Garvy's in the Park

This is a belated throwback post back in November 2015! Yes, it was more than a year ago. I did not really recall whether I missed out to post this or I accidentally deleted this post as I was filtering to unpublish some of my older post since 2009 in order to remove details of my past personal life. Well, if it wasn't a close friend who enquired about any suggested nice place to celebrate her completion of post-graduate studies with her boyfie, I would not have realized Garvy was not in my blogroll when I tried to search for this post for her reference. Hopefully its not too late though as in the end she decided to reward herself in The Deck Gastrobar, Weil Hotel (even yours truly also haven't dine there before. I need a strong reason to do so)

Coming back to Garvy' in the Park. Situated in the vicinity of BP Lab, Jalan Kampar, the name Garvy was chosen because that's the name of the owner of BP Lab. And the restaurant here is actually divided into two area. The two photos are actually snapshots from their fine dining section... while diners like me who entered with a RM28 Groupon purchase is seated in the cafe area. Yes, just like the photo below...

Well, the cafe area is not too shabby either as the glass walls and warm lighting from the dangling bulbs. There were just two tables that night - another table also dining on the Groupon ticket. I wonder how would they survive having employed 2 French chefs and 1 French restaurant manager to spearhead the operations. It's not like there is a lot of demand for fine dining in Ipoh (probably during special occasions like anniversaries or birthday of your significant other)

Pumpkin Soup - this is probably the first time tasting aerated soup. Unlike the creamy or hearty mushroom soup nor the likes of watery tomato soup, I am captivated by the mouthfeel of  pumpkin foam from every spoon. The soup has good aerated effect that I could hardly slurp it. You won't normally experience this in other restaurants as they incorporate some fine-dining cooking technique on preparing and serving the food.

I forgot what is the name of this dish - It was some Chicken Drumstick cooked in tomato sauce. I did not get to taste it but seems like you get what you pay for right? Hmm...

I apologize for not keeping details on the food till the extent of not remembering this dish is Lamb/Beef Bourguignon. Served with quinoa and stewed vegetables, I feel the meat was like microwaved before serving. Maybe I do not know how to appreciate "fine dining" cuisine or maybe its just lackluster?

The 3 course meal comes with French Toast (The name given in the menu was Pain Perdu, I jokingly told me friend that it was loh bak gou when she commented on my FB post a year ago. I took a nibble and gosh! the bread was so hard!

My fruit crumble came in bigger portion, even as big as the main course. I do not know how to describe it but I recall a very tangy "salsa" like mixed fruit consisting of green apples, strawberries and smothered with a bit of yoghurt? I need to mix it well with the crumbles to balance out the acidity.

I ordered an ala carte Chocolate Lava Cake and it turned out quite tasty but the presentation could be improved. Will I go back again? If one day I am willing the fork out few hundred for their degustation menu, else I will not pay for half hearted food prepared and presented like the photos above. And having few hundred bucks, I think we have more options in Ipoh nowadays which may not be under the fine dining banner but could still deliver much more.