These are my top favourites out of your list:

Frangipani - great food with fusion elements
25 Cangkat Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) - 2144 3001
Lafite (French) - new chef (Damon) just arrived a few weeks back and introduced molecular gastronomy; think Ferran Adria (although Adria takes it further)
Lobby level, Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur, 11 Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) - 2074 3900
Cilantro Restaurant & Wine Bar (French) - great food but IIRC it is still closed for renovation, maybe it has reopened?
Micasa Kuala Lumpur, 368B Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) - 2179 8000 ext-101


These are pretty good but a tier below my top 3 above in my experience:

Chalet
Hotel Equatorial, Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) - 2162 7777
Villa Danieli (Italian)
Sheraton Imperial, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) - 2717 9922


This one is ok-only... maybe I went there too often for business lunches already:

Pacifica Grill
Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, KLCC, 50088 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) - 2380 8888


And I didn't like the food here:

Third Floor
Level 3, JW Marriott Hotel, Jalan Bukit Bintang
Tel: (603) - 2715 9000
Le Bouchon
14-16, Cangkat Bukit Bintang 55200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) - 2142 7633


Other places you may want to consider for a romantic ambience:
1. Tamarind Springs - Ampang
- IndoChinese food

2. Ma Maison - Ampang
- Very home-like feel to this French place. Cash only

This post has been edited by Traveler: Aug 1 2008, 03:43 PM

Hehe, I flew my gf to Singapore (surprise weekend trip; she only knew destination when we checked in for flight) and we had dinner at Forlino's at One Fullerton. Unfortunately food wasn't great. Ok only.

In KL/PJ, my top choices for fine dining are:

Japanese: Zipangu (Shangri-La), Hajime, Fukuya, Iketeru (KL Hilton)
French: Lafite (Shangri-La), Frangipani, Chalet (Equatorial), Ma Maison
Italian: Villa Danieli (Imperial), Nerovivo, "S-something" - can't remember exact name (on Jalan Yap Kwan Seng), that Italian place in Bangsar Village area (forgot name)
South African: Out of Africa (PJ)
Chinese: Chyna (KL Hilton), the Chinese restaurant in Mandarin Oriental (is it Hai Tien Lo?)
Indian: A Passage Through India
Noodles: Nudle Bar (KL Hilton)
Steaks: Prime (Le Meridien)
Others: Shook!

Not fine dining, but food is delicious:
Thai/Pattani: Vicchuda (Kota Damansara), Sri Viangmai (near Jalan Alor)
Steaks: Jake's (Damansara)
Japanese: Momotalo (Yakiniku style, Desa Sri Hartamas), Sugimoto (Bangsar, Desa Sri Hartamas)
Korean BBQ: this Korean restaurant on 1st floor (walk up stairs) facing Bangsar Village - forgot the name
Indonesian: House of Sundanese (KLCC)

Great ambience but food is so-so:
Indo-Chinese: Tamarind Spring

Last time I went there was on a dinner date for 2, total cost RM600 incl a nice bottle of wine. Lucky I had a 50% discount card...so ended up only RM300.

My pick would be Frangipani. More of a fine dining ambience, good wines. Delicious food.

Assuming you are not ordering wine (wines can easily double, triple or quadruple your cost depending on how much you want to spend):

My preference would be (all food below is nice, at least in my view)

1st tier:
Lafite - innovative molecular gastronomy, try the tasting menu - Chef Damien is gooooood, and funny guy too, one of the better wine selections
Frangipani - delicious French food, if you like cheeses, make sure you try the Bruscchio (a Corsican lamb cheese, with a slight lemony flavour) - I have a strong dislike for cheese yet I loved this one!
Sage - food is nice, but selection not as wide. Wine selection good but not as wide as Lafite's.

2nd tier:
Cafe Cafe - romantic ambience, not so easy to find parking, food quite nice - my ex-gf took me there for my birthday and I really appreciated it
Sasa Rosso (I think that's the name - near Jalan Yap Kwan Seng) - Italian food, nice place, I think less than RM300.
Fukuya - Japanese - behind Wisma Time on Jalan Tun Razak, very cool ambience, though not as romantic as Cafe Cafe, Lafite or Frangipani.


Have fun

Fisherman's Cove is very nice. Ate there a few times. Good tasty food and nice ambience, especially if you are seated upstairs.

That may be so.. but I would still consider fine dining to be the prim & proper places like Lafite, Frangipani, etc.. Chinese food is also fine if it's places like Chyna, Shang Palace, etc.. but decor and ambience must be of a minimum standard la. I would say if the food/ambience can't match a bottle of Lafite-Rothschild, Margaux, or d'Yquem, then it's not fine dining.

Places like kopitiams and all that.. aren't fine dining.. but maybe tasty dining instead

Fine dining is not always tasty, and tasty dining is not always fine.

I prefer Damon to Kevin. Didn't enjoy Kevin's cooking as much, but Damon's was a breath of fresh air. Damon seems like a pretty funny guy. He told me to let him know next time I go to Lafite, so he will prepare something different instead of the same old things in the tasting menu. Made me want to book el Bulli but was put off by the 3-year long waiting list. Went to Bacchus in London instead, where a former student of Ferran Adria was plying his trade. Nice decent meal, but fine dining Bacchus closed down early this year and turned into a pub.

So what are your favourite fine dining restaurants that you've tried (worldwide, not just in Malaysia)?
Mine are (number of Michelin stars that I know of; may be out of date):
KL - Frangipani, Lafite, Zipangu, Iketeru
Hong Kong - Zuma, Pierre (1)
London - Galvin at Windows, Fifteen, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (3), Gordon Ramsay @ Claridges (1), Marcus Waering @ the Berkeley (2), Bluebird, Aubergine (1), Zuma, Nobu (1), Chez Bruce (1), Assagi (1)
Pauillac - Cordeillan-Bages (2)
Vienna - Vincent, Steirereck (1), Fadinger
Prague - Pravda, and another whose name I can't remember (located in the basement, near Wenceslas Square)
Brno - Brabander

It was a while back, but dinner for 2 with a bottle of premium bordeaux + a glass of sauternes for dessert was about RM1.5k or so.

At RM11k, it wouldn't be the food. It would be the wine. Probably a Lafite/Latour/Margaux/Mouton Rothschild which is easily RM3-6k for an average bottle. Maybe they opened 2 bottles or 1 more expensive bottle.

Well I kinda like Damon's style.. a bit of molecular gastronomy.. haven't seen it anywhere else in Malaysia. Was introduced to the concept when I saw Anthony Bourdain do his show on Ferran Adria's El Bulli, and managed to snag a taste from a former student of Adria's at Bacchus in London (restaurant has since closed). Lucky for me Damon is here in KL at Lafite.