FESTIVE WONDERLAND OF FOUR SEASONS HOTEL KL

The most wonderful time of the year at Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur is chockful of festive holiday dining experiences, crafted with passion and hosted in dazzling settings.

Festive Takeaway and Gifting

 

Taking the spotlight this year is Gingerbread Panettone, an Italian speciality for Christmas and New Year conjured up by Executive Pastry Chef Yann Roumanille.

 

It takes the chef over three days to meticulously crafted the Panettone, banking on the magic of slow fermentation. The cake is soft, buttery-rich and imbued with a twist of aromatic gingerbread spices. Studded with dried fruits and nuts, it’s the perfect festive gift to present to family and friends.

Also discover the exquisite range of modernist cakes, tempting dessert and viennoiserie temptations for elevating your holiday gatherings.
 

Crimson Noel Grandeur | Christmas Buffet

Yuletide classics, Asian favourites, Middle-Eastern appetisers, international cheese selection and luscious sweet creations are some of the headliners taking front and centre at Curate this festive season.

Our choice picks to start with: an assortment of poached seafood on ice, three types of ceviche, hummus, beetroot & goat cheese with walnuts, and a whole baked pumpkin stuffed with quinoa, crumbled feta and sliced figs.
 

Main courses to leave you wishing for endless tummy space include Palestinian koossa hoos (stuffed squash with spiced rice and meat in chunky tomato sauce), roast leg of lamb and turkey, chicken tajine, Chinese-style steamed fish, fried rice vermicelli with seafood, and biryani rice with assorted Indian curries among others.

Sweet finish awaits in the form of fresh tropical fruits, local fruit pickles, strawberry pralines, poached pear, pumpkin pie, mont blanc, mince pies, basbousa (Turkish spiced cake), pulut panggang, rich fruit cake and chocolate brownies.
 

• Festive Lunch (except 24 & 25 Dec, daily until 30 Dec), 1pm-4pm. Price: RM193+ per adult, RM97+ per child

• Festive Dinner (except 24 & 25 Dec, daily until 30 Dec) 7pm-11pm. Price: RM250+ per adult, RM125+ per child

• Christmas Eve Buffet (Dec 24), 7pm-11pm. Price: RM308+ per adult, RM154+ per child

• Christmas Brunch Buffet (Dec 25), 1pm-4pm. Price: RM308+ per adult, RM154+ per child

• Christmas Night Buffet (Dec 25), 7pm-11pm. Price: RM278+ per adult, RM139+ per child

• New Year’s Eve Buffet (Dec 31), 7pm – 12 midnight. Price: RM488+ per adult, RM244+ per child

• New Year’s Day Brunch Buffet (Jan 1, 2025), 1pm-4pm. Price: RM308+ per adult, RM154+ per child

• New Year’s Day Dinner Buffet (Jan 1, 2025), 6pm-10pm. Price: RM268+ per adult, RM134+ per child

For more festive dining information or reservations at Four Seasons Hotel KL, call: 03-2382 8602 or email: diningreservations.kualalumpur@fourseasons.com 

R-EEL DELIGHTS AT TIEN

 
Export-grade live eels from China took centrestage at Tien restaurant, prepared in four different ways as part of the month-long ‘Flavours of Suria’ dining experiences at Suria KLCC mall recently.

In keeping with its "Always Something New” tagline, Suria KLCC invited local media members to hands-on workshops and exclusive tastings at tenant restaurants: Din, Fuel Shack, Cili Kampung, TGI Fridays, Imperial Chakri Palace and Tien.

We sampled a special seasonal menu of fresh Chinese eels at Tien by Putien, where four distinctive eel dishes were served. Flown-in from Guangzhou, we learned the eels are also exported to Japan. 

Fed with codfish powder, the eels are raised in open-air, clean water ponds. Putien uses 70 cm long eels weighing 600-800g each as they are fleshier with better bite. It’s the second year Tien is promoting these eels and the promotional offerings will be available until end October.

Our lunch began with Fresh Eel Cooked in Spring Water. It only took about ten minutes to cook the eel in spring water with spring onion, goji berries and ginger. Once done, we tasted the eel chunks which were surprisingly chewy. Its natural clear sweetness was notable when we tasted the broth and meat.

Rich, savoury soybean sauce produced in the city of Puning was instrumental in the preparation of Baked Eel with Puning Bean Sauce. Stir-fried with garlic, ginger and onion, the delicately sweet eel chunks were superbly flavourful thanks to the beany sauce and aromatics. Not surprising it was the most popular dish last year with Tien diners.

Although the generous amount of garlic was welcomed, a lesser amount of Yangjiang soybean sauce for the Steamed Eel in Garlic and Soy Bean Sauce would have been great. But that’s my own preference as others may like how the chef prepped it.

Sichuan peppercorns, dried chillies, garlic and ginger bestowed this year’s new Spicy Pan-fried Eel with some tongue-tingling ‘ma la’ power and spicy heat. This was another crowd favourite as most of us enjoyed the dish’s robust chilli-hotness.

All the eel dishes are priced at RM138 for a regular portion and will be available until end October.

For reservations at Tien by Putien, call tel: 03 2181 2839. Address: Lot 434, 4^th Floor, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre. For more information on Suria KLCC mall, visit www.suriaklcc.com.my or www.facebook.com/SuriaKLCCMall. 

TIFA TOUTS ‘THREE IN ONE’ CONCEPT

Tifa means three in Latin. It’s also the name of veteran restaurateur Angie Hiew’s latest venture at Trillion KL.

Insisting her European-inspired restaurant should not be classified as a fine-dining outpost, Angie explains Tifa incorporates three different concepts under one roof.

“Opened last March, Tifa serves reasonably priced good food in cosy, modest surroundings. Every dish, from the mayonnaise to the sauces, is prepared from scratch by me using market-fresh ingredients.”

The restaurant straddles a spacious and well-shaded patio area where quick and affordable meals are served; an al fresco seating area next to an outdoor fountain area meant for chilling out over drinks, and a nicely decorated ‘by reservation only, private kitchen’ dining space.

Angie cut her teeth in the restaurant business when she was just 18 years old, learning the ropes at Movenpick Singapore which belonged to her late husband. She came into her own with the opening of Flamenco Spanish restaurant in 1995, setting the imagination of local food lovers alight with her signature paella, tapas and Spanish wine selection.

After that stellar decade, Angie took a short break before she pivoted into the restaurant consulting business. To date, she was instrumental in the successful openings of Sentidos Tapas at Starhill, and EQ Kuala Lumpur’s Sky 51 and Blue.

The passionate cook relishes being back in the thick of the kitchen action at Tifa. “Seeing people enjoy my cooking gives me great satisfaction. I also love taking care of my guests, and at Tifa, it’s like having friends over except we're in a restaurant environment. I enjoy the freedom and flexibility to curate menus to suit my guests’ preferences; I can customise dishes based on their food intolerances, dietary requirements, and budget. All I need is advance notice so that I’d have enough time to buy the ingredients and prepare whatever’s necessary. I believe people can have a good meal without paying the earth for it.”

As proof, Angie serves good-value lunch deals on weekdays (12pm-3pm) priced from RM25++ upwards per person at Tifa. Her four-course menu degustation starts from RM148++ per person (by advance reservations only).

We are astounded by the pretty as a picture appetiser: the succulent salmon slices with avocado cream and pine nuts tastes as good as they look.

The subsequent forest mushroom soup is lightly creamy with the discernible aroma of truffle oil. Grilled sliced boletus mushroom, cherry tomatoes and edible flowers piled atop a long slice of toast lend colour and textural contrast.

Less is more seems to be Angie’s approach for main courses. She has mango-red capsicum salsa bestowing subtle fruity sweetness to the smoked chicken breast with pommery mustard cream whilst a full-bodied Rioja is used to braise beef cheeks, suffusing the tender chunks of meat with rich, deep flavours. Accompanied by silky mashed potato, the dish leaves us replete.

Her artisan dessert is whimsically delightful to bring the curtains down on your visit to Tifa. Depending on her inclination, it could be a new-fangled black forest cake in the shape of a luscious, oversized ‘cherry’ atop crumbly chocolate ‘soil’, walnuts and fresh strawberries or a pink, heart-shaped lychee-raspberry mascarpone with chocolate flakes and cookie crumble.

Angie says, “I can rustle up whatever my customers fancy as long as they give me enough time to prepare before their intended visit or any occasion they plan to celebrate. Let me work around your budget and expectations. Anything is possible at Tifa.”

TIFA KL, Ground Floor, KL Trillion, 338, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 017-358 1338. Business hours: Monday – Saturday 11am to 11pm (last order 9.30pm). Closed on Sunday.