The market is home to some of the best seafood and meat sourced from all over the world. — Photos: CULINA KL
The brand new Culina KL is nearly 20,000 square feet and fills out every nook, cranny and corner of this sprawling space very nicely. Ensconced in the swanky Shoppes at Four Seasons Place, this marks the first international footprint of a 30-year-old Singaporean institution, the original Culina in Singapore’s Dempsey area.
Owned and operated by Singapore’s Como Group (which owns restaurants like the Michelin-starred Candlenut), Culina KL houses an upmarket grocer, bakery, wine shop and bistro that takes up nearly an entire floor.
“We just celebrated our 30th anniversary. In Singapore, Culina is more than a consumer-facing brand, we have had three decades of experience supplying fine foods and wines to fine-dining outlets, restaurants and hotels so we call ourselves the purveyor of fine foods and wines, because we source from all over the world.
“So the next milestone is to expand beyond Singapore and the dining scene in Kuala Lumpur is more vibrant than ever, so when we had this opportunity to open here, we reviewed the space and decided to take all of it, because the space is essential for what we intend to do here,” says a Como Group spokesperson.
One of the interesting elements about Culina KL is that it is an all-encompassing experience. The market houses fresh produce like tomatoes from France, octopus from the Bay of Biscay in Spain, Australian lamb and Miyazaki wagyu from Japan as well as European canned seafood and cheeses and condiments from all over the world. Petrossian caviar is also exclusive to Culina, so you won’t find it anywhere else in Malaysia.
Expect to indulge in tomatoes from France, cheese from Europe and meat sourced from Australia and Japan in an impressive line-up that includes some of the world’s finest produce and edible products.
There is also an extensive wine collection – over 450 labels at the 19-seater wine bar next door, with sommelier Alexander Zarsadias to guide you through your alcoholic experience. From the bakery around the corner, there are also plenty of rising stars (pun intended), including loaves of sourdough bread, made using a 12-year-old starter.
It’s the sort of pantry staples that you’re only likely to see in top-end restaurants in the city, and yet, you’re discovering that now you too can access them. The best part? If you’re too exhausted to lug all your goodies home, you can head straight to the bistro and ask them to cook some of it for you.
“So the concept of market-to-bistro is very popular with our guests. They can select for example, a cut of fish, pay a prep fee and go to the bistro and they will cook and serve it to you.
“Even the chefs at the bistro take produce from the market, so what you see in the market is what we serve at the bistro. So sometimes at off-peak hours, you will see the chefs going to the market to pick out ingredients – this practice also ensures that we always have fast-moving, fresh stock,” says the Como Group spokesperson.
At Culina Bistro, there is an emphasis on ingredients – basically the interlocking of the market and the bistro means the two are dependent on each other for support and this is evident in the food, which takes you through an epiphanic journey through some of the globe’s best produce.
The bistro is the culinary heart of Culina and functions as a real-life execution lab where diners get to see exactly how to make use of the gourmet produce from the market.
To start, indulge in a small bite in the form of the Ortiz Anchovy (RM38) which features the aforementioned anchovies alongside marinated cucumber, cashew cream and chilli oil.
Now these particular anchovies aren’t your garden variety sort – they are wild-caught from the Cantabrian sea and are then salted, pressed and subsequently matured in barrels for at least six months before being hand-filleted and saturated in top-quality olive oil.
The result is tiny little morsels packed with the briny, fishy qualities of the anchovies – which headline this show for a reason. The other players are just that – other players – because with the anchovy in this configuration, everything else has to play second fiddle. Sometimes a lead star is a lead star for a reason and this dish tells you exactly why.
The Ortiz anchovy is the brine-laced heart and soul of this series of small bites.
The simply-named Crab Cake (RM78) meanwhile is an ode to jumbo lump crab rounded out by a celeriac remoulade, lemon and a Marie Rose sauce. The crab cakes are truly fantastic – each plump, crisply rotund parcel is packed – absolutely packed to the rafters – with crab meat. In fact, I don’t think there is anything else in there. Which is why you’ll enjoy its aquatic depths and comforts from beginning to end as you chew and bite – preferably contemplatively – and marvel at the ocean’s bounty.
From the salad persuasion, try the Tuna Nicoise Salad (RM38 for a small portion) which features Ortiz canned tuna, baby gem, potatoes, tomatoes, olives, organic eggs in an anchovy dressing. The Ortiz tuna is once again the headlining act here – the prized tuna is renowned for its texture and flavour and in this iteration, it is a knock-out.
The crab cakes are a signature item at the bistro and each one is stuffed to the brim with the plump delights of this crustacean.
The fish has a strong meaty textural countenance that is offset by its buoyant mouthfeel and the salinity that seems to run through its veins. The other ingredients keep it in check and round out its flavour profile, so in this instance, everything works together beautifully like a well-oiled machine.
From the mains on offer, definitely look at trying the Butcher’s Cut (RM220) which is made up of an Australian steak of the day cooked to your liking alongside hand-cut fries, house salad and bearnaise sauce. The steak is sublime – a medium rare cook yields meat that has a carefully-tended char on its outer core that melds fluidly into supple, juicy, incredibly tender flesh within. The hand-cut fries are not bad but not all that memorable. On the other hand, the bearnaise sauce is a scene-stealer and adds lightly acerbic, richly contrasting notes to the steak.
The steak of the day allows diners to indulge in different cuts of steak, cooked to perfection by the chefs at the restaurant.
End your meal on a sweet high, with the Flourless Chocolate Cake (RM38), served with double cream and raspberries. The cake is the epitome of a chocolate delight – a spoon dug into its surface segues into a silken soft interior whose chocolate-laced abyss you could easily sink into – the worries of the day quickly forgotten.
The epicurean adventure at Culina KL is intended to be an enduring one, built around relationships forged through food. Which is why in the future, the establishment intends to host wine and champagne masterclasses and food discovery sessions under the flagship of the Culina Series. One thing is clear: this is a place that takes every aspect of the word ‘gourmet’ very, very seriously.
Culina Bistro
Level B1, Shoppes at Four Seasons Place
145 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2779 7313
Open daily: 11am to 10pm
