My Trips: Ratatouille La Gourmet, A Hidden Gem at Tmn Setia Indah, Johor Bahru

Friday, January 31, 2014

Ratatouille La Gourmet, A Hidden Gem at Tmn Setia Indah, Johor Bahru

Ratatouille La Gourmet (N1.57163 E103.75767) is my first dining experience that enjoying such a good quality western cuisine at a very simple 'Kopitiam'. It's actually a stall in one of the Chinese kopitiam (aka small food court) named 'Fu Sing Kopitiam' and serving nice + delicious food. Thanks for the friend's recommendation from Facebook.

We were there around 6pm on the Sunday evening, the Chef Brian politely introduced the series of western cuisines that serve by Ratatouille La Gourmet to us. After about 15-20 minutes, the first salad served on table - Caesar Salad.

Caesar Salad by Ratatouille

That was the first appetizer for us and the presentation was nice, taste not bad.

Followed by second appetizers - Foie gras, some of us just cannot believe it because we were enjoying a nice Foie gras in a 'Kopitiam'...

Foie gras by Ratatouille

This was my first time in my life having Foie gras in kopitiam too! What a experience!

The Foie gras was well prepared and served with some mushroom slices and piece of bread, the bite will bring some mild alcohol fragrance...excellent! The dish above is selling with a affordable price (RM38) for everyone to be able to try it.

The third appetizers - Escargot.
"Escargot is a dish of cooked land snails, usually served as an appetizer in France and in French restaurants. The word escargot is also sometimes applied to the living snails of those species which are commonly eaten in this way." Source from Wiki.

Escargot by Ratatouille

Another experience that having this French cuisine in 'kopitiam' again!
The escargots were served in 6 per order (RM18), I'm not in the position to say about the taste because I don't really have much experience having it, but...actually they were acceptable and nice!

Next was the Spaghetti Bolognaise.
As for the Italian authentic ingredients including pancetta, carrots, celery, onions, tomato paste and a dash of wine, and the key ingredient is minced beef. This spaghetti did all right except I didn't taste the wine...maybe it was my mouth problem. :)
The rich minced beef and the tomato sauce were really made our mouth can't stop until the spaghetti is finished. (RM11)

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Anyway, it is a light and fast meal you should try if you visit Ratatouille La Gourmet.

By having the dishes above, Chef Brian served us two different type of soup - Mushroom soup and Clam chowder to let us have a break before continue our extraordinary dinner.

Clam chowder

Mushroom soup

The clams were fresh and the soup was rich flavor but not starchy at all. Their mushroom soup was another great version compare with others, fresh mushrooms and rich. Again, not starchy. We like the both soup.

Here come the first main course - Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce.

Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce by Ratatouille

The grilled salmon served with pumpkin sauce, broccoli and Ratatouille.

Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce by Ratatouille (another view)

The combination was excellent! The grilled salmon was well grilled to perfection! This was another different experience to savor the dish.

Another main course - Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb.

Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb

The rack of lamb were served in the medium doneness, succulent and juicy! The dish was served with Ratatouille, broccoli and mashed potatoes. We like the crusted outer layer of the lamb which was mixture of herbs and pine nuts that really brought us a new taste of the dish! The bite had give us a different layer of enjoyment, awesome!

The medium doneness of the lamb and the special crusted herbs and pine nuts outer layer.

The last main course was the US Black Angus Ribeye steak.

The US Black Angus Ribeye Steak

The Black Angus steak was absolutely delicious! Served with the medium well doneness for the best way to enjoying the steak, said by the Chef. The dish was served with the marvelous home recipe sauce which mixed with mild brandy. Another awesome steak in that evening!

I had a chat with the Chef - Brian Soon, understand that he's still working in one of the 4 star restaurant in Singapore right now...and only available at the stall during Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday. Thursday and Friday's duty will be handle by his wife. According to him, he'll be full time at Ratatouille few months later within this year.

Ratatouille La Gourmet

Brian said, he wanted to introduce the nice and quality western cuisines to the public with a affordable price, and he'll try his best to educate the local on the various dishes serve by Ratatouille La Gourmet.

The stall is operating by Chef Brian and his partner Mr Sherman, both of them are good friends since teenage until now and they are from Malacca. That is also one of the reason that the wordings at the stall has some Malaccan style on it, can you feel it?

The staffs of Ratatouille La Gourmet

They also provide catering and private chef services to your house for private function. Do contact them from the email address below if you need it.

Chef Brian in action!

This will be one of my regular place for western cuisine. The prices are very reasonable and affordable, beside that I also tasted the quality ingredients provided by the Chef.
Do drop by if you happen in the area, I believe you will be surprise by the dishes serve by Ratatouille.