New Authentic French Bistro in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur – Chez Gaston KL by Rendez-Vous

[Food & Beverage]

 

Kassey and I recently visited the newest French bistro in Kuala Lumpur – Chez Gaston by Rendez-Vous located in Bangsar Utama. “Chez Gaston” is a traditional French restaurant and bar located just a few minutes from the bustling Telawi streets and one (1) minute from the Bangsar LRT station.

The bistro’s concept is to provide authentic and affordable French cuisine while offering a laid-back atmosphere in which to truly relax and enjoy great food and drinks with family and friends. The bistro is helmed by Chef Florian Nigen whose family ran a well-known restaurant in Bretagne in France for 30 years. He puts all his knowledge, experience and passion into preparing the wide selection of typical French meaty and seafood dishes along with delicious French desserts.

On the menu are popular French beverages, spirits, alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, an extensive wine list, cold cut platters, hearty French dishes, and decadent desserts!

 

Mediterranean Fish Soup – RM17

Tomato and herbs Fresh fish soup served with rouille sauce, croutons and grated Emmental cheese

Rouille is a sauce that consists of olive oil with breadcrumbs, garlic, saffron and chili peppers and is most often used in the cuisine of Provence in France. It is served as a garnish with fish, bouillabaisse, and in this instance – fish soup! We stirred in the rouille sauce and cheese into the soup then topped it with the crispy garlic croutons!

This fish soup was very hearty and tremendously addictive! In fact, I couldn’t put my spoon down until the bowl was empty! It was flavourful and had a nice consistency and if you don’t want it to be so creamy you can cut back on adding the cheese however I highly suggest just putting it all in! The rouille was an interesting addition – fragrant and rich, adding depth to the soup. Really great especially for a rainy evening like it was during our visit.

  

Foie Gras Terrine – RM42

Famous “French duck liver pate” served with onion jam and toasted brioche

Not everyone knows how to partake of pork terrine and fortunately I’m not one of those people. The terrine went wonderfully with the onion jam which imparted lots of sweetness, balancing out the creaminess and earthiness of the foie gras! We spread it over the toasted brioche and added the onion jam and just a tiniest sprinkling (think of Salt Bae kind of tiny sprinkling) of the imported sea salt on top. The result? A mind blowing little party of different flavours and textures in your mouth (assuming you like foie gras of course)!

  

Big pork platter (3-4 personnes) – RM99

Deer pâté, rabbit pâté, parma cured ham, smoked duck breast, Saucisson, country style pate, wild boar pate , Pork rillettes, duck rillettes, chef selection of 2 cheeses, Salad, gherkins, caramelized onions

This dish paired with some red wine, plus a main for sharing, and dessert or two would make a wonderful meal for 3 to 4 persons! Sit back and enjoy the various pates and cold cuts which you can pair with the gherkins, olives and onion jam. Just wonderful to have along with a good conversation with your friends or family! Kassey really liked the pates (well except the rabbit pate as she kept picturing rabbits being used to make this) but I enjoyed the rabbit pate as it had a really interesting texture and earthy flavours! The hams too were pretty amazing especially the duck rillettes which had a very in-depth flavour!

Mix and match the ingredients in this dish – combine the hams and rillettes with the cheeses, or jams or gherkins, or onion jam. The pates go best with warm crusty French bread (which you can order to go with this).

  

“Charolaise” French Grilled Ribeye – RM82

Grass fed French ribeye steak grilled to your order served with choice of Béarnaise, pepper, blue cheese or shallot sauce

(All the grills come with potatoes/ French fries and vegetables of the day)

Now this dish usually comes with a choice of ONE (1) sauce, however as the bistro was kind enough to let us try all four (4) sauces that evening (for this review). My favs would have to be either the blue cheese (creamy and with loads of flavour which could be rather overwhelming for some unless you really like cheese) or the shallot sauce which was sweet and added a nice dimension to the ribeye! My gut though believes that most typical Malaysians would order this to go with the black pepper sauce (really can’t understand why we’re so into black pepper sauce on everything LOL). The Bearnaise sauce was good too however it can be a touch too rich.

The ribeye was cooked to medium rare (please PLEASE don’t order anything above medium unless you like eating rubber) and was tender, juicy and flavourful. Don’t let this one sit for too long though!

  

Daube de Sanglier

Wild boar slow cooked in a rich red wine sauce with olives and herbs

This was a very flavourful dish of tender wild boar in a thick red wine sauce that was bursting with flavour!

We paired the two (2) red meat dishes as well as the big pork platter and the cheese platter with two (2) different wines including their house wine which is priced at less than RM100 per bottle and which I personally felt was really good enough to go with the meats/ cheeses!

 

 

Prawns Moscato – RM48

Panfried Prawns with a Moscato bisque sauce

Juicy prawns with a sweet and slightly dry Moscato bisque sauce that really perked up this dish! Enjoy the balance of the sauce with the bed of green peas which are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and fibre.

 

Seabass “Au Safran” – RM39

Seabass filet with a Saffron creamy sauce

A beautifully cooked fillet of seabass atop delicate saffron cream sauce! A seemingly simple dish but one that was perfectly executed.

 

Cheese Platter – RM38

Chef’s selection of four (4) cheeses

Ahhh yes cheese! I happen to love cheese and this selection wasn’t your usual common cheddar, gouda, etc. etc. but rather a nice selection of four French cheeses – goat’s cheese, bleu cheese, brie and a semi hard cheese. The cheeses went amazingly well with the Pearly Bay! The goat’s cheese might be a little strong for non-cheese lovers, but do try it as it has a very different taste as compared to cheeses made from cow’s milk.

BTW the French usually have a cheese platter after the mains (as a sort of dessert of in between the mains and dessert). Share this platter between 3 – 4 people while you sit back and chat over some wine after the mains.

 

French Crème Brulee – RM12

French Vanilla crème brulee

A well-known French dessert that was perfectly executed with a hard caramel top and creamy pudding underneath with French vanilla notes!

 

Apple Tart – RM11

This was really delicious! I always regard apple pies as comfort food and this one was just that! Hearty and comforting and most importantly – not too sweet! The slices of apples amazingly still had a nice crunchy texture while the apple puree underneath them had a silky smooth texture. A very pleasing dessert even for a non-dessert person like me!

 

  

The ambience of Chez Gaston by Rendez-Vous is more of a casual French bistro, where you take the time to enjoy your food and drinks with good company. The French are known to really enjoy their mealtimes which can stretch several hours so if you have some time to spare, come over for some drinks, then have some food, slowly and course by course, inter-spaced by more drinks, then some dessert and more drinks!

Parking might be a bit of an issue however the restaurant will be having valet parking soon, or you could park in the open air car park just one road away at the corner of Lengkok Abdulah and Lorong Abdulah which is free and widely available in the evenings after work.

Apart from dinner, Chez Gaston is also open for lunch (and soon even brunch on weekends and breakfast on weekdays) with affordable lunch sets going at RM19+ for 2 courses (main + starter/ dessert) and RM26+ for 3 courses (starter, main and dessert)

  

Chez Gaston KL by Rendez-Vous is located at:

12, Jalan Bangsar Utama 9,

59000 Bangsar,

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

 

Telephone: 011-3993 0036

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chezgastonkl/