It should all come together!

Lionel: We finally made the journey to the new Sage restaurant. For the Cilantro fans, this is part 2 for Chef Kimura. No I don't think Cilantro is reopening, in spite of the official statement by the owners that Micasa Apts where Cilantro was situated would be reopen after renovations, that would not be the case.

Anyway, back to the restaurant. Just like Cilantro, they have a wine friendly corkage charge of only RM50 per bottle or you could choose a small but well selected list of wines. We started with a bottle of Drappier vintage 96 which went beautifully with the amuse bouche and crayfish but as we tend to drink a little fast, we decided to order a bottle of white to hold us till the meat dishes.

We settled on a lovely bottle of Ata Rangi Sauv Blanc 04, hoping that the age had given the wine some nice bottle age, cutting back its perfumed fruit. And voila! we were rewarded with a lovely, lovely minerally, slightly savoury bottle og Sancerre. It even worked well with the Foie Gras. The next wine is a unique limited production garagiste operation from St Emilion. Ch La . Gomerie is treated like a favourite child by its proprietror, the Becot family who owns Ch Beau-Sejour Becot. Jean Phillipe Fort, Michel Rolland's top assistant , is consultant for this 100% Merlot based wine produced from a small vineyard, with old vines and maximum quantity of 1000 cases a year. Highly rated by Robert Parker and with very high prices to boot.

Try it if you can find it!

Well, I know many people including many food blogs have raved about this restaurant. And we sat at the chef's table and it was great but yet there was something missing!

And I think I know what it is, the service didn't match the level of service from the kitchen! What I mean is that the level of service, attention to detail and effort from the kitchen was second to none and the service from the floor staff didn't match up. It was incomplete, it was missing a huge chunk of charm, warmth, attention, efficiency and most of all understanding of what they were doing that failed us.

Yes, I will be coming back to Sage again and I really, really hope it works better next time.

The beginning!  an Amuse Bouche of cured salmon with fresh cream.
The Salad of Pan fried Crayfish with topinambour and truffle jus being served.
Lovely Ata Rangi Sauvignon Blanc 2004.
Seared Foie Gras with Anago and caramelized scallion
Perfectly pan fried sea bass with crispy skin and sea urchin sauce.
Chateau La Gomerie 1999, a St Emilion grand cru
Chargrilled Wagyu with sauteed mushrooms and Yuzukoshou
Tauleto Sangoveise 2000 bu Umberto Cesari
Fedellini Pasta with Zuwaigani and Scallop