New Menu at the Prime October 2012

Been threatening to give this one a shot for ages, and with someone's birthday looming a booking was made. In the end the birthday girl couldn't show but Lenglui myself and the Doc went ahead. The Doc had a RM200 voucher that needed redeeming, and wanted to try out some dishes on their recently amended menu. What to do?

Whilst the reception area was clearly undergoing major renovations, the interior of the Prime had not changed. Long legendary for some of the best steak in the city, we naturally wanted to see if it still had the mojo. The menu had indeed been updated, and the prices had evidently been revised upwards. Maybe blame the bad harvest on increasing grain prices. Inflation had clearly come to the Prime.

Lenglui opted for Angus ribeye, the Doc went for an 1824 Sirloin and I went with a different ribeye. Shared starter of green salad and a delightful Thai style beef with crispy noodle - sweet without cloying and great texture and carbo to combine with the beef proteins. Washed down with a glass of Mumm NV cold fizz, it made for a delightful ensemble.

The Prime is quite reasonable on their corkage, opting to allow no corkage on a bottle brought so long as one is bought from their list. Always a good reason to prefer one restaurant over another. We'd brought a 2005 Brunello which the Doc had brought to a previous food outing and had gone undrunk. Big berries on the nose, powerful and full fruit on the mouth, lovely tannins and great balance, a wine of flair and finesse. It paired with the steak magnificently. The steak was…. okay I suppose. We all opted for the 8oz and they were all done according to our tastes. I just wasn't blown away by them. As we always do here in Malaysia, we all tasted a bit of each others food. Again, all were good and fine and tasty but just not… mindblowing. I guess if we want mindblowing we have to buy the wagyu steak with the marble, but at triple the price it felt too much of a whack to the wallet. 

Another whack to the wallet was to come. Whilst most KL Hotels mark the car parking at a flat rate for the weekend, Hilton and Le Meridien do not. You get two hours at RM8 but each successive hour is RM5. So total carpark whack was RM18. At the Shang, max on a weekend after 7pm is RM10. Feels like quite a lot to pay for the privilege of dining at the Prime. Certainly a reason not to go back there. Coupled with the so so okay only steak, will look to retry the Dish on Tun Razak. Cheaper parking too.