Best French restaurants in KL

Chez Gaston is a casual eatery in Bangsar serving authentic French comfort food. It's by the same people behind the popular but now-closed Rendez-Vous, so you know the food is going to be good. Chef Florian and team cook up hearty dishes and create beautiful desserts, and portions are generous. 

Go for the affordable lunch menus, which act as a good introduction to casual French dining. This is where Chef Florian flexes his creative culinary muscles as the menu changes quite often, based on what's fresh or available at the time. Meanwhile, dinner is a delicious affair with 

Entier champions a nose-to-tail culinary approach, using every part of the animal (or vegetable) thus ensuring that wastage is minimal, if it occurs at all. With Executive Chef Masashi Horiuchi at the helm, the kitchen produces dishes that are sophisticated and delicious. The set menus comprises options like bouillabaisse, lamb poitrine and smoked duck pasta; while the dinner menu focuses more on pairing or sharing options comprising proteins and a selection of vegetarian dishes as well. 

Tucked away along a secluded row of shoplots in PJ’s Section 17, Bistro à Table continues to shine years after it first opened in 2011. One essential reason for its lasting popularity is its chef-founder Isadora Chai, who gained a following for such signature dishes like her Maple Syrup Coddled Egg with Fleur de Sel and Crouton Dust and desserts like Ode To Newton and the ‘Mindscrew’ sugarless pineapple roulade. Although these dishes are still on the menu, Bistro a Table thrives on exploring new ideas – the best way to sample them is by trying out the degustation menus.  

When Nathalie Arbefeuille opened her restaurant in 2010, she introduced KLites to a side of French cooking that was modern, creative and accessible. Since then, the self-taught chef has gone from strength to strength, impressing foodies and socialites alike with a menu that changes frequently, but often featuring signature dishes like lobster bisque soup, crab mille-feuille, kaya brûlée and Asian glazed duck breast.

The best time to come is during the weekend brunch (from RM85++). The four-course meal changes monthly – previous editions have featured crispy gougère with leek cream, poached egg and duck prosciutto ham; poached eggs Florentine, smoked salmon and yuzu hollandaise; and eggs Benedict with truffle. Each brunch meal comes with a basket of freshly baked bread, which is reason enough to book a table here.

Run by Jean-Michel Fraisse, formerly of La Vie En Rose, this restaurant is where vintage French cookbooks come to life. Here, you’ll find classic French dishes like duck confit, Troyes tripe sausages, beef tartare and country-style terrines – all of which are up to par with a snobby Frenchman’s standard. The cassoulet is a family’s worth of salty duck, pork belly, sausage and white beans in a ceramic vat, and the meats melt into one another while the loose broth is plumped up by duck fat. They also bring in artisanal cheeses directly from France, and those who can’t get enough can take away a selection of homemade sausages, terrines, rillettes and more to cook up a French feast of your own.  

Having worked in Paris for years, including a stint with Alain Ducasse at the Michelin three-starred Sofitel Le Parc, Chef James Won is one of the city’s most sought after chefs.

Where culinary techniques and innovation are concerned, Chef James excels in taking local dishes like laksa, lo pak ko (turnip cake) and chicken rice and elevating them to fine dining standards. Such dishes include the Hokkaido scallop cooked with prawn noodles, salted fish, mushroom gelée and laksa oil; and a modern take on the coq au vin made with organic Broga chicken, house-fermented wild Bario red wine, seasonal mushrooms and truffle fondant. The petit-Antoine a la Enfin (chocolate layer slice) is a marvelous accomplishment of technique in which a multi-layered chocolate cake is made without the use of gelatin, eggs or sugar.

From the people behind Mr Chew’s Chino Latino Bar and Troika Sky Dining comes Brasserie Fritz, which has all the trappings of an all-day Parisian restaurant: freshly baked croissants and kouign-amanns from 7am, waiters in creaseless white shirts, a long bar serving Aperol Spritzes and a menu containing classic French dishes like steak frites, beef bourguignon and duck confit.

But there’s more to this place than just being a carbon-copy of a French brasserie: have a seat at the six-seater seafood bar, where chef Steve Ariffin uses his expertise gained as Cantaloupe’s Chef de Cuisine to create a six- to eight-course omakase meal from the day’s fresh catch. A peek at the daily menu’s seafood section offers hints of what he’s capable of, like uni served with carrot mousse, rosewater jelly and caviar, and oysters with smoked duck custard and orange oil. And if you're here from 3pm to 6pm, sit down for their high tea, which offers a selection of pastries, cakes, sandwiches, and a pot of Tea Drop tea.