Bref by Darren Chin Turns The Executive Lunch Into Something Worth Dressing Up For

With sharp flavours and desserts by Executive Pastry Chef Nico Ooi, Bref by Darren Chin’s Executive Lunch Set makes midday meetings feel enjoyable.

Whenever possible, move the meeting out of the boardroom and into a lunch reservation. Spreadsheets behave a little better after good food anyway. And if time is tight, a shorter lunch course that still feels rewarding hits the sweet spot. That’s precisely where Bref by Darren Chin steps in with its Executive Lunch Set.

‘Bref’ translates to ‘brief’ in French, which makes sense because this is lunch designed for people with a tight schedule but still want to appreciate quality flavours. By the way, quick doesn’t mean rushed here. It just means you’ll still have enough brainpower left for your next meeting.

The lunch set opens softly with a warm bread basket and a deeply savoury dip of artichoke, spinach, roasted onion, concentrated tomato, and fromage blanc. Then comes the Grilled Pear Salad with fresh burrata, grilled pear, and roasted pumpkin seeds.

For mains, the Angus sirloin steak arrives with beef jus and pickled green peppercorn sauce, while the dry-aged European seabream leans brighter with mango curry and harissa-roasted cauliflower. If lunch is also your excuse to spoil yourself a little, the signature cold capellini goes all in with creamy abalone reduction, cured amaebi, snow crab, and bafun uni layered into every chilled bite.

Somewhere in between, the chef sends out charred Cameron Highlands pearl corn as a compliment to the table. Sweet, creamy, and savoury, we really wanted more.

Desserts, courtesy of Executive Pastry Chef Nico Ooi—the man responsible for all the desserts and pastries at DC Group of Restaurants—refuse to behave like an afterthought. There’s Musk Melon with white wine jelly and ice plant; roasted corn madeleines served with Malaysian Kelulut honey; Classic Profiteroles stacked with fresh Madagascan vanilla ice cream, poached pear, dark couverture chocolate sauce, and cacao crunch; and Citrus, a sharp, refreshing combination of orange, blood orange, yuzu espuma, citrus compote, and mandarin sorbet finished with meringue.

The Executive Lunch Set is priced at RM118, with an additional RM78++ for a three-glass wine pairing that may dramatically reduce your interest in returning to the office afterwards.

All photos courtesy of Bref by Darren Chin.