Berthed in a quiet corner of Desa Parkcity’s Plaza Arkadia in Kuala Lumpur is Black Lion Steakhouse. The eatery is rather peculiar and esoteric in that it is housed within the Qing Arts Club, a private members’ art club with a gallery, boasting a wide repertoire of art pieces.
Diners can peek at some of the offerings at the gallery or even find themselves seated next to beautiful pieces hung up on the walls. Meander further through the eatery and you’ll discover an open kitchen and a chef’s table with front row seats to the inner workings behind your culinary creations.
Walk even further and another door connects to a room flanked by a pristine wine cellar.
The space is labyrinthine and dazzling – which isn’t surprising given that the entire ecosystem is the brainchild of the founder of Qing Arts Club, Datuk Patrick On.
On is a serious art collector who launched the gallery at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic after running out of space in his own home. The gallery is small and bespoke but has already drawn key figures in the art world including famed Shanghai-born, London-trained contemporary artist Jacky Tsai.
Tsai’s work routinely goes for US$300,000 (RM1.2mil) a pop with celebrity collectors like Taiwanese singer Jay Chou clamouring for his creations. On now has the largest piece ever produced by Tsai on display at the gallery.
So what made him want to open a restaurant amid all of this? On says he views food as art and a means to both socialise as well as communicate with people.
“I regard chefs as artists as well. Whether they are making pastry or coming up with a dish – the ingredients used are just like how an artist uses paint. You know, they mix all these ingredients together to come up with an option that is a masterpiece. And that’s something that forms the essence of Qing Arts Club.
“And when people come here, not only do they enjoy the creativity of artists, but also the creativity of the chefs. So they get to enjoy food and companionship. Most importantly, I use food as a language to communicate with the art community and every diner that comes here,” says On.
The kitchen is helmed by seasoned chef Tenesh Prasanth who has spent over a decade honing his craft at restaurants like Nero Nero and Natalina Italian Kitchen in KL.
At Black Lion, Tenesh has put together a menu that includes about 35 cuts of beef sourced from all over the world, including Australia, Uruguay, Britain and South Korea, to name a few.
The restaurant has even managed to source USDA prime beef.
“It’s all about the product. I’m not going to hide the product. I’m going to enhance the product with fire because fire always brings out the flavours of everything,” he says.
To begin a meal here, indulge in the Beef Tartare (RM58) which features meat extracted from the tenderloin, with a breakdown of 60% meat and 40% fat. This is accentuated by Tabasco sauce, vinegar and a house-made green sauce, with a quail’s egg to round out the offering.
The tartare is magnificent – slippery, silken smooth with a voluptuous mouth feel. The egg coats it in a hedonistic layer of rich albumen and to cut through all this largesse, the Tabasco, vinegar and green sauce work together to produce tangy, lightly acerbic citric elements that give the dish a point of differentiation and an acidic twist.
Up next, try the Grilled Spanish Octopus (RM69) which is made up of char-grilled octopus cast against a backdrop of ensemble characters like cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes and rocket leaves with a Calamansi lime dressing to tide this all together. The star is the octopus, which has been grilled to perfection, retaining char on the surface and pliancy in its textural composition.
The rest of the cast add heft and weight to the dish, with the dressing offering a zingy freshness to the meal.
The eatery also has a range of homemade pastas (one of Tenesh’s specialties) and of what’s on offer, sample the Beef Cheek Pappardelle (RM68).
The homemade pasta is complemented with a 12-hour braised beef cheek imbued with red wine, which is finished with 12-month aged Parmesan cheese.
The pasta itself is very good – light yet still limber with a good amount of chew and bite. The beef cheek ragu is rich and meaty but not in an overwhelming way; rather it forms a protective moat that helps define the structure of the dish, much like a parent gently guiding their child through life.
It’s a win-win partnership that ensures that this is a meal built on solid foundations.
For something from the seafood persuasion, try the Woodfired Red Snapper (RM148). Enhanced with a garlicky chimichurri citrus mayo and calamansi lime, the snapper is incredibly fresh and boasts crisp, burnished skin – although perhaps it’s a little too vigorously blistered in some parts to the point of acridity.
The parts that have been more judiciously grilled though are delicious and topped with a sauce that is lightly astringent with feisty, garlicky underpinnings to boost its rustic qualities.
The big-ticket items on the menu are the steaks and of what’s available, try the Uruguay Grassfed Black Angus Ribeye (RM209 for 300g). The beef here is extracted from antibiotic-free cattle raised on open pastures.
Cooked to medium doneness, the beef has a gloriously charred surface that yields to tender, juicy succulence emboldened by a hefty meaty disposition. It’s a bold, unapologetic steak that is clearly proud of its soulful bovine heart.
On the dessert front, choices are limited but good. The Homemade Flan (RM28) for instance features custard cream cooked with Indian Jaggery sugar. The flan is excellent – soft and cushiony without simultaneously dissolving upon contact with the mouth.
The sugar here serves to extend a lovely caramel, toffee-esque characteristic to the dish.
There is also the mysteriously named Dark Malicious (RM38) which is composed of chocolate Namelaka (a velvety style of chocolate ganache), raspberry coulis and a hazelnut praline in what proves to be a delightful odyssey through hedonistic chocolate nuances, berry-laden undertones and a hazelnut praline that is rich, nutty and divine.
It’s a lovely epilogue that bears repeating on return visits.
On says his goal is to establish Black Lion as a scalable steakhouse for future art clubs that he intends to open in the near-future.
“I’m planning to open an art club in Penang – it’s the same concept. And then I can scale the steakhouse easier within the art club, rather than just have special dinners with different chefs at the space,” he says.
