Macalister Mansion not only houses an interesting boutique hotel but also a fantastic French fine dining restaurant.
One look at The Dining Room and you will see nothing but a plain white space. But, as you stare into it, you will see that there’s more than what meets the eye. Much like the hotel, the restaurant surprises us with all its subtle creativity from the interiors to its cuisines. For those who don’t yet know, Macalister Mansion is a 100-year-old mansion that was restored and made into a boutique hotel. Its owners, Dato’ Sean and Datin Karen H’ng, came out with the concept of making the hotel feel like home, hence the name of its F&B outlets, from The Living Room, The Den to The Lawn.
The pink deer and blue stag in the room
What we saw in The Dining Room was a play on colours. With white walls, white tables and chairs, white drapes and a majestic white man-made tree in the middle of the restaurant, what caught our eyes was a pink deer and a blue stag. Decors of the stag and deer can be seen around the hotel, as if they were the mascots of the entire establishment. What astonished us even more were the white coloured man-made trees. Even though they were white, if you observe them from a closer distance, intricate details can be seen on the ‘barks’, ‘branches’ and ‘leaves’. Of all the eateries we have been to, The Dining Room was the first place to amaze with just its unique interiors.
Many would not realise it but The Dining Room is built on a garden. An observant person would notice that there is no actual roof with tiles (unlike the rest of the mansion) on top of the restaurant. A covering has been placed at the top to avoid any raindrops and white drapes cleverly put underneath create a dream-like environment in the restaurant. Before we went into the main highlight of our visit (to feast on the scrumptious food), we met up with the man who would cook up a storm for our dinner, Chef Lance U’ren.
Never judge a cook by his looks
Do not be deceived by his baby-face looks. U’ren might look young, but his culinary skills are of one who has been in the industry for multiple decades. Passionate about his work, he shares with us his secret in cooking: “It’s all about fully enhancing the original flavour of the food. This is why I only select the freshest ingredients, whether it’s meat, fish or vegetables. With that, only then can we create a dish qualified to serve on our guests’ table.”
U’ren has no limitations when it comes to cooking. He believes that each time he tries a new method to prepare a certain dish, he will learn something from it. “There is no specific method in preparing any dish. If you do not innovate, nothing new will be created. In fact, in The Dining Room, we change our menu every two months. This way, my other chefs and I would not be bored with making the same dish over and over again. I also take it as a challenge to come up with something better again and again,” he explains.
With this, regular guests will always have something new from the menu to choose from. So if you visit the eatery every two months, it would feel as though as you are visiting a new place altogether. Rest assured though, some of the all-time favourite dishes would be available for order. Even if you want to plan for a special event, if given enough time he can come up with a special menu and you can have your intimate celebration at the private dining rooms – all personalised to your liking.
A gastronomic venture
Once the quick photo shoot with the charismatic chef was done, he swiftly went into the kitchen to prepare a gastronomic feast for us. We started with hickory smoked soft-boiled quail egg, served with salsa verde, edible hay and poppy seed. When served, the dish has a transparent cover with smoke that covers the presentation of the food. Once placed on our table, the efficient servers lifted the cover up and what we saw were three quail eggs put together on top of the edible hay, creating the image of eggs in a bird’s nest. It was our first time tasting something as interesting as this. Once you take the first bite of the small egg in your mouth, the yolk comes gushing out filling your palate with a raw, creamy taste. After deliciously devouring all the three eggs, we were even more eager to see what was coming next.
Next, we tried the white bisque with ricotta and crab cannelloni. The bisque was poured into the soup bowl in front of us so it would stay warm as we slowly savoured its taste. U’ren kept the presentation simple because the flavour of this dish tells the rest of the story. Creamy to our liking, a spoonful of the soup is like a symphony in our mouth with a slight tinge of saltiness just right to tickle our senses. Before having our main course of the evening, we first cleansed our palate with a generous serving of sherbet. We also learned the difference between a sherbet and a sorbet which is that the sherbet may contain a small amount of dairy product.
What came next was the pan seared Miso cod with braised Shimeji, olive soil, caviar and watercress coulis. This must be another innovation of the brilliant chef. From its name, we figured it must have been fused with some Japanese element and we must say the combination was masterly executed. The soft tender flesh of the fish mixed with the coulis
was simply appetising.
Chargrilled to perfection
A must-have in The Dining Room, we also tried the chargrilled Wagyu oyster blade served with crème fraiche polenta, carrot puree, grilled cauliflower and Perigueux syrup. The meat itself was well flavoured and nicely marbled with fats. Coupled with the many side dishes, presented like a garden on a plate, it was a satisfying meal. Bite after bite and we were still craving for more. To enhance the whole dining experience, you can also choose a good wine from the long list of beverages available in the hotel. What we had was a red Chile wine (Luis Felipe Edwards) to accompany our beef and it was simply splendid.
To complete our meal, we satisfied our sweet tooth with a chocolate bowl filled with peanut butter mousse, hazelnut crumble, chocolate ganache and salted caramel ice cream. Delicious to the last bite, we finished our plates clean and walked out with a big tummy and a bigger smile.
The Dining Room, 228 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang; 04 228 3888; http://www.macalistermansion.com