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2014-06-06
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Food, Innovation, Quality: FIQ's Gastronomy lives up to its acronym; this cheerfully friendly cafe, which opened this month in a relatively less familiar section of Subang Jaya, looks poised to become a big, irrepressible hit.Innovation truly is FIQ's middle name: The team that toils in its open kitchen strives to present recipes that transcend regular cafe fare while still preserving suburb-suitable prices. This spinach risotto with carrot puree, crispy brined chicken & fried onions (RM22+) suc
Food, Innovation, Quality: FIQ's Gastronomy lives up to its acronym; this cheerfully friendly cafe, which opened this month in a relatively less familiar section of Subang Jaya, looks poised to become a big, irrepressible hit.
Innovation truly is FIQ's middle name: The team that toils in its open kitchen strives to present recipes that transcend regular cafe fare while still preserving suburb-suitable prices. This spinach risotto with carrot puree, crispy brined chicken & fried onions (RM22+) succeeds on both of those ambitious fronts.
Roasted potato gnocchi with mushrooms, herb-tinged walnuts & caper-raisin emulsion (RM18+ for a starter-sized serving). To be clear, FIQ's members haven't sprung out of nowhere; they've worked at various Malaysian hotels in the past, honing their craft & building their confidence to run their own restaurant.
Pasta is made from scratch here, Tuesdays through Sundays; temptations include tagliatelle with duck confit, basil-laced melted butter & veggies (RM24+). The food looks so vibrantly alluring, we wanted to order everything on the one-page menu.
FIQ's desserts feel like an addiction, not an afterthought. The best bet: S'mores (RM10+), the calorie-intensive camp-fire favourite of marshmallows, crackers, hazelnuts & gooey chocolate ganache. There are also brownies, baked alaska, raspberry granita & pumpkin bread pudding here.
We'd love to have paired this meal with a Merlot, but FIQ's isn't that sort of venue. Still, this Snickers-&-peanut-butter shake ensured there was no space for complaints. The soundtrack's fine here too, with mid-tempo John Legend, Mariah & Alicia tunes for lunchtime.
The coffee's very much worthwhile too; single-origin Ethiopian, if we correctly remember what amiable restaurant manager Shahaman said. (Correction: Our memory betrays us. It was Sumatran!)
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