What used to be Miam Miam and subsequently Franco is now rebranded as Marco with a whole new different concept. Instead of offering casual dining cuisines, it seems that Marco is now targeting shoppers who would like to pamper themselves with an exquisite fine dining session.
Passing by the restaurant, we were first intrigued by the huge aquarium, inside which there were live jellyfish! It was no doubt an unique selling point of the restaurant as it captured the attention of many curious shoppers including myself. Such magical feeling watching the jellyfishes swim across the tank with their translucent body illuminated by the luminous blue-ish lights. Nevertheless, it must be a tough job for Marco to maintain the aquarium and make sure the jellyfishes survive. Let's hope the number of these beautiful sea creatures would not start dwindling as time passes.
One fine weekday, my colleagues and I decided to try out the 7-course multi-course meal, labelled as "The Journey of Flavours" at Marco. The duration of the entire course took about 1.5 hours. Alternatively they accept ala-carte order too. But obviously the multi-course meal was more worth the price.
Marco's full menu for your reference.
The meal began with Velvety Matcha-Lime Shooter. Despite the surface, this isn't a cup of creamy green tea latte, but rather, a refreshing chilled lime snow disguised under the matcha powder. It was perfect to kickstart our appetite.
For appetiser, we were given Gruyere Flavoured Pate a Choux decorated with Aubergine Caviar, Green Chile Pesto and Tomato Confit.
Forget about the long and fancy name. It was basically a piece of baguette with eggplant cream, a little bit of pesto sauce topped with dried tomatoes lol. The topping was great, but I am personally not a fan of rock hard baguette.
For soup, 3 of us chose a different option.
My French Onion Soup was a generous serving of caramelised onions with cheese topping. It tasted just like caramelised onion which was great for me. But couldn't really finish the whole thing because it was too rich with the cheese.
Truffled Mushroom Soup was a safe choice.
Strawberry Gazpacho - a chilled COLD (shudders) soup of strawberries, garnished with dehydrated strawberries and microgreens. I had a taste of it. It was as if someone blended the whole fruit stall. Healthy and adventurous.
For entree, I had the Savoury Ice Cream Salad. Ice creams are usually sweet, but this one is salty! Surprisingly it wasn't weird but awesome! It was infused with sea salt I think? You gotta try this.
Chicken Liver Parfait. I didn't manage to try this. Not a big fan of chicken liver although I enjoy Foie Gras (both livers but textures are different).
Garden Platter was an ordinary plate of salad. Better opt for the one with ice cream.
For main, I had a rather safe dish, Salmon with Jet Black Hollandaise (squid ink sauce). Initially I was worried that they might overcook my salmon (super dread overcooked salmon cause it would lose the juicy tenderness). This one was done just right though. Taste was as good as its presentation.
Pomodoro Cream Seafood Pasta.
Squid Ink Japonica Rice. This was obviously adapted from Miam Miam's original menu.
Lastly, we ordered all 3 of the desserts. I am normally more inclined to savoury food. But this time I enjoyed every bit of their desserts served.
From the top downwards: Rapberry Decadence, Deconstructed Lemon Meringue Pie and Creme Brulee with White Chocolate Sherbet.
The course meal ended with a serving of either coffee, tea or sparkling juice.
Was it worth RM78? Yes, certainly an affordable fine dining.
Will I go back for a second visit? Maybe, if the menu is replaced with new choices. Because upon one visit, I had basically tried the entire menu minus the other 3 main course.
On a side note, we couldn't really catch the accent of the foreign waiters as he mumbled his explanation whenever each dish is served. It was quite a setback as we had to constantly check the menu on our own in order to guess/interpret whatever he said. Food aside, service wise there is room for improvement if Marco wishes to be perceived as a fine dining spot.
MARCO Creative Cuisine
Address: Lot G146, Ground Floor (Old Wing),
One Utama Shopping Centre.
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 03 - 7731 8923
Opens daily 11am - 10.30pm
