i am not saying that upon arrival in malaysia, you are on a fast-track to hell/ heaven but cheap food & shopping vs your life- go figure.
anyway, mum took the day off to spend time with us and we especially went to au petit salut at chip bee gardens for lunch. i think this could be the first time i have actually had a proper sit-down french meal (kaya slathered over baguettes at delifrance doesn't count in the instance, right?) so i was pretty much excited over what au petit had to offer.
the restaurant was surprisingly crowded on a monday afternoon and it seemed like the place for girlfriends of various age groups to catch up and trade gossip greetings whatsoever. there was the option of either the executive set lunch or the set lunch, which the four of us had. entrees, main courses, desserts.. bring it on!
gross as it may sound, i had S.N.A.I.L.S or escargots for starters.. guilty pleasure of mine and i sound as barbaric as a roald dahl villian but the snails were spongy, slicky, blackish.. and wayy-good. haha.. half a dozen of them baked with tomato and garlic butter arrived in a pipping hot holey-plate that was designed for one purpose only- to contain de-shelled escargots.
mum and yang had the soup of the day- clam and saffron. it was an interesting conoction that really didn't impress looks-wise but both of them enjoyed it..
jimmy's starter was a duck minced-patate-looking dish with greens on the side. personally, i do prefer hot entrees but he liked the quack (well, it was the second time in a week that he ordered it)
the mains: i had grilled escolar served on parsnip mash with wild arugula and nicoise vinaigrette.. very fancy- pants sounding huh? but essentially it was grilled fish with mashed potato and greens that were left pretty much ignored. i tend to order fish in restaurants as having had the unfortunate experience of preparing salmon for dinner once, i swore never to relive the iccky preparation of fish for myself everever again. 
the escola was just great. soft texture? easy tearing of meat which indicated a high level of freshness? non of that fishy smelly business? -checkcheckcheckmum and jimmy had grilled beef, topped with onions and shallots with fries.. and it was just amazing! a slightly charred outer layer surprised tastebuds with incredibly juicy inside .. fundamentally it was like what mum said, "keeping the juice in... incredible" .. erm, on a sidenote, i felt really guilty for enjoying the fries in a FRENCH RESTAURANT ..
but but... to give me some credit, at least i didn't ask the the ketchup.. hoho. yang's order of the lamb shank (marinated in orange juice on a polenta) spelt t-a-s-t-y with little effort.. but having been wowed by ember's lambshank.. it was the beef and escolar that provided the wow- factor.
still here? alrights.. time for dessertdessert! i had to have the passion fruit souffle as au petit was supposedly well-known for it and how many places actually souffle that was devoid of chocolate or cocoa? slightly sourish but sweet and eggy, it was definitely an eye-opener but the icing sugar very-unglamourously made me choke a couple of times, so now i kind of understand why mum detests tiramisu.. *coughjimmy had the creme brulee.. - smiles.
with chocalate sauce, vanilla ice-cream and crunchy almond bits, yang's ohoux buns were predictably yummy (oh chris- i felt like i just cracked a jack-mafarland-joke.. clever.)
i enjoyed mum's crepe suzette with peaches, syrup and vanilla icecream.. i am definitely a creppy person and this sat incredibly well with me.
i love chip bee gardens.. it is like a little secret hideout of fantastic restaurants, chic bookstores and interesting places to visit. very blissful.
Au Petit Salut
#01-54 Chip Bee Gardens,
Blk 44 Jalan Merah Saga
Tel: 6475-1976
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