Rendez-vous: a family friendly French restaurant in Bangsar

How about French for Sunday brunch? Read our review for Rendez-vous.

A lazy and slow Sunday morning, and little to no food in the house – that calls for a brunch. A brunch that will compliment this slow morning. My 5 top brunch needs – in no particular order – would be:

• à la carte menu
• great coffee and food
• attention/great service from the staff without being overbearing
• a friendly atmosphere
• things for kids to do

There are some lovely places in KL that tick these boxes, but some popular venues attract so many people that being on a waiting list is often on the cards. I don’t know about you, but waiting for 25 minutes with hungry children on the pavement does not go well with my idea of lazy Sunday mornings.

So we headed for Rendez-Vous, a traditional French restaurant, situated in the quieter part of the surroundings of Bangsar Village, on Lorong Maarof 3. Rendez-Vous stands in the corner, decorated with bougainvilleas, cleverly hiding a “terrain de boules” – a pétanque” pit.

We parked right in front of the yellow facaded restaurant, which was another bonus, avoiding the hot and sweaty Bangsar Village car park. The restaurant is nice and airy, all sides open to let the breeze get in and out. We arrived at 12pm and left at about 3pm: now that’s what I call a brunch. It means that we didn’t speed eat, because the children were not bored out of their brains sitting at the table. We also drank our coffees hot, and managed a couple of glasses of wine too!

As soon, as we got there, Leila (7) spotted the games table and made a bee-line for it, exploring what was on offer: crayons, board games, mikado, other children playing and a friendly member of staff to play with them. We felt quite at home straight away. The staff is welcoming, and you also notice a good working atmosphere and relationship between them, contributing equally to the friendly feel of the place.

Brunch options at Rendez-vous

The brunch options are a savoury Menu Campagnard (RM89++) and a sweet option Menu Boulanger (RM59++), although both have their sweet or savoury bit. We shared them between the 4 of us and it was plenty. The portions were enough to feel nourished, but not too much to feel so full. Being French, I obviously loved the look, smell and taste of a simple good baguette, cornichons and paté, together with some caramelised onions to complement it all. My husband, the one with the sweet tooth, particularly loved the chocolate roll from the Menu Boulanger. Every course is presented in a simple way but is aesthetically pleasing to the eye, which is always a bonus in our books. It shows passion and a genuine effort to make people happy.

The Menu Boulanger first course: croissant, chocolate roll, toasted bread, honey, jam and butter:

The Menu  Campagnard first course: paté of pork, rabbit, deer. Ham, cornichons and salad:

The typical French items on the menu genuinely offer a bit of France, like the tomates provençal style, the pork rillettes and the deer paté. If you are vegetarian, you can always choose some of the options on the à la carte menu. The pastries and desserts are all divine, all you need to do is to enjoy the French music playing in the background, dunk your croissant in the coffee and relax.

The The Menu  Campagnard second course: butcher’s bbq- “assiette du boucher” – selection of grilled meat:

The Menu Boulanger second course: eggs, bacon, cheese, bread, sautéed mushrooms, tomate provençale:

I like the fact that the courses are not rushed. In France, we like to take our time being at the table, enjoying the company, the food and the moment, without being rushed out of the door. We played for a bit at the games table, alternating with throwing some boules, to the delight of my girls, in between our courses. We even had the opportunity to chat to other customers, and play with other children. I think it’s important to feel that children are welcome in restaurants, with things to do and opportunities to socialise, in the spirit of taking your time and appreciating a social occasion.

We will definitely return to Rendez-Vous. I found a corner of France there – I even caught myself singing along to some old French tunes. But equally, even if you can’t appreciate these french touches as much as I do, you will love the ambiance of a restaurant that wants to deliver quality in food and service, but at great value and in a friendly way.

Arnaud Chappert is the owner and is very hands-on. Here, Sayan (22 months old) checks he is, indeed doing a good job…

Personally I look forward to their new Thursday jazz nights, coming up from March 2016, in their bar lounge. In the meantime, you could also be tempted by their Chinese New Year or Valentine’s Specials:

We were hosted by Rendez-vous. The opinions are our own, as always!