NICE Bistronome — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

OUR FIRST VISIT AND THE LAST! Last week we went there to try after my wife read about this restaurant thru blogger and Instagram. It was the worst restaurant we have experienced form per a decade to say the least. Why? Here are some of the obvious reasons

1. this restaurant doesn't know how to cook beef 🥩. I can attest to thid. The food is bad, the cooking is not up to mark. Taste is out! When my Rossini beef steak with foie gras is served I knew it wasn't cooked properly at all. It was RAW! Yes it is.
2. they took it back. Didn't replace with another piece of meat, but cooked that cut off piece of meat again and served me!
3. This time the meat is totally overcooked almost well done. The foie gras is just badly cook as well. I left it there after a small cut to taste. Totally not nice, tasted weird and poor quality.. It's so small piece yet charged rm169 there about. It's such a shame this restaurant served such item in the menu of Italian and French cuisine! That rossine should be removed from the menu altogether. 4.) I have to of course told my wife that I'm not happy about this she said just eat up and leave! Never back again.
4. the dinnerware and glasses for water and wine used in place reflect just how this small time stingy owner is by buying those cheap small set meant for home use that come in all sorts of patterns n colors for a restaurant! Every thing served on it looks terrible on it not just taste. It doesn't make u feel it's a proper restaurant.
5. in the enclaved of all the sec 17 PJ coffee shops this restaurant is truly nothing but a low class outlet trying to carve out some kind of pseudo italian/French brasserie that cheap people. We spent rm400+- on that evening still Hungry n a bowl of noodle in the opposite stall is much more satisfying than this pretentious appalling joint.

Additional note for the pseudo self-proclaimed professional Chef/owner:- The beef when it was1st served was so raw that I couldn't cut through it. Also with a very poor quality knife given and the fork and spoon is a totally odd design to say the least. I showed the tenderloin to the waiter, proving that the inside was completely raw beyond doubt. This review must have bruised the ego of this poor Chef that he denied it. It has it completely wrong! a medium doneness is pinkish not raw to the point of the colour we can tell and can't cut through easily at all. How on earth a self proclaimed professional Chef doesn't understand this and argue that was done to accommodate my taste? I have eaten all over the world of steakhouse and Malaysia top western restaurants serving good quality steaks and Rossini in particular. The 2nd time it was way overcooked and this luckily I captured the picture above as evidence. If the Chef is so professional he should have a higher standard of cooking and totally replace it with a new one or with what is commonly served or popularly ordered here! Instead of churning out near rubbish and over here argued profusely trying to cover up their atrocious cooking. This is the worst dining experience I have ever tried in Malaysia for a very long time. Perhaps it was just our very unlucky dine out night that chose this restaurant instead of so many better ones in PJ I must add honestly. We are talking about the acceptable standard of a Rossini or any given tenderloin cooked in medium doneness. Moreover, undoubtedly the sauce and foie gras everything else is just bad, if not badly cooked as evident from the pictures here. It's not about being subjective here, it is just way unacceptable and as chef owner you should accept the criticism constructively and provide leadership to the team instead of being such a low class defensive manner with a dose of inferiority complex! The chef should act honestly and professionally instead of self-proclaiming to be one, review the critical feedback and take this constructively and positively instead of defensively negative about it and thus create a bad reputation for himself...

Update: Initially 5-stars rating but downgraded to 4-stars for now. The reason - we went for the second time and this time with the whole family on a Sunday evening. Full house as expected and we had to wait for table outside. That was when we saw an empty table so we asked. The server who attended to us informed that there was a booking at 7pm. I looked at my watch and it was near 8pm. That was when he went inside to make a call and later informed us that the diner had changed to 8pm. I felt that the organisational skill and table arrangement failed here, hence we left to eat at another restaurant nearby.

For months I have seen NICE Bistronome across the street from Seventeen Mall in a row of shophouses. It's hard not to miss the burnt orange painted shop with blue & white floral tiles. Just below Doux Doux, NICE (pronounced "Nees" just like the city off French Riviera) is the latest spin-off of Chateau Dionne owned by restauranteur David Lim and Chef Andy Choy.

Price point is lower than Chateau Dionne with both a la carte & set menu, taking inspiration from both Italian and French cuisines. The restaurant setting is decidedly felt more informal, casual and relaxed despite the upscale approach on the decor.

Adopting an open kitchen concept, I could see most of the actions where a team of young chefs were busy cooking up all the orders that evening, under supervision of a senior chef.

Set menu @ RM150 is probably the best option for first timers like me ◾Focaccia with olive tapenade started our dinner. ◾Caprese Salad with bocconcini, Roma tomato, fig chutney, hazelnut crumble - love the sweetish chutney and the smaller version of burrata in bocconcini. ◾Calamari Fritti with olive and aoili tasted just like regular deep fried calamari which honestly, not much excitement. ◾Wild Mushroom risotto with Italian arborio rice & parmigiana reggiano was nice and right size with earthiness from the mushroom, saltiness & nuttiness from the parmesan + umami-richness from the truffle. Bread croutons gave the crunchy elements. ◾Aged duck breast with orange sauce, rilette and ciambotta - somehow the duck breast lacked seasoning, and the rilette stole the limelight of the main item. ◾Opera Cheese Cake - espresso, dark chocolate 70% . I had to say that I am not a fan of dessert but this cake was really good.

A la carte: ◾Soupe de Poisson RM40 - nicely plated market fish slices, Roma tomato and rouille served right in front of you before the server poured the flavourful soup into the plate. 3 pieces of french baguette topped with powdery shaved parmesan cheese. ◾NZ Lamb Saddle with herb crumble, cous cous + green pea, and pickled radish. The radish did good job to cut down the jelak-ness of the lamb.

Service rendered was friendly, warm and always with a smile by young and obviously inexperienced young servers. NICE feels like a training ground for budding chef & hospitality workers before taking...

Pros: • Good location, and you can park in the building across the road. • Nice atmosphere, really liked the open kitchen concept, and I can see the effort put into the choice of ceramics. • The staff service is acceptable.

Cons: After dining at this restaurant and reading some of the lower reviews, I have to say the criticisms are not unfounded.

The food and drinks here are expensive considering the portion sizes and quality. The dishes I ordered were mostly ‘chefs picks’ btw

I’d recommend avoiding the fritz/coolers, as none of them tasted like they were blended with real fruits. I was particularly disappointed by the basil and tomato cooler, which I expected to be something unique. Instead, it was just icy sugar water blended with basil, with one cherry tomato as decoration. They charge RM25 for this.

BURRATA | Figs: The portion is small, and the flavor is not impressive enough to be considered a “chef’s pick.”

PAN SEARED FOIE GRAS: Again, a tiny portion for the price. The foie gras was not thoroughly deveined, though the flavor was decent.

ESCARGOTS: Typical butter and herb flavor, but one of the shells was empty, so we only got 11 out of 12 pieces.

CACCIUCO: For RM42, the price seems absurd for a shallow plate of tomato fish soup. Although there were squid pieces and fish slices, the flavor resembled a watered-down version of canned tomato tuna.

BEEF SHORT RIB: The beef rib was cooked well and had a tender texture. It came with a side of french fries, which was nice. However, the flavor was nothing special. Don’t believe the menu when it says it can be shared between 2-4 people.

SOLE MEUNIERE: This was the most disastrous and disappointing dish of the night. The fish had a strong, unpleasant fishy smell and didn’t seem fresh. The cream sauce only made it more overwhelming, and we couldn’t finish the dish.

CHITARRA | TIGER PRAWN: I liked the handmade pasta and sauce, which paired well. However, the tiger prawns were mushy and not fresh, which was disappointing.

RISOTTO | SAFFRON | PARMIGIANO: The cheese flavor was noticeable, but I’m not sure about the saffron. It seemed to contribute only to the color of the risotto.

I had high expectations going into this restaurant based on the glowing reviews, but unfortunately, I won’t be returning...