Pomme Frites, Sunway Velocity Mall

A fancy French name can’t hide the fact that these are second-rate spuds.

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Situated on the fourth floor with warm bulbs dangling over a cozy, faux brick interior, Pomme Frites at first glance is a unique dining option within the Sunway Velocity Mall. An entire restaurant dedicated to the tasty tuber, standing out among the vast number of Asian eateries in the mall.

Menu

Pomme Frites offering of frites are basic baskets with a decent array of dippables. There are only a handful of free dips, with almost all the options that would pique your interest costing extra. For an additional 1RM, you can get premium dips of various aiolis, a dubious “Chef’s Surprise” (usually code for “whatever shit is leftover in the kitchen”) or peppercorn & parmesan. The peppercorn sauce came with my meal, so I can say it was an acceptable companion to my fries. There was a very strong taste of peppercorn, if that’s your thing (which it is for me), but otherwise worth the extra measly 1RM.

You can also get the Canadian delicacy poutine for 1RM more. As a Canadian, it is my duty to confirm to you that this thing on the menu is not proper poutine. But… you knew that already, right? This is Malaysia and the thing only costs an extra 1RM, what did anyone expect? Try it if you must, since I know poutine offerings are so rare in KL. Rest assured, if I find an authentic poutine that meets a Canadian standard, you will be the first to hear about it on this blog!

For a restaurant named for the fancy french word for fries, Pomme Frites’ titular frites are legit terrible. Perhaps that’s why only a leaflet-sized portion of their menu is dedicated to the versatile fruit of the Earth, while the rest is a bizarre glut of pasta dishes.

Click on menu pictures to enlarge

There must be close to forty pasta options, which is frustrating when you’re going into a place expecting french fries. Loosely holding together these two foods that have nothing in common is a small page of mussels. I guess that makes sense? You eat mussels in pasta, but mussels and fries are also a common dish? Justifying the reasoning here is as desperate as convincing yourself that you need more games during the Steam sale, when you already have a library of 900 games.

There was also a permanent evening set menu and a special temporary Ramadan set menu that were both pretty good value.

Food

If you order off their set menu, get their lemongrass & pandan drink over the standard iced lemon tea. Mark hates lemongrass, so he chose the lemon tea, but upon trying my lemongrass & pandan drink, he regretted it. The lemongrass flavour is nicely subtle, with more emphasis on the pandan and with a splash of sweetness that isn’t too much. Very refreshing.

Our starter soups were tomato and mushroom. Nothing much to say here. They were pleasantly palatable, and came with a surprise wedge of garlic bread. Both are cream based soups – even the tomato soup which the menu picture makes it look like it is stock-based. Lactose-intolerants, take note.

Mark and I ordered off their Ramadan menu. It was without a doubt the best deal in the restaurant, but we had to ask for it specifically. The same sets were on their daily set menu but were about RM5 more. Mark’s Grilled Devil’s Chicken Set (RM22.90) was nicely spicy thigh piece with the chili it’s been marinating in an obvious hit to your tongue. The taste gets a bit repetitive, and so it could’ve been improved with a sauce.

This is my Grilled Ribeye Set (RM29.90) with peppercorn and parmesan sauce and grilled vegetables. Yes, I am aware of the folly of ordering a steak in a chain restaurant. I knew it wasn’t going to be good, so I wasn’t surprised when it was laced with sinew and tough to chew through despite asking for it rare. I was in an undeterrable mood for a “fork and knife” meal, and I got what I was craving.

Now the fries. The supposed star of the meal, evidenced by its center stage location on the wooden slab, were a soggy, limp mess. I do not think they were sitting in the kitchen for a long time before arriving to us. The waitress had to ask if she could bring our meals before we had even finished our soups, but we said yes anyway. These fries were apparently fresh from the fryer but they tasted like fries that you got takeaway from a restaurant last night, and then tried to heat them up for lunch the next day but it just devolved into a plate of shit. Eating my way through them was only doable when I dipped them in the peppercorn sauce to mask their mushy texture. The fact that this restaurant can’t even get their namesake food right is embarrassing.

Saturday Worthy?

At the end of the meal, we paid a good price for two starters, two entrees and two drinks because of the special set promotion. In the cashier queue, the two women in front of us actually ordered less food than us but paid more because they ordered a la carte.

Despite the good value, it’s easy to guess that we will not be returning to any of Pomme Frites‘ locations. Though I found the food to be quite bad, this place was pretty full during our entire meal compared to some of the other restaurants in Sunway Velocity Mall. Someone is obviously enjoying the food. Who knows? Maybe the pasta is the thing to order here.

Price for 2 pax: RM58.10

Grilled Ribeye Steak set: RM29.90
Grilled Devil’s Chicken set: RM22.90
Mushroom soup: RM0.00
Tomato soup: RM0.00
Iced lemon tea: RM0.00
Iced lemongrass and pandan drink: RM0.00
Service Charge: RM5.28
Rounding: RM0.02

Pomme Frites

Lot 4-04, 4^th floor (by the Main Atrium escalator), Sunway Velocity Mall, Lingkaran SV, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
Daily, 10am – 10pm
Alcohol Served: No