KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 20 — When I wrote about the surge in bistros opening up in the Klang Valley a few months ago, I could have swapped just about every mention of “bistro” for “steak frites”, and the story would’ve still worked. 

In fact, it probably would’ve covered an even wider range of eateries; such is the portability of the dish that it turns up in all shapes and sizes, from the classic version in all-day bistros to budget-friendly variants in cafes and even loosely inspired renditions in shawarma joints.

Beef, it would seem, is what’s for dinner. And KL is mad about steak frites.

But where do you go for something more refined — something fit for a special occasion, like my mother’s birthday?

For my money, the most refined steak frites you’ll find in KL comes from a fine-dining kitchen.

Potager, the French ode to Malaysian produce headed by chef Masashi Horiuchi, began cashing in on the new wave of steak frites at the start of the year with L’entrecôte de Potager, a casual offshoot devoted to the one dish. 

The name is a reference to the entrecôte, a term intertwined with the history of steak frites in more ways than one: first, as the cut of beef that corresponds to a boneless rib eye — entrecôte translates to “between the ribs” — and second, as the nickname of Paul Gineste de Saurs’ seminal Le Relais de Venise, which became a Paris institution by doing nothing but steak frites.

The restaurant inspired three separate groups of successors, all with “L’entrecôte” in their names in some form, and all serving steak frites the same way Le Relais de Venise did: a salad to start, then steak frites made with contre-filet (sirloin) and served with Café de Paris sauce, and a selection of desserts to finish. 

The sauce takes its name from Café de Paris in Geneva, which invented entrecôte Café de Paris in the 1930s.

L’entrecôte de Potager stays mostly true to the tradition. The three-course L’entrecôte Experience, priced at RM250 per person, starts with corn soup and a garden salad, then moves on to a Black Angus sirloin with Café de Paris-style sauce and triple-cooked tallow fries. 

Desserts are available à la carte. For those who want to splurge, there are pricier alternatives with turbot and blue lobster, as well as a T-bone for two and prime rib for three.

Much of the marketing describes the restaurant as the closest thing to a Parisian steakhouse experience in KL, but I beg to differ. 

Set within the Potager space, the dining area is roomier, sleeker and a lot more modern than what you’d classically find in Paris, swapping white tablecloths and red leather seats for a muted taupe-and-grey scheme.

The meal begins with a corn soup that’s sweet, smooth and slightly creamy, with the mouthfeel of a very light velouté and a very clean taste of corn. 

The garden salad that follows is a seasonal showcase of Potager’s produce, with lettuce, shallots, strawberries, figs and candied pumpkin seeds, plus big, crunchy croutons.

Sirloin isn’t my favourite cut — it’s a touch lean for my taste — but the best thing about steak frites in this style is that the steak doesn’t really matter. It’s just a vessel for an excellent sauce. 

Still, the cuisson of the steak was a perfect medium rare, but the sauce is the true star. 

There’s a bright punch of parsley laid atop, then the sauce itself, which is rich, creamy and strong with mustard. 

The original Café de Paris recipe calls for chicken livers, and while I’m not sure that’s the case here, it tastes like it’s been mounted with bone marrow or tallow on top of the butter, which gives it that ultra-rich mouthfeel. 

Each piece of steak is the ideal mop for the thick, unctuous substance that is this fantastic sauce.

The triple-cooked fries are fried in tallow, and they’re every bit as important as the steak, if not more so. 

Crisp, fluffy and perfectly salted, they’re bona fide addictive, and you get a colossal mountain of them. 

It was too much even for three of us, but they tasted just as good reheated the next day. Praise be for air fryers.

My mother thoroughly enjoyed her birthday, and my father and I both got to take home a good amount of brownie points together with our doggy bag of frites.

For RM250 a head, you get the feel of a fine-dining restaurant and the kitchen behind it, steak, a sauce worth its weight in gold and a mountain of fries that lasts into the next day.

It isn’t Paris, and it shouldn’t have to be. It’s the most refined steak frites I’ve found in KL — and the only thing that doesn’t say fine dining is the bill.

L’entrecôte de Potager

P11, Bamboo Hills, 

Taman Bamboo, 

Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.

Open daily, 12-3pm, 6-10pm

Tel: 012-623 3152

https://potagerkl.com/entrecotekl/

Instagram: @entrecote.kl

* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

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* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for steak frites and more.