Malaysia is a food paradise and Kuala Lumpur is no exception. We have cuisines from all around the world! 

On Thursday 2 May 2024, Enak members and guests experienced Belgian cuisine in Soleil Restaurant & Bar from their Enak member and Belgian hosts Astrid Belliot and Marianne van Tienen.

The restaurant was founded in August 2013 and is located at the Damansara City Mall, the spacious restaurant is known for its sophisticated fine dining. It dishes out authentic contemporary European cuisines. The establishment thrives under the tutelage of award-winning Belgian chef, Evert Onderbeke. 

Two of our special guests were Astrid’s husband the Ambassador of Belgium, Peter Van Acker, and the wife of the Ambassador to the Netherlands, Soraya Werner. 

To start the lunch, His Excellence, the Ambassador gave a few opening remarks about Belgium, Astrid then talked about Belgium’s products and regional fame. Marianne then explained about the dishes we were going to sample. She explained about the regions the dishes originated from and how they evolved. 

Our curated lunch was made up of four starters, four mains, and two dessert items. For our starters, we had Cheese Madeleine quince and the Seafood croquette with salted egg gribiche. Marinated crab meat with avocado, semi-dried tomato, basil sorbet, and Salmon rillettes citrus gel with toasted baguette. Each item arrived beautifully presented and all were delicious.

There was a short break before the main courses and again these came individually plated. We began with the Sea bass with cauliflower and wholegrain mustard mousseline, which was delicious. Next was the ‘Waterzooi’ with chicken and fennel. The ‘Waterzooi’ turned out to be a kind of clear, light chicken broth. The next item was the Meatball with sirop de Liege, Belgian fries, and mayonnaise. This dish was very prettily plated and it tasted delicious. The duck sausage was next and it came with ‘stoemp’ and ghentse pickles. The ‘stomp’ which was like a mash of potatoes and vegetables and pickles was nice.

We were finally at desserts. We had a live demonstration of the delightful Pearl Sugar Waffle dessert that was freshly pan-cooked by Chef Evert and his assistant. Chef Evert explained the ingredients and the method used to prepare the waffles which came with speculoos topping (a biscuit originally manufactured in Belgium made from wheat flour, candy syrup, fat, and cinnamon) and vanilla ice cream. The second dessert a Callebaut chocolate mousse arrived soon after and was an apt ending as Belgium is famous for its chocolates.

In summary, we had the opportunity to taste a selection of dishes in the restaurant’s “menu dégustation”. 

The ten items on the tasting menu were an elevated offering, an opportunity for a deeper connection with the hosts and the chef's Belgian heritage. It was indeed a memorable dining experience overall.

Review written by KY Lee