Last weekend I celebrated my 12th wedding anniversary and the place we chose was Gordan Ramsay’s new Bar and Grill restaurant in Sunway Hotel. Mind you, my wife made reservations for us in July and we got a slot on our anniversary weekend. Upon arrival, we were brought to our seats with little to no wait. The overall atmosphere was great, very befitting the level of decor of the overall hotel with the unique setup of both a seated area, a waiting area (with lower tables) and of course a bar area.
Tucked along a corner were three dry ager machines to dry age their cuts of beef. In the menu, there were several items available such as the Angus Rib Eye, the sirloin, wagyu and of course, the Tomahawk. Since it was lunchtime, we proceeded to order our meal, something that wasn’t too heavy.
What did we order?
Considering there were 3 of us, I wanted to try their famous beef wellington which many Hells Kitchen participants fail at. I also chose the Sunday Roast as it was highlighted in the menu and for the kiddo, I got the Mac and Cheese, fries (or chippies in his vernacular) and some char-grilled broccolini for him. Whilst waiting for the food to arrive, there was a musician roaming around the restaurant serenading the guests.
After a while, the food all arrived at the same time. A standard you might expect at this sort of establishments as well as in all of Gordon Ramsay’s shows.
The staff serve the beef wellington table-side, basically it means that a guy with a cart comes up, cuts the beef wellington and then serves it to you. I have always wondered if the beef wellington would be cold by that time since it stays in the cart most of the time.
How did the food taste?
There were a few hits, and there were a few misses.
The hits, the Sunday Roast was amazing. If you can see above, there is an outer crust along the Angus meat. That crust was nicely caramelized that once you take a bit into it, an intense burst of flavours flow out. Accompanying it was a Yorkshire pudding, roasted vegetables and potatoes as well. Definitely a highlight for me as it takes on a very traditional Sunday pub lunch and turned into something sublime. Also, before the start of the meal, they served bread with smoked butter. The smoked butter was absolutely amazing. It was so good that I forgot to take a picture of it.
The miss, the beef wellington. Overall, it was good. Not fantastic or unexpected or a burst of flavours. Everything was pretty much expected and it is no wonder that many reviews online complained about it. It can be an effect of self over-hype, where you might have this self vision of a fantastic dish especially since you see it on Hells Kitchen all these years. The key difference is that in Hells Kitchen, the beef wellington isn’t cut until served and its been heated up in the oven. So the meat is definitely warmer and the crust of the pastry a little crunchier.
The mac and cheese was definitely favourite menu item especially for kids. Almost every other table I saw with kids had a mac and cheese there. It tasted great and my son loved it so much so that he used both a spoon and his fingers to eat it.
Since my son loved broccoli, we decided to get some char-grilled broccolini as well which was fantastic. This was definitely a hit for me as I loved the charred taste of the vegetable and the mixture of nuts as well.
How was the service?
The service was top notch! Everyone was polite and everyone was dressed really well. The waiters were trained well as the table next to me had a couple of kids and whenever they drop their utensils (happens a lot!), the waiter would silently pick it up and replace it (if you watched the movie Burnt, you would understand this). The room temperature was just right, the overall ambience is a nice and quiet atmosphere. Family friendly with available corners for larger parties who would want to dine together as well. The atmosphere looked so nice that it forces me to think that there is a dress code for the restaurant as well!
What surprised us was that the staff all signed a card for us to celebrate our wedding anniversary!
That was a real treat and a pleasant surprise for us.
Conclusions and will I return?
Yes, I would definitely return again and with the aim of trying out other dishes and of course the steaks. Whilst there are hits and misses overall, I definitely am curious to explore more of the menu, starting with their starters (we skipped it as we weren’t that hungry) as well as other fish dishes. So if you are ever in Sunway City, I would recommend you to try out the place. Prices start on the high side so be prepared. Our total bill came up to around RM700+ for 2 adults and a 6 year old.
