go all out with your merrymaking, you can upgrade to Bœuf A5 Wagyu for an additional RM120. The Miyazaki sirloin cube sports a deep brown charred edge and a deep rose middle marbled with loads of fat. Potato mousseline, mushrooms and banana shallots (an elongated European version of the fat spheres you find here) are masterful sides. Bone marrow and truffle jus contribute moisture and complexity.
Chateau Dionne Celebrates Four Years with Over 16,000 Soufflés!
The crowd gasps as the Soufflés are delivered. Each is stamped with “Chateau Dionne” and a tray of ingredients behind it for finishing off in front of us. There’s also a card explaining that the name comes from the French word souffler meaning “to blow”, “to breathe,” or “to puff,” the number produced (mine is 16,096), and a quote “You can’t make a souffle rise twice.” Chef Andy splits the puffy top, pours in Grand Marnier, scoops in orange marmalade, and then finishes it off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This dessert is famous across the city with good reason.
Petit Four
It’s pretty hard to follow such a dessert and leave an impression, yet the team at Chateau Dionne doesn’t leave anything to chance. The finale is a glass-lid box holding six different types of petit four – mini canelé with vanilla essence and rum, a cherry, a madeleine with rose and chocolate, a palmier with peanuts and sugar, a beignet with black currant cream, and finally, a 74% dark chocolate truffle by local grower and producer Choc Concierge. Wow!
What’s Next for Chateau Dionne?
While Chateau Dionne is celebrating the past, they also look forward to the future. The focus on constant improvement is surely one of the facilitators of its success. Renovations, a logo change, and new menus with a fun and contemporary edge are all coming up before the end of the year. In the meantime, enjoy that free corkage and raise your glasses to Chateau Dionne’s fourth anniversary!
Reasons to visit Chateau Dionne: anniversary menu highlighting the best of four years; exceptional service; oh my, the bread; no corkage charge!
Chateau Dionne
French Fine Dining
24G, Jalan Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara
50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Link to Chateau Dionne on Google Maps
*Vegetarian choices available
**Limited street parking
***Undercover parking in neighbouring buildings
Chateau Dionne KL Opening Hours
Mon to Sat: 12 – 3 p.m., 6 – 10 p.m.
Sundays: Closed
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