Pop Up Dining KL @ Einstein Cafe, Jalan Sultan, KL

8:00:00 AM

Although I've yet to post a review on Einstein Cafe (which I would in time to come), I will be focusing on the Pop Up Dining KL instead. For those unaware of what #PopUpDiningKL is, it's a fine-dining concept done in a casual and sudden manner. By sudden I mean it's a once a month thing and by casual I mean it will be held mainly in cafes.

One of the constant location would be Einstein Cafe at Jalan Sultan and patrons are required to do an advanced reservation at their Facebook page (link will be provided below). #PopUpDiningKL is currently manged by 1 young head chef, currently in his final year of culinary degree and his two other partners.

I guess the idea and concept of #PopUpDiningKL was quite brilliant. Not only will you be able to improve your culinary skills, you'll be exposed to various feedbacks, real-life situation and people. Not to mention earn some money as well.

Anyway, I was extremely excited to try it out!


The cashier's signboard.


Einstein Cafe is a beautiful heritage-looking cafe with self-customized wall paint and furniture located right next to Petaling Street. The cafe portray a warm and welcoming ambiance along with a good whiff of coffee. Anyway, I'll leave that story for another blog post. 


My first time at #PopUpDiningKL. Loved the simple presentation and welcoming paper napkin. 


Here is the head chef as he was preparing our first dish along with his assistant. 


Egg Brulee 

Loved the presentation and the use of the egg cart and shell. Served with cinnamon egg pudding, freshly made Grissini (Italian bread stick) and Parmigiano cracker (made entirely out of cheese). Loved the balance between the sweetness of the egg pudding and the savory side of the Parmigiano cracker. Fairly simple but a strong start nonetheless. 


Chef preparing our second dish.


Bagna Cauda 'Banana'

Followed by a serving of salad, made with sliced potatoes, celeries, quail egg, a slice of bread and a delicious portion of salted crisp vegetables finished with a banana puree sauce. Apart from everything else being well cooked, the salted crisp vegetables and the puree were simply delightful. 

Salty, savory and a hint of banana at the end works brilliantly with the crispy vegetables, potatoes and of course, the toast. Beautiful combination and loved the complexity of flavours. 


Then comes our first main course, a plate of Penne made with parsley sauce, mascarpone foam and fresh prawn. The dish was particularly light but I did enjoy the flavours regardless. Loved the input of fresh prawns within the sauce to give it that extra seafood-y taste. 


Amazingly, there was a second main course, in which the serving portion and flavour were far richer and heavier than the fist. Pan-seared salmon with a variety of herbs and edible flower, a side of vegetables, salmon ball and finished with lemon mayonnaise.

The salmon itself had no black pepper as the spiciness or rather, "peppery" taste relied heavily on the selection of edible flowers. Loved that. The pan-seared salmon was cooked beautifully skin-side down but was finish a tad bit late. I would prefer it to be slightly under but the salmon was fresh, moist and flaky nonetheless. The lemon mayonnaise was helpful in uplifting the dish entirely, making it lighter and slight more refreshing. 

*Pro-tip: Do not stuff the entire salmon ball in your mouth as it was very dry. Instead, cut it into smaller portions and go with the lemon mayonnaise. I believe that would be much better. 


And finally, our dessert. Made with Gianduja (reformed into a chipped-wood), dark chocolate, microwaved sponge and a lovely mint jelly. Not only was it rich and delicate (loved the Gianduja), it was freshened up by the a hint of mint jelly as well. 

Personally, I felt that the plating might need a little reshuffling as it was everywhere. However, I really did enjoy the dessert. 


To end the session, we had a some sweet bites and a choice of either tea or coffee. We went with the chamomile tea, which seemed like a better finish although Espresso is normally the end drink for an Italian dining. 

Overall, I felt that the #PopUpDiningKL was an incredible idea. The price will depend on the type of cuisine served, in this case it was RM80 for an Italian dining experience. A total of 6 course (including the sweet bites at the end) which was fairly reasonable. Anywhere else it would easily go up to RM200-300. 

A great start for the chef, plenty of potential and definitely, lots of passion in his cooking. Ultimately, what I enjoyed the most was the balance of flavours - between the sweet and acidity, savoury and lightness along with the complexity of the dish itself. 

#PopUpDiningKL will pop up in different cafes on an irregular basis. To find out more, do check out their Facebook page, link below. 

Address:

Einstein Cafe,
58, Jalan Sultan, 
50000 Kuala Lumpur,
 Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, 
Malaysia.

Tel: 0123636004

Reservation for #PopUpDiningKL: popupdiningkl@gmail.com



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