DARREN Chin bustles around Bref, his new bistro, darting instructions to his kitchen staff, checking dishes about to be served, and doing some of the cooking himself. This is despite the fact he is also busy running DC, a fine dining French restaurant in the same neighbourhood in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

This classically trained Cordon Bleu chef who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, seems tireless and imbued with new energy. In fact Darren regards Bref, his Parisian-style bistro, as his new retreat, where he lets his creative juices flow. He’s relaxed though he’s constantly moving in the open kitchen.

The bistro has been filled with diners every night since it opened on August 31. I have been there three times: once for a late night preview, and twice with friends.

The best seats at Bref are at the long counter from where you can watch Darren and chef de cuisine Lim Wei Han at work and speak to them but there’s room for only nine diners. A complimentary bowl of antipasti was promptly served – in it were giant olives, piquillo peppers, pepperoncini and cooked down onions served with crusty sourdough. It’s a great start – the meltingly sweet and creamy textures of the onion jam and piquillo peppers and the piquant olives.

The torchon de foie gras a la maison was creamy and velvety, made in-house using Jean Larnaudie premium duck foie gras. It’s served with a perfumed wildflower honey from Chiangmai.  It’s pure delight with a touch of the honey oozing from a slice of honeycomb.

There was the 12-month air dried Spanish beef cecina with end bits of it turned into crema cecina. “It’s less beefy than bresaola,” said Darren. I loved the paper-thin beef with the flavours intensified in the knob of blended beef, topped with shavings of grana padano cheese.  This was when we decided to have a glass of viognier. Darren offered us a tomato from Hokkaido, so sweet it was like fruit.

We liked that we could have the DC signature cold somen with aged ponzu, Hokkaido bofun uni and roasted celeriac finished generously with king crab. We revelled in the delicate creamy uni atop the somen drizzled with lightly tart ponzu, and the luscious king crab too. At Bref this is a larger portion that could be shared.

We moved on to the giant garoupa fillet pan roasted with butter, kale and Lebanese cucumber salad. The very fresh sweet fish was so good, its sticky skin touched with buttery sauce and with layer of kale at the bottom.

In this second outing at Bref, we had a brilliant ending with Black, White, Green, a fine and fragile assembly of white chocolate ice-cream, vanilla pannacotta, charcoal and green tea meringue and macerated summer berries.

The much talked about Italian burrata, hollandaise sauce with mandarin, pickled sardine fillets and fresh basil had piqued my curiosity, and on my third visit to Bref I had a rich, mellow encounter with it. The burrata was variously mild, sweet, then a little tart, with an excellent hollandaise sauce infused with mandarin. Hybrid basil (Thai and sweet basil) imparted its sweet aromas while buttery croutons offered a contrasting texture.

The Galician octopus with saffron sabayon, triple-fried chips and balado chilli spice powder cut like butter, so tender and succulent it was. There was a lovely smoky char on it, with a bit of heat from chilli and fragrant aromas of coriander and fennel seeds. A saffron aioli and fluffy, slghtly crispy triple-fried chips completed it.

Wining is as much of an experience as dining at Bref. It has a 54-label wine list, most of it French, curated by wine director Julian Teoh. 

Sharing your food is part of the informality at Bref, so dining need not be so expensive. For instance, the torchon de foie gras is RM38, Spanish beef cecina and burrata RM35, cold somen  RM45, giant garoupa RM65, and desserts RM35 each. Our bill for the second dinner with a glass of viognier each was RM320. 

Bref is at 26 Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 1, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur. Make your bookings at bref-kl.com or call 03-773 5032.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.