My Very "Atas" Experience at the Chaine Des Rotisseurs Dinner, Courtesy of Lady Linda Bearne

Once in a while, in this life, you stumble across the funnest, most generous of people, and when an opportunity presents itself for you to enjoy the company of BOTH ... it can only be described as ALLSOME....

Some months ago, I got invited by Lady Linda Bearne, of Perth, Hong Kong and Kota Kinabalu fame, to accompany her, together with One of the Garcons from Les Deux Garcon, ie, Toto Ooi, to attend a VERY exclusive event called the Chaine Des Rotisseurs dinner, which sounded to me like a secret culinary cult, complete with hierarchy, as Linda showed us below.  Toto and I hmm-ed and hawwed, wondering how we were to afford such a lavish splurge ....the price of the dinner is enough to feed my four hungry mouths for a month...

But as I said, MOST generous of people.... Linda insisted that we be her companions for the night, and dinner was to be on her.  And not only dinner, the classy dame even arranged for us to be picked up in one of THESE.....I felt like a scullery butler who had been visited by a fairy godmother and with the wave of a wand, (or trident as the case may be), was now bound for a ball....

Me being very plebian of course had to capture and savour every moment of glam that came my way....

I got a close up view of the medallion that is the key to the gateway for this world of glitterati and high society....

Our lovely hostess, ... Toto sat in front of the Rolls, like a body guard, (although he's not quite Kevin Costner)..

Though he does cut a dashing figure.............

We sailed through the streets of KL in the Rolls, and arrived at the Mandarin Oriental at the appointed time of 7pm, and it was funny to see the doormen at MO tripping over themselves to open the door and effusively greeting us, ...something that doesn't happen when you roll up in your Waja or heck, even Honda CRV....

Somehow the opening credits of ancient soap opera, DYNASTY reverberated through my mind as I saw the Lady Linda alighting from the car...like this scene..

Anyway, after prying ourselves away from the retinue of doormen, we made our way to the Mandarin Grill, and like tourist, took a picture at the entrance...

In case you cannot see, the chef is a Michelin Star Chef.....Richard Toix... from France.  Don't play play aitelyu!!!

I know, I shall the envy of many, what can I say......

Dainty little canapes, ...that quail eggs one with some liver pate was extraordinairy.  The quail egg burst in your mouth like a giant caviar, spurting out a remarkable taste, which paired divinely with the Moet Chandon which seemed to be free flow.  Alas, we had to pace ourselves, drinking on an empty stomach, though it's arguable if my stomach IS ever empty.

Hobnobbing with a more senior member of the CDR.... Thomas from Switzerland resides here under Malaysia My Second Home

It might be a bit passe to post a picture of a blob of butter, but this was no ordinary butter.  Super creamy and smooth with a hint of truffle infusion.

Simply described as Champignons or Mushrooms, this minimalist name belied the subtlety of the dish... a cold sorbet quenelle of mushroom soup, almost.  but altogether very interesting as a first dish.

Potato Black Truffle Croustillant With Hazelnut Foam.  Honestly, I didn't care much for the foam, and wonder why people bother doing it at all, but the potato, and the stuff at the bottom, presumably the unpronouncable croustillant...was yummy.  And that potato ring was sublime.  The wine pairing was forgettable, and by the third dish, there were rumblings as to why the food was paired with Italian wines instead of French, since it was French food.  But hey, I'm no connoisseur, and if there's alcohol, I'm not complaining,

Chestnut Soup With Comte Toast on Burnt Bread....that was rather extraordinary, the burnt bread and comte toast.  I thought the first few spoonfuls of the soup were lovely, but due to its richness and almost cloyingness, marginal utility decreased quickly after that, and by the end, it kind of remined me of bubur cha cha...

Black Cod Aioli in Our Style, it says...not sure who "Our" is, but no complaints here.  The cod was cooked to perfection, the flavours sealed in, and the sauce wasn't overpowering.  The wine paired with this dish, the 2010 Bodegas Altas Crianza,  Rioja was lovely.

One of the undoubted highlights was making the acquaintance of Jonathan Teoh and his mother...I was racking my brains to figure out where I had seen this chappie before, and as it turns out, we used to attend the same Body Combat class in Fitness First.   I remember because the guy is exceedingly tall.

Lamb Loin in Seaweed Crust and Lemon Pate... I think the table unanimously agreed that this was pretty disastrous, as the crust totally overpowered any semblance of lamb, and was actually quite difficult to work through.  The vegetables were great though.  Having said that, at best, I am not a lamb fan.

Citron, or Lemon...  richer than a sorbet, but lighter than an ice cream.  A lovely palate cleanser, and very refreshing.

Blackforest Cake... Okay, I've heard of deconstructed, and whatever but this really takes the cake...in terms of re-branding.  With a stretch of the imagination, one could I suppose identify the various components that make up a blackforest cake, but it was quite delicious regardless of the questionable moniker.

The conversation must have gone something like this, re these two pics.
I crack my ball, and create a mess and photograph it, and Lady Linda goes, "aiyaaa, so chou lou one" (so crude) and proceeds to show me how to elegantly handle a ball....

Presumably admiring themselves... what ELSE could they be doing.....

Our table which turned out to be really good fun, with an age gap of probably 40 years between youngest and oldest...I was somewhere in between...

Appreciation for the staff of the Mandarin Grill

For someone who was initially worried that he would not know anyone, Toto was the ultimate social butterfly, flitting from table to table like a GRO in a karaoke...

It really truly was a memorable and most enjoyable night.  I was really blessed to have the company of Linda and Toto, and am really honored to be invited.