This modern French restaurant ranks among the city centre’s most beautiful new venues, occupying the sort of space that bolsters expectations of a exceptional experience.

1. Enfin 2. Enfin 3. Enfin 4. Enfin

Starters

Visiting for lunch, we couldn’t resist ordering a bread platter (RM22); the menu emphasises that Enfin bakes its own, relying on natural yeast and French-milled flour. The offering evokes crostini-like toasted slices, thin and crunchy, which might not placate patrons seeking fresh bread they can sink their teeth into.

This comes with three dips – pesto, eggplant, and possibly mushroom and olives (service here is well-intentioned, but not everyone on the floor is capable of explaining what’s being served) – each enjoyable, but the entire ensemble is only marginally more intriguing than the complimentary bread that welcomes customers elsewhere.

5. Enfin - bread platter

If you need a starter, a more distinctive choice might be the orange-coloured Mimolette cheese salad (RM24), a dish that echoes back to Malaysian chef-founder James Won’s original restaurant, Brasserie Enfin in Oasis Ara Damansara.

6. Enfin - Mimolette cheese salad

Duck dishes

Being devotees of duck, we had to also check out the duo of duck and chicken wings (RM28); the former is massive, comprising French free-range fowl, quinoa-crusted for a memorably crisp-textured exterior, while the latter is a lot more ordinary, prepared with a soy butter glaze that tastes mainly Oriental. Both prove punchy in flavour, though they might benefit from some sauces on the side to broaden their dynamics.

7. Enfin - duck and chicken wings

We’d probably skip the duck burger – the patty is thick but tastes only faintly like duck and feels over-processed; we may have preferred pulled duck for a real-meat chew, especially for a burger that chimes in at RM45.

8. Enfin - duck burger 9. Enfin - duck burger

Mains

For our mains: Enfin’s rendition of boeuf bourguignon features faultlessly tender meat with roasted roots – it’s well worth having for RM48, even though we’d wish for greater depth and boldness in the flavour of the sauce.

10. Enfin - boeuf bourguignon

The roast chicken and salted duck egg risotto (RM45) is competent, but fundamentally indistinguishable from what you’d find at a decent Italian restaurant in KL.

11. Enfin - roast chicken with salted duck egg risotto

Columbia Crest Winery Two Vines Merlot (Columbia Valley, Washington State, USA; 2011) at RM106 per bottle.

12. Enfin - wine 13. Enfin - wine 14. Enfin 15. Enfin

Location & Details

Enfin by James Won

Lot 2-05, Level 2, Menara Hap Seng 1, Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.

Tues-Sun, 1130am-230pm, 530pm-12am.

Tel: 010-288-7920

Find: View Enfin by James Won’s directory here