FEATURES

Taste of luxury

Lunch bites include (clockwise from top) tandoori chicken sandwich, tataki salmon rolls with caviar, strawberry mille feuille, wagyu beef carpaccio, prawn tempura and cream of porcini mushroom

Indulgence has a new name and you’ll find it in chef Christopher Romaine’s Luxury Of Eight menus, designed with the sole purpose of pampering your palate, writes TAN BEE HONG

Smoked salmon in cream cheese bagel

Phalaenopsis orchids add to the ambience of the Lobby Lounge

YOU can feel it in the air, even before you take a step down from the main lobby area into the newly-refurbished Lobby Lounge of the Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

The feeling of luxury is spelled out in the gold railings, six-tier crystal chandelier, the rich, hand-tufted carpet in earthy hues of gold, brown and yellow and large upholstered chairs in ochre and green with throw cushions adding hues of gold and yellow.

Now add to that the Luxury Of Eight, a completely new food concept designed by executive chef Christopher Romaine.

“It’s one of the things I’ve always wanted to do,” says Romaine. “And when I looked at the Lobby Lounge, all I could think of was luxury — like wagyu beef and lobster satay. The menu has been a lot of fun to create.”

It took him three months to get things going. “I wanted to give customers something really different and yet it has to cater to everyone,” he says. But as much as he wants to be totally creative, Romaine has discreetly kept the traditional, so you can still drop in for a Classic Afternoon Tea with sandwiches of egg salad, cucumber, roast turkey, roast beef and smoked salmon as well as home-baked scones with clotted cream and preserves or pick from the a la carte menu.

There’s more fun though in the Luxury Of Eight menus, a collection of menus for every segment of the day, from breakfast to lunch, tea and evening meals. As the name suggests, each menu has a selection of eight items. Breakfast and dessert are priced at RM48 and the other menus at RM55.

The Luxury Of Eight menus are served on dainty china ware on glass shelves branching out from a mirror tree (you can steal glances at the hottie at the next table or see if there’s anything stuck between your teeth).

“Breakfast (9-11am) is a choice of Continental or Asian and is built around speed. Most people can’t afford to spend time on a leisurely breakfast. With our menu, we can get the food to them fast.”

The Continental menu has specialities like smoked salmon on cream cheese bagel and mushroom and spinach frittata while the Asian menu includes hot dishes like steamed dim sum, char xiu bao and nasi lemak.

For lunch (noon to 3pm) the Asian menu has delectable dishes like Sichuan chicken soup, XO scallops, miso glazed Chilean seabass and white jade dumplings with crab roe, the Continental menu starts with an interesting cream of porcini mushrooms. Then you can work your way around the mirror tree — in no particular order or design. By all means, have the strawberry mille feuille first if it so pleases you. Or start with the fine de claires oyster and keep the wagyu beef carpaccio for last while savouring the tandoori chicken sandwich in pita pockets, green tea noodles and prawn tempura and salmon rolls with caviar cream in between. As for me, I saved the Valrhona chocolate tart for a sensuous ending.

For most people, afternoon tea (3-6pm) is always a luxury and the staff of Lobby Lounge has taken it to new heights. Think egg salad with black truffle sandwich, crispy lobster strudel with a cool caviar yoghurt dip, goose liver opera, tender cubes of wagyu beef kept toasty under a cap of puff pastry, followed by strawberry cheesecake with pistachio cream topping, Valrhona chococlate tart and creme brulee.

From 6pm to midnight, you can indulge in the evening canape menu with lobster satay, oyster shooters with sake, black truffle brie and foie gras on toasted brioche.

“Many people have their meals in the other restaurants and come here for the Luxury Of Eight Desserts which includes raspberry mille feuille, apricot beignets and strawberry cheesecake,” says Romaine.

In the evening, five a cappella singers take to the stage while a pianist tinkles the ivory keys in the daytime.

LOBBY LOUNGE
Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur
11 Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL
Tel: 03-2074 3901

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