Address: Level 5, Pavilion Damansara Heights, Pusat Bandar Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur
When Dallan Tan was young, he had a huge passion for cars. He fed and nurtured this passion by pursuing a degree in automotive engineering.
Halfway through, he realised this wasn’t his true calling in life and continuing any further would be doing himself a disservice. So he pivoted dramatically to his true love: food.
“I’ve always really loved Western food and I tried many restaurants but they were not up to my expectation. I like cooking as a hobby and I often thought than my food was better than the ones I tried.
“So I decided to learn how to cook Western food formally and work with some of the best chefs overseas,” explains the charismatic Tan.
Over the next few years, Tan worked in Singapore and Australia, building up his reputation, resume and body of work. Eventually, he returned to Malaysia and in 2006, opened his first restaurant called D Empire in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
The restaurant is spacious and has a welcoming charm.
The restaurant became so beloved that he eventually opened outlets in malls like Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.
His newest restaurant is in the swanky Pavilion Damansara Heights and pays tribute to the French and Italian fare that Tan has become so famed for.
Tan says his focus is on cooking the best food using the best ingredients.
He makes everything from scratch and pays attention to the provenance and quality of every single item that he adds to a dish.
His cooking isn’t performative; his priority is flavour above all else, which is why he only cooks to order.
Tan studied automative engineering in college but stopped halfway to work on becoming a chef.
Now that he has more outlets to his name, Tan says it is imperative that his teams are trained to deliver his exacting standards, so that consistency and quality are maintained at each of his restaurants.
“Many of my team have stayed with me for years and I also visit every outlet twice a week to check the food,” says Tan.
At D Empire, French and Italian influences run prominently. So, to start, try the Stuffed Escargots Bourguignon (RM34.90 for half a dozen).
Tan only uses premium French snails for the dish and this is served the classic way with garlic, unsalted butter and English parsley.
The escargot dish is a stand-out offering that is flawlessly executed.
This is probably one of the best renditions of escargots out there. The snails still have a buoyancy in their musculature and this textural goodness is enhanced by the buttery, garlicky sauce that is perfectly seasoned and so good that you’ll want to slurp it up by the spoonful.
Next, have a go at the Apple and Avocado Salad (RM35.90), a light medley featuring greens, apples, avocadoes, walnuts, alfafa, crumbled gorgonzola cheese and balsamic dressing.
This is a simple, refreshing course that offers a treasure trove of nature’s bounty and harvest- fresh produce interspersed with the sharp countenance of the balsamic dressing, which adds pronounced astringent notes.
Then there is the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio (RM69.90) which is made up of thinly sliced beef tenderloin served with rocket leaves, aged parmesan cheese and a pesto dressing.
Thinly sliced beef is the highlight of the flavourful carpaccio.
The beef is sublime – tender and silken with rich bovine overtures. The cheese adds a salty slant while the pesto in this amalgamation imbues the dish with an earthy, herbaceous overlay.
Perhaps one of the most indulgent dishes on the menu is the Bone Marrow (RM138.90). This decadent treat features aged beef bone marrow baked with garlic, served with caviar, rocket leaves, kalamata olives, capers and focaccia bread.
The star of this show is the bone marrow, which has been grilled to absolute perfection and retains a lovely custard-like quality with strong umami nuances pervading its heart and soul.
It’s ultra luxurious but be forewarned – the oleaginous qualities of this heart-stopper can be far too much if you’re not in need or want of something so decidedly hedonistic.
For a more substantial offering, indulge in the Spaghetti Al Cartoccio (RM55.90). This tomato-rich pasta dish is baked in foil and features garlic, basil, fresh chillies, English parsley, black olive, mixed vegetables, prawns, mussels, stone clams and squid.
The spirit of enthusiasm that runs through this dish is buoyed by the tomato sauce, which is made from scratch and features a secret ingredient: cili padi.
This feisty addition permeates throughout the sauce, which is lively, robust and very hearty. The seafood meanwhile is fresh, plump and adds lovely aquatic notes to the dish.
For more sea-faring fare, opt for the Seafood Saffron Risotto (RM58.90), which is made up of garlic, basil, English parsley, black olives, aged parmesan cheese, prawns, mussels, squid, stone clams and cream.
The saffron risotto is cooked to perfection and retains an opulent edge varnished with aquatic leanings. — D Empire
The saffron is the pervasive flavour profile in this constellation, studding the rice with a palatial sheen.
The risotto itself has been cooked to a science – each kernel is distinct and yet has a creaminess that is intoxicating.
The seafood is plentiful and very, very fresh – which is the icing on this gorgeous Italian cake.
Tan also takes great pride in his aged beef – he both dry-ages and wet-ages the beef to ensure maximum tenderness and flavour and offers a wide range of predominantly Australian beef cuts for every predilection.
The restaurant focuses on ageing beef, which enhances the flavour and texture of the animal.
Of what’s on offer, look at trying his premium Dry-Aged Angus Roast Beef (RM1,388 for a minimum of 2kg).
The beef has to be pre-ordered a day in advance and makes use of Australian grain-fed, antibiotic-free premium beef.
The beef is sublime – malleable, melt-in-the-mouth tender and juicy at its core. This is paired with Tan’s black pepper sauce (in his words, “the best in town”) that lives up to its reputation.
Tan ages all the premium beef in order to ensure the flavour and texture profile of the cattle is fully realised. — D Empire
The sauce is thick and riddled with black pepper in what proves to be the perfect sidekick to the beef.
End your meal with something sweet in the form of the Hazelnut Truffle (RM23.90). The dish features a chocolate ganache tart with a digestive biscuit base, truffle and double cream with a hazelnut and vanilla ice-cream.
The tart is phenomenally good – rich and silky with a firm base and whispers of hazelnut etched into the ice-cream.
The hazelnut truffle is rich and indulgent and makes for the perfect denouement to a meal here. — Photos: D Empire
Tan is clearly very, very good at crafting food with flavour at its heart. Every single dish he churns out bears all the hallmarks of indulgent comfort food made by someone whose passion shines through.
So what’s next for the enterprising Tan? Another restaurant in the works perhaps?
Well, not anytime soon.
“I cook everything to order and don’t take shortcuts. That’s why it’s difficult for me to open more outlets because I need more manpower and it’s hard to find staff these days,” says Tan.
