Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Schokolart

Walking into Schokolart Mont Kiara is like walking into chocolate heaven with so many tempting desserts and food, it was hard to choose from amongst them. There is no other way to describe the food here other than, ‘chocolate inspired cuisine’. The décor at Schokolart is modern chic and rather swanky with retro designer furniture, and colored themes of bold dark lines set against the contrast of soft pink, giving this place a rather whimsical European feel.

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People seem to come here mainly for the chocolate, but we wanted to try the food menu today.

First the Schokolart Sate. Around a half dozen or so tasty, tender, chocolate-seasoned satay sticks, stacked up in a 3 dimensional pyramid. This simple dish has the nostalgia of good old-fashioned Malaysian eating, tempered with a trendy contemporary feel of the chocolate marinade. Priced at RM20.90 for this dish, we thought it rather reasonable as the satay portions were huge, the fried buns delicious (called Man-Tau in Chinese).

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The next dish to be served was the Lucerne Pie. This dish is a wonderful hearty meal in itself and reminisces sitting in my friend’s mum’s kitchen after university, as she turns out the pie for lunch. Breaking into the outer crispy layer of pie and being greeted by the warm aroma of baked potatoes, carrots, chicken etc in a lovely creamy base , I was transported back to that seat in her mama’s kitchen. The pie pastry was crisp, buttery and flaky. My only complaint was that whilst the pie was huge the pie stuffing only made up one quarter of the pie. We would have preferred more pie ingredients for sure. The pie, due to the lack of ingredients fell short of the mark, priced at RM20.90.

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Following the Pie, the Roesti. Roesti is a potato dish from Switzerland. It was originally a common breakfast eaten by farmers in Switzerland. Many Swiss people consider roesti a national dish and of course we had to check this dish out. Apparently today it is more commonly served to accompany other dishes and this was true of the roast lamb, which would be our next dish. The Roesti was on promotion and came with a bartwurst (german sausage). We ordered the Cheese roesti and that, was apparently, the correct choice because the cheese lent a rich, slightly salty, creamy texture to the roesti and enhanced the meaty flavour of the bratwurst. If the roesti had more potato and therefore had more bite, it would have been better. RM20.40 for the Roesti.

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The last main dish for the day was the Roast Lamb. The dish consisted of bite size portions of dainty, fork-tender lamb teamed with a dark chocolate sauce. Whilst the lamb was succulent and its own gamy juices complimented the dark chocolate sauce to perfection, we found it was over-done. Priced at RM28.90, not a bad choice.

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We were really surprised that the place was deserted at lunch hour because the food and service was good. However, looking at the location of Schokolart we realized that it was situated at one corner of Solaris, away from the main street, making it harder to find. This is rather unfortunate for the restaurant.


Anyway, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So where’s my pudding? The desserts we ordered where the Pot of Love (Chocolate Fondue with fresh fruits and marshmallows and other lovely sweets!) – RM32.90, the Love Boat (Essentially banana split) – RM19.90, the Zen – RM9.50 and the Toblerone RM9.50. What can I say. The Zen and the Toblerone were way too sweet and lacked flavour. It just had an overall sickly sweetness rather than a distinctive taste. Disappointing.

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The Pot of Love with its moist, chewy cakes, marshmallows and succulent fresh fruit dunked in hot, molten chocolate was my favorite. The banana split was acceptable. Incidentally, people who follow my blog know that I am a huge fan of the banana split. My eating companions joke and tease me that banana splits are so passé.. a thing of the 80’s , but I beg to differ. Anyway, this banana split was not bad.. but then again, how can you go wrong with banana split? It's just banana and ice-cream mainly, right?

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Drinks we had included the cappuccino – RM12.00, the Temptation (hot chocolate) – RM12.00 and the Sakura Tea RM19.00. The signature drink, the Temptation, is an oblong cup filled with hot chocolate, with a piece of cinnamon marshmallow. Not bad, but could have been thicker i.e. more chocolatey..

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On a separate occasion, we sampled the Voga Quattro- Italian – RM120.00 ,the sweet kiss- RM9.50 , the dine-in, i.e. Chocolates 100grams (9 pieces) - RM36.00 and the Prosecco – RM118.00. If you sign up for the Schokolart Addict Card, it will entitle you to discounts on future visits to the restaurant. The most outstanding thing was of course the cute little chocolates themselves, in pretty names like Raspberry Wasabi and Sweet Spice. Even though the taste of the chocolates are not as smooth or as full of flavour as Teuscher, the designs are intricate and subtle and the dainty pieces are generally decorated with artistic patterns, shapes and motifs that encourages one to go, “Ooh.. and Ahh!” when one looks upon them. If you are in the area, check it out:)

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Add:
Schokolart (located opposite Tenji)
Block K-01-05, Soho KL @ Solaris Mont Kiara
2 Jalan Solaris
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-62030968


12 comments:

Wilson Ng said...

Looks promising and food looks tasty!

Eye drools at the chocolates...

:P

thule a.k.a leo said...

chocolate.. my life!!! Can't live without it!! I have almost finished my chocolate at home :(
yeah... still haven't gone to any places in Solaris except for Departure Lounge yet~

HairyBerry said...

omg, we are still at the 80s banana split thingy?? hahaha!

u r right about the location. even i find it difficult to find. ok la, that's cus i dont frequent this area. mmmm, yummy, hot, sexy choco sauce. *slurp*

Sean said...

yeah, the place is often deserted during dinner too. such a shame, considering the food and service are both among the best in this area.
i loved the choc satay and i've been meaning to return to try the choc lamb! will remember to ask for it medium-rare! =)

Julian Si said...

Wah, I like the strawberry shot!

Hmmm, chocolate dip with SATAY and Mantou too ... that's SOME FUSION!!!

J said...

The lamb with chocolate sauce sounds interesting. :)
(Isn't it strange though? - it's like putting mains & dessert together!)

Unknown said...

I like the way the satay is arranged.

Hmm chocolate flavoured satay. That I got to try one day!

backStreetGluttons said...

We enjoy looking at the elegance of chic European Cuisine in swanky outlets , for we know for sure there will be a climatic scene or 2 of cream soaked juicy lips ...
wonderful & so delightful our gleeful awakened imaginations run high

Bangsar-bAbE said...

Gah...shouldn't have come here before dinner. Now I don't want my plain oats! Grrrrr....

Ciki said...

wilson:
a bit too much chocolate la.. by the end of the meal, it was like choc overload!

thule:
time to pick up dutyfree then!

Nic:
haha yar.. blame munkey! he said that banana splits are sooooooo a thing of the past. Chis!

Sean:
yar, i think u will like it

Jules and J:
yar its fusion, also it's eating dessert with mains.. but somehow it works. I guess the idea is not to use too much choc. It's really just like adding sugar really, isn't it? LOL

Keropokman:
yarrr.. dont u have this in sing?!

BSG:
eeyer, ur imagination always running wild huh.. dont eat too much chocolates! haha

Bbabe:
give up the oats la.. u r fighting a losing battle! LOL;)

Unknown said...

tak ada.

oh maybe it is

belum lagi. :-)

Ciki said...

keropok man:
ah.. but u have loads of other yummie stuff rite:P