No matter where you look, you’ll get the contemporary sense of luxury.
In this Tangerine restaurant review, we want to give you an idea of both vegetarian and meaty menu offers. For both, we picked maximum courses, and now we are happy to report our findings. Chef Siti Arini Darsom made us very happy with her dishes and surely any other foodie that is fond of French cuisine. Now let’s take a closer look at the 51st floor of THE FACE Suites, where Tangerine Restaurant is located.
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For some, it is about the city view, but we were more impressed by the enormous paintings facing the glass wall. Regardless of paintings and eye-catching views, the whole restaurant is a work of art. No matter where you look, you’ll get the contemporary sense of luxury.
If you keep your mind open, the view over Klang Valley can teach you more about the modern world. Constant growth doesn’t resonate in all-positive vibrations, starting with essential like food, which needs to be transported into the city every day. Are there any downsides regarding the ambiance? Yes, it would go for the carpet. Carpets do not belong in the dining room.
We are more than happy Chef at the Tangerine restaurant, followed her heart, and gave a chance to the culinary world. It’s no secret she grew up surrounded by the passionate cooks, maybe she inherited the “cooking with love” strategy from them. For sure, she makes a lot of people happy with her French twists.
Dishes prepared by Chef Siti Arini Darsom are well thought out, and you can tell she thinks of every detail. In fact, the food at the Tangerine restaurant can be described as a harmony where the sound becomes taste. Every plate spoke to us through well-tuned taste combinations and excellent technical execution.
We liked the idea of picking all the dishes from the carnivorous menu and slimming them down to the desired 4-course or 6-course menu. Given the exquisite dishes, we went for the maximum offer of 8-courses and 6-courses for the vegetarian degustation menu. Worth mentioning is also that the Tangerine restaurant KL menu is changing every three months.
Let’s check the food at the Tangerine Restaurant.
Our meal started with a couple of bites that got us excited for the upcoming dishes. The first amuse bouche was made of sunchoke chips fried in truffle oil with a couple of invigorating additions. I’m talking about dense Indian yogurt vinaigrette and tomato salsa that raised the sweet and nutty sunchokes.
Four different kinds of bread came to our table in a metal basket following the truffle butter. Naturally, we loved topping the warm bread with fragrant butter and figuring out which bread is better. At the Tangerine restaurant, we especially loved the combination of melting truffle butter on the bread that almost resembled a donut. All small buns looked beautiful and kept the inside moist for a longer time, ensuring the longer-lasting freshness.
Deep-fried semolina balls were surprisingly soft, and they quickly absorbed the coffee mousse. Taste also revealed a hint of coconut that worked well with the fresh tarragon.
Indian inspired lentil croquette with legume beans dip tasted appealing even to Ian. He isn’t a bean fan, but this time he appreciated how their sweetness cut through the seasoned tomato base.
At Tangerine Restaurant Kuala Lumpur, both of us shared the first course of ultimate Millennial’s favorites. Of course, it is avocado and kale! The star on the plate must be the perfectly ripe avocado that isn’t too soft but kept its shape on the grill. Although the yuzu granita could easily be the star as well. Combining these two, let the juices flow in the refreshing zesty direction. When we added salty baby kale salad and caramelized walnuts, we just didn’t want the first course to be over.
Perfectly seared Hokkaido scallop remained tender and was a lovely counterbalance to the compressed green pear. Pear boosted scallop’s sweetness and added texture, while the dun pea oil in the sauce rounded up the bite.
Everything on the plate supported the asparagus, including the macadamia nuts. Slow-cooked asparagus still retained its crunchiness, which only got crispier when combined with Pecorino cheese chips. Cheese chips and cured egg yolk were also the elements that brought salt to the plate.
Watching the clear double-boiled curry bean soup fill the plat was entertaining, we admit it. Still, Ian couldn’t wait to bite into the Wagyu carpaccio. He was so focused on it that he almost overlooked the tiny flying fish roe. To be fair, they did blend in pretty well after the soup carried them away. Radish added a fair amount of freshness, especially the pickled daikon.
Even though my plate looked better than Ian’s, both were quite similar. Well, I think it looked better because even Wagyu and caviar can’t beat gold. Except for gold, we shared the pickled daikon and radish carpaccio. I must admit this was the least interesting plate at the Tangerine restaurant for me.
Perfectly cooked handmade smoked leek pasta fitted well with the truffle scented sauce. This creamy sauce coated the pasta well and added the slight tang to it. It also supported the cured Moulard duck and a generous portion of fresh truffles shreds really well.
There is a chance that intensive flavors surrounding this dish hid the truffles. Still, that shouldn’t be the case with such a pungent, musky aroma truffle is known for. Despite our expectations, the truffles at Tangerine restaurant didn’t taste nor smell like anything, really.
Moulard duck is an offspring of female Peking duck and male Muscovy duck. Usually, the Moulard ducks are on the all-vegetarian diet, which changes by the purpose of farming. With that being said, the female ducks are mostly farmed for meat, while males for foie gras.
I can officially declare my love for grilled radish, but even that couldn’t turn me off Ian’s plate. Here we were at the Tangerine restaurant, and I couldn’t stop thinking about our Peking duck we had in Bangkok. Yes, I admit the poached Napa cabbage, filled with white radish, didn’t make a good first impression. However, my mood changed when I tried it and realized that that is the most delicious cabbage I have ever had.
Seriously, I got the meaning of the statue known as the Jadeite Cabbage. That is the second time we have come in contact with the Jadeite Cabbage. The first time was at the Vesper Bar in Bangkok… Anyway, back to the Tangerine review. All I have to say is that everything tasted so clean and was really juicy.
Foie Gras is controversial, and I was thought to hate fat, so this one was safe in Ian’s hands. That, however, doesn’t apply to the mushrooms on the side and cranberry brioche. Flavor-wise, this Tangerine dish is umami baby. Who doesn’t like umami?
Guava sorbet with banana foam initiated the tongue rebirth in a heavenly way. It was the most refreshing guava I could think of, sweetened by the light banana foam.
Imagine biting in the tender baby leek that doesn’t have any strings. Then that sweet softness gets the roasted punch and makes friends with even softer cheeks. Add to that the sweetness of the roasted parsnip, and you’ll get a good filling of this Ian’s dish at Tangerine restaurant.
A fulfilling dish that is built on briefly smoked leek pasta cooked al dente perfectly. On that vegetal taste, Chef Arini added a mix of wild edible mushrooms and sprinkled some Pecorino Romano over. I bet she was thinking umami all the way. The only thing that didn’t make sense was the freshly shaved truffles on the top. Again, we didn’t get any smell nor taste from them. That was the second time of our meal at the Tangerine, Kuala Lumpur.
It can happen that the truffles don’t have that pungent smell and taste. Their strong fragrance isn’t eternal, and there are many types of truffles out there. It is advised to use the fresh truffle in five days to maintain the strong smell. Of course, everything depends on how the truffles are saved and used. Particularly interesting are the cultivated Chinese truffles that can be found in many restaurants. The story of Chinese truffles is unsustainable and not something to be proud of, to say the least.
Real French cuisine always includes cheese, and at Tangerine restaurant, we got five samples. Next to the neatly cut pieces, we got a bunch of additions as well. Most of all, we loved the semi-dried grapes on the wine and honey. As goes for honey, we would rather see the local stingless bee’s Trigona honey than the New Zealand honeycomb. I’m sure it would be awesome on that goat cheese or the blue cheese.
The mouth-watering finish of our meal at Tangerine restaurant was an eye-pleaser. The appearance of the dark chocolate, fresh raspberry and tangerine jelly hid surprise well. After cutting into it, white chocolate semifreddo revealed itself and chilled the refreshing tangerine and surrounding dark chocolate a little.
Petite meringue topped with rhubarb ganache ticked the sweet and sour notes with ease. I especially liked the hint of cardamom in the smooth rhubarb reduction. It added fragrance and flare to the plate and elevated the ice cream on the side.
Jackfruit soy ice cream got me thinking about the numerous possibilities the jackfruit holds. In this icy quenelle, jackfruit didn’t taste like fruit but more like a bread. When jackfruit is thermally treated, it loses its sweetness and bubble-gum flavor completely.
Even though we didn’t receive the warmest welcome, we had a great time. More importantly, we loved the food prepared by the Chef Siti Arini Darsom with all its French twists. With that being said, we can confirm that Tangerine restaurant is one of the must-try restaurants in KL.
Hopefully, on your visit, the staff will deliver all the menus because they didn’t expect us to be interested in the vegetarian menu. Luckily, we knew the offer and avoided confusion.
8-course set dinner Ian had, cost about 120USD, while 6-course vegetarian dinner set is about 80USD. Before heading off to the Tangerine restaurant on the 51st floor of THE FACE Suites, consider the smart casual dress code policy. Here is a link to the location for easier navigation.
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