Taman Tun Dr Ismail has always been a hotbed for middle to high-end restaurants in Kuala Lumpur.
That being said, it hasn’t always been one of my favorite places to visit due to the challenging parking situation. However, there’s always an exception to the rule, especially if the restaurant is situated in a building with basement parking. Makes life so much easier!
We were served the Chilled Aged Grain-Fed Porterhouse Steak (RM368, min. 700g). Porterhouse consists of a smaller portion of tenderloin and a bigger portion of top loin, separated by the T-bone. The meat comes with potato and vegetables, plus a choice of bearnais, red wine sauce, green peppercorn sauce or mushroom sauce. Medium rare, the way to go for meats, yielded perfect results.
Director’s Cut is operated by the people who are no strangers to the KL food scene, having first set up El Cerdo almost 20 years ago, and still running a number of outlets such as The Whisky Bar KL, The Steakhouse KL and Dining in the Dark KL. This is their latest venture – at Menara KEN in TTDI, offering prime steaks and artisan pasta. We were invited to sample a few of their dishes one afternoon.
The restaurant itself is split into two sections: a bar and lounge area, and a dining room. The interior decor was tastefully done without being dramatic, and I appreciate that it is bright and inviting enough of a space to even bring a baby. There’s also a baby grand piano at a corner; I’m assuming there’s music on some nights?
The menu is a four-pager with two dedicated to pastas and meats, one for salads/appetisers, and another half page for desserts. Nothing overly complicated.
The Spaghetti Fruitti Di Mare All’ Aglio Olio was one of the homemade pastas in the menu. Homemade in this context meant that the dough was made in-house, and the eggs sourced from their Penang Hill farm. There were a couple of huge tiger prawns, Hokkaido scallops and what turned out to be our favorite – octopus tentacles. This seafood pasta was simple yet beautifully done.
You can’t go to a place with artisan pasta without giving it a try, so we had the seafood pasta. We also had Chilled Aged Grain-fed Porterhouse Steak but skipped dessert and, dinner after that, as we had enough food to last a day for the two of us, especially since we wiped down every plate!
KY Teoh has been trying to influence your food cravings since 2005. He was NTV7 Foodie Blogger 2014, R.A.GE Food Fight Judge 2015 and Versus 1001 Rasa Baba’s Guest Judge 2018. Read more about his food jaunts at KYspeaks.com
More photos
From the same Penang Hill farm that gave us the pate, came the Dry-Aged Duck Breast served with purple olive, seasonal vegetables and an absolutely delightful red wine balsamic sauce. What stood out in this dish was the fried dauphinois potato that was like a deep-fried potato mille crepe! I can’t get enough of it! As for the dry-aged duck, I would have liked it a bit more moist, but maybe that won’t be dry-aged anymore?
Foie Gras Au Torechon – their homemade cherry valley duck liver pate – has pistachio, tomato marmalade, microgreens and served with crunchy brioche. The pate is super creamy, strong, cold and really satisfying.
We skipped the sauces and went with the selection of salts instead. There was sea salt, garlic salt, garden salt, chilli salt and onion salt. A dash of garlic salt provided just enough seasoning to allow one to enjoy the natural taste of the premium cut. It should be the only way to enjoy quality beef, no?
We started off with a plate of burrata on mushroom terrine with crispy quinea, mixed greens, cherry tomato and balsamic glaze. An appetising beginning with pretty complex textures. I also liked the contrast between the greens and creamier cheese.
