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By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright October 2022
Beef fondue is not on the menu at the Orchid Room but we discovered that the staff will be happy to prepare for you upon request.
It took a senior member of the club to introduce us to this dish that we love so much but never knew was available at the Orchid Room.
One evening, Dato' Johari Abbas who is a well-known personality in the Kuala Lumpur social circle invited us to join him for dinner at the Orchid Room to entertain our mutual friend from Bali Dato' Lady Tina Shazell who was in town for the weekend.
When my wife arrived he announced, "I hope you have no serious objection if I ordered Beef Fondue bourguignon for the four of us!"
Our immediate reaction was to ask him back in surprise, "Are you sure they serve Fondue Bourguinon here, at the Orchid Room?"
He laughed, "Yes, only for those who know!"
That is quite true. In all the years we frequented Orchid Room I had never seen it on the menu.
Obviously, Dato' Johari is more informed than us. This was later confirmed by the Captain who said that this is a favourite of Dato' Jo and his close friends.
Apparently, the dish has been on the menu since the 1960s when Dato' Johari in his teens first followed his dad to the club. The old man was an Anglophile and took to liking beef fondue.
Obviously, his father had a great influence on Dato' Johari who is himself a chip off the old block and loves everything European. The years he spent in England for his tertiary education there too has shaped his liking for Western dishes, beef fondue included.
Dato' Johari said the early British officers who started the club must have been responsible for putting beef fondue on the menu. But over the years it has grown out of popularity thus it was removed from the menu.
However, the fondue pots and their accessories are still well-kept by the Orchid Room kitchen staff.
Anyway, the fondue that we had that night was excellent reminding us of similar dishes that we sampled in Europe and North America.
Dato' Johari ordered beef fillet that was carefully cut into bite-size by the chef that we later skewered on a fondue fork and dipped in the pot of boiling oil mixed with butter.
The secret is not to keep the beef too long in the hot boiling oil because it would end up being too hard or at worst burnt.
Another secret to the taste of beef fondue is the dips or sauces. Local chilli sauces out of bottles just will not be adequate or appropriate for the occasion.
We love beef fondue served with "Béarnaise" sauce so does Dato' Johari and our guests from Bali.
We are told that Bèarnaise sauce is made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks and white wine vinegar and is often flavoured with herbs and spices.
You may also enjoy the fondue with some horseradish or a tinge of mustard. For those who cannot handle English mustard, I would recommend the milder French version.
In some places where we had fondue previously Japanese wasabi was offered instead. I found that rather strong to my liking.
I am happy with horseradish and French mustard.
That night we had salad and some sauteed vegetables to complement the fondue.
But Dato' Johari had other ideas. He asked for French fries to go with the dish. But we are sure if it was ordered at some fancy restaurants in Europe to go with fondue it would drive the chef mad.
The Europeans just do not serve fondue with French fries, only Americans do.
I checked out with Chef Jo of Masterchef Malaysia about preparing your own fondue at home. He told me the dish originated from Switzerland "my home" he said because he was a Chef there for five years or so and considers it a home away from home.
Before sharing his recipe he said, "Fondue bourguignon is named after Burgundy in France but the origin of this meal is not French but from my country, Switzerland."
He recommended the following recipe that I find easy to follow and to prepare at home if you are adventurous enough.
You would need the following ingredients. 250gm of beef per person. Use sirloin steak or tenderloin. 2 sticks of butter (16 ounces); 2 cups of cooking oil; dipping sauces.
Preparing the beef. Trim off fat then cut into bite-size pieces. Then keep them refrigerated until 15 minutes before serving.
The fondue pot (purchase one at the store). Fill a fondue pot with half butter and half cooking oil. Heat the oil/butter until it reaches 360 degrees. When combining butter and oil Chef Jo recommends that you heat the butter until it bubbles and turns golden. Place the fondue pot on its stand keeping it on moderately high heat and maintain it that way till the end of the meal.
Serving the dish. Each guest sticks a cube of beef onto a fondue fork. Keep beef in the hot oil until cooked or as desired, usually 1 to 3 minutes will do. Dip the cooked beef into one of the sauces. Enjoy.
But if you find preparing the meal too tedious head to the Orchid Room and enjoy the meal at your leisure to the accompaniment of live music at the weekends.
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