Cilantro

I’ve been dining at Cilantro for years, and I have not once left disappointed. The food is always perfect, with top-​notch ingredients, beautiful presentation, and delectable taste. My particular favorites are the cold angel hair pasta for appetizer (refreshing, flavorful) and lamb for entrée (tender, juicy, rich). But no matter what you get, you can’t go wrong.

Came here on a Friday night, for two, had degustation, and a bottle of French red decanted.
When restaurants charge a premium, I like to look at:
1. Value
2. Flavor pairings
3. Cooking techniques
I think Cilantro has failed in all three aspects, except their exceptional wine
list, which groups white and reds according to region. There are some steals within.
We started the meal with bread and truffle butter — probably my favorite bit of the meal; the truffle butter is so so good, I asked for more bread, and more butter. Our degustation consisted of:
Hokkaido Sweet Prawn w Lemon Cream
Before they served it, I could smell the prawn from a metre away, and I chalked it up to supply chain issues in Malaysia, where seafood sometimes end up not-​so-​fresh in transport. Essentially, mashed raw prawn, with cream and caviar.
Smoked trout w Wild Asparagus
The trout itself wasn’t so bad, but it was topped with mere boiled wild asparagus. Where is the skill, flavor pairing, and value?
Capellini, mentaiko, scallop, sakura ebi
By far my favorite course — I could eat it as a giant main.
Tarabagani consommé royale
Crab in consommé, which they had to spoil with some powdery chawanmushi under. This is fusion gone wrong; a good dish ruined with too many elements to keep track of. Obviously an egg custard will continue cooking as the HOT consommé heats it.
Ling fish with uni sauce
One morsel of fried fish with a sauce that tasted nothing of uni.
Seared foie gras on brioche topped w yolk
Not bad, but the yolk was a few seconds undercooked, resulting in it being less thick when prodded to leak all over the brioche. Technique lacking.
grilled wagyu
My rare was done right, but nothing to shout about. The condiments… meh.
Roasted lamb chops
Yum.
Soufflé, ice cream
Done right, done right.
I think the meal cost close to 1000MYR. I don’t consider this value, nor do I regard the chef’s palate highly. Asian fusion gone wrong, yikes. I do like this place because of the seats — a circular sofa for each table. Allowed me to be close to my partner.
Come here with good company, because it will be unbearable to have bad, expensive food, and bad company. Oh, you could drink. ;)