Four was not a crowd

During the days of the ancient China, it was common for a successful man to have several concubines and four was definitely not a crowd.  Why do I suddenly think of concubines? Well, listen to this conversation between me and my Quay Lo and you will understand.

Our conversation this morning:

Quay Po: Darling, I heard from one of my classmates that this Chinese medicine called “concubine” is very effective to relieve discomfort for cancer sufferers.

Quay Lo looked at me with full concentration, paused for a long while before he asked: Honey, is there such a medicine? What is it actually?

Quay Po: "Oh, I forgot what exactly it is but if I remember correctly, it is some kind of stone found in the stomach of the concubine".  It is outrageously expensive! A small portion will cost thousands of dollars but then how do we know they are genuine? 

At this point, I could see the frown and the puzzled look on my Quay Lo's face. 

Quay Lo: What? Did you said "concubine"? What has the stone in the stomach of a dead mistress got to do with cancer?

Quay Po (still not realising what I had said and thinking Quay Lo was being sarcastic): What do you mean by dead mistress? 

Quay Lo asked with a chuckle: Honey, you said "concubine".

Quay Po: OH NO!! Did I really??  I mean PORCUPINE lah!! 



We both could not stop laughing for a while after that. What a way to start the day! 

I wonder if it is just me, and that I had the right word in my head but the wrong word comes out of my mouth. This happens to me very often nowadays. My left became right and vice versa.  I sometimes even say things backwards. I can't blame this on Lucy, can I?  Oh well, the slip of the tongue is no fault of the mind. 

Now, let me tell you why the title of my post is "Four was not a crowd".  On Valentine's day, we had our dinner at a new French restaurant called "La Vie En Rose", in Kuala Lumpur. My Quay Lo selected this restaurant because it is owned by the same owner of Cuisine Studio in Tropicana where we had been frequent customers before it was closed. We had good experience with the ambience, the food and the service there. 

Our table was the only one that had four of us. It may not be the kind of romantic dinner one would expect on Valentine’s day but I have to say, we enjoyed our time very much with our good friends although we were disappointed with the food and the service at the restaurant. The menu was "pre fixed" meaning there were no choices and the menu was "fixed". Here is what we were served that night.

We were greeted with a nice table setting, roses 
and the Valentine's Menu telling us what we would be served. (No price was listed - scary huh?) But as Quay Lo said, "if you have to ask, you are probably in the wrong place".

We started the evening with a toast 
to our friendship and our love for each other

multi-grain bread rolls were served - a very flavorful bun but only one pat of butter for four of us seemed stingy. We had to wait for more as staff were all very busy.

Trio of caviar - too bad it was imitation, a surprise given the status 
the reastaurant aspires to. Nothing like the real thing!

French Fines de Claires oysters - I'v had better oysters than this elsewhere.
These lacked the pungent flavor that I hope for.

Foie gras - This was perfect and delicious!

Alantic blue lobster - this was slightly overcooked and tough

but the flavor was good and plating was attractive though a bit odd. We were served one plate each for two individuals, meaning we had to pass food back and forth. 
Was this for saving time, or did they run out of clean dishes.

Left: Warm Vacherin cheese with truffled honey - 
we all did not care for this as it was dry and too sweet.

Center: Grilled artichoke and celeriac mash - good flavor
(but I'd rather have my mashed potato)

Right: salad of lobtster claws in fresh citrus dressing -
dressing was refreshing and delicious.

Italian veal loin cooked in a bed of "hay" was a big disaapointment. 

Again they served on a single plate for two people, requiring the passing back and forth.

The meat was tough and veiny, perhaps it would have benefitted from longer, slower cooking as my Quay Lo remarked that it had the consistency of a cheap cut of beef like stew meat.

This is a good Champagne but it was overpriced -

RM375.00 per bottle. I'd rather have the Moet Chandon

we brought with us but the house had a rule against accomodating 

bringing our own bottle (in many places a corkage charge is levied). 

While they had Moet Dom Perignon on their wine list,

 it was a very high markup, so I guess we understand 

why they do not want to accomodate BYOB.

Passion fruit and white chocolate red velvet heart -

Looked very fancy, it was delicious but I did not eat mine because

I did not like a non edible cheap ring in it. 

I was sceptical about the cleanliness of the ring.

I think the idea is silly, and goes against the convention of pastry making
that all things in a pastry should be edible.

All of the above including the champagne cost us RM 900 per couple. I think it was overpriced or is it me being "Chinsy" again.  However, we all agreed that from now on, no more Valentine's day "package" meals. We will have the fine dining dinner at Quay Po Cooks! I guarantee good food and service and also our own champagne and wine are allowed with no corkage fee. LOL!

In all fairness to the restaurant we think it must be difficult to handle a full crowd and certainly the service, though friendly, was frenetic. We had hoped for better. We made up for our disappointment with great company and a determination to enjoy ourselves.

Can you see our happiness radiating through our smiles? 

Thank you Darling for planning this Valentine's dinner. Although it did not turn out as you wished, I know where your heart is and appreciate it very much.  Fernand and Reena, thank you for joining us. I love you both.

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