★ Zén

Zén took over the white house on Bukit Pasoh Rd after Chef Andre closed his then 2-Michelin starred restaurant and relocated out of Singapore. For me it has been a decade since I last dined inside this building – I recently dropped by Zen to grab their covid period takeout waffles a few months ago~

Back in 2019, we missed the chance to visit Chef Björn Frantzén‘s Michelin-starred eponymous restaurant in Stockholm, we even took a photo of the restaurant door when we happened to pass by it. We said to ourselves – we could still try their outpost helmed by Executive Chef Tristin Farmer back in Singapore. Instead we visited The Flying Elk – then still operating under the Frantzén Group but was subsequently sold in August 2019.

Two+ years later, we were certainly excited to try out Frantzen‘s first Asia outpost (opened in 2018), hoping to relieve the unique flavours we enjoyed in fine dining restaurants in Scandinavia region.

Once you enter the “house”, guests would be lounging in the foyer area to enjoy snacks, canapes and pre-dinner drinks. Here we were presented with Blini Aburi Chutoro & N25 caviar, ‘Råraka’ Kalix Löjrom and Croustade Lobster, artichoke & sancho pepper. Each of them deserves a special mention for their exquisiteness.

For the caviar connoisseur, the N25 which also originates in high-altitude farms in Yunnan, China (on the 25° north latitude) and aged in Germany is known for its unique nutty & floral aroma, packed with reminiscence of ocean umami. The buttery and rich caviar was well paired with the fatty chutoro.

Not wanting to let the caviar take centre stage, the next snack featured the Kalix löjrom (“Caviar of Kalix”) which is the king of Swedish caviars. Rårakor (or Råraka) is a classic Swedish dish similar to Swiss Rösti but the Swedish often eat the potato cakes with caviar roes – served on a plate. The version at Zén had the finely shaved potatoes delicately rolled up and plated into a pretty bite sized snack. What a wonderful feast both for our visual and palate sensors~

Last snack of croustade had crispy light crust, with chewy lobster meat topped with a tinge of citrusy peppery taste. I was absolutely stoked by the trio of snacks! So looking forward to the rest of the evening~

After finishing the snacks, we were invited to the kitchen counter and introduced to the fresh ingredients displayed. This would be a sneak preview of what would be served later. It certainly whetted my appetite.

During which, while listening to the staff’s briefing, we were presented with Gunkan Chevreuil & elderberry and Kombu beignet truffle, nutmeg. The former, had cheveuil aged in beeswax and served as tartare, grilled unagi, topped with apple pearls. On the right was the decadent foie gras parfait filled doughnut, which was also sold as a takeaway during the covid lockdown – but I didn’t managed to try it till now.

After finishing our snacks, we went up a short flight of stairs to the main dining room for the proper dishes. The lighting was a tad too dark for photo taking as the main light source was a candle on our table. So pardon the poor image quality…

We started with a refreshing Crudo: Aged shima aji, heirloom tomato, arabica coffee, ikura, bergamot. This was pretty typical of what we anticipated from Scandinavian cooking. Aging the firm and fatty shima aji supposedly brings out a better flavour profile.  

From one classic cold appetizer, we moved on to another classic dish. However this took me by surprise as it was a Chawanmushi tokubushi (baby abalone), cauliflower & hojicha dashi, horseradish, Bafun Uni – an elegant dish which was warm and comforting. The custard was made using Hokkaido milk infused with katsuobushi. The tokobushi was braised in ginger dashi and grilled over binchotan. I almost thought that I was in a Japanese restaurant.  

Scallop garum, dehydrated roe, pumpkin hot sauce, finger lime, spruce. Garum is a relatively new condiment to me but it’s presence was increasingly felt in fine-dining restaurants. This fermented fish sauce had its origins back to Roman times and its recent revival was attributed to one of the World’s most influential restaurant – Noma. The garum used here is made from the skirt of the scallop – making full use of the ingredient to minimise food wastage. Garum is said to be able to amplify the natural flavor of the meat, which in this case was the hand-dived scallop from Scotland. The other interesting ingredient was the finger lime. Finger limes are a citrus fruit native to Australia – I last heard of it when dining in Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Sydney. However I saw the ingredient in its original form for the first time here at Zen as the staff plated this dish at the tableside (as well as at the ingredients box presentation earlier). When cut opened, the core comprises of tiny caviar-like spheres (like tobiko), the colour depends on the varieties yellowish-green to pink. This dish had an amalgamation of flavours and textures all packed within each bite.

If one had been to the Scandinavian region, you would probably realised that they are obsessed with Liquorice! It’s everywhere in the Nordics! This velouté of Onion, almond & liquorice is a Frantzén signature which was on the menu at the OG restaurant since 2008. I personally felt that liquorice has an acquired taste…I certainly didn’t like liquorice candy…hence I was initially apprehensive about having this. However I found this soup very palatable, as the liquorice was really subtle. They used Raw organic liquorice from liquorice roots from Lakrids by Bulow. In fact after you drink the soup, the flavours slowly unravels on your palate layer by layer – from the initial sweetness of the onion, to the nuttiness of almond and finishing with earthy undertones of the liquorice.

Having spotted the bottled of 2012 Arbois Vin Jaune during the ingredients showcase and was looking forward to the dish that would be prepared using it. This yellow wine is known as King of the Wines and must be aged a minimum of six years. I last had a fish dish prepared with Vin Jaune at the Orient Express Restaurant pop-up and was pretty impressed by it. Excited to taste it this time served as Monkfish white truffle, Vin Jaune, sprouted walnut.

The second protein dish was Aged duck quince & pine nut ‘polenta’, shiitake, foie gras, sauce vierge. The Challandais duck was aged in-house for 4 weeks, glazed with orange blossom honey, Ceylon cinnamon & fennel seed; then grilled and slowly baked. Served with the sauce vierge which is a French sauce made from olive oil, lemon juice, chopped tomato and chopped basil.

To round up the main course, we were presented with a variation of Frantzén‘s iconic French Toast. Instead of freshly grated truffles sitting on top, it was replaced with a double marinated Black Angus bresaola. French toast double marinated beef, unagi, foie gras, parsley & Japanese mustard emulsion.

During covid lockdown when the restaurant could not open for dine-in, they sold “limited period” waffle sandwiches for takeaway at $20 a piece. I managed to taste them on the very last (or 2nd last day) of them selling it. The heart-shaped Swedish waffles which were thin and crispy were fabulous! So I was eager to try it again, this time round not in sandwich style.

For the dine-in version, we had the Tea, milk & honey yuba, pumpkin seed, lavender honey, banana & jasmine waffle. The tea is jasmine pearl tea named because the tea leaves are rolled into pearl shape and infused with the aroma of jasmine flowers. Similarly for the honey they did not use any ordinary honey but a mikan honey from Kyoto.

After finishing the ice cream and waffle, we moved up to the top floor of the restaurant “Living Room” for the finale.

Here we were presented with an array of snacks along with fresh fruits from Japan.

(first row from top) Mont blanc rum & raisin, foie gras & white truffle, Sable Breton Blueberry, pepper meringue & brown cheese.

(second row) Chocolate liquorice, 100 years old balsamic vinegar added to chewy beetroot with artic raspberry, Macaron Hoshigaki & mikan, Fudge Black garlic & liquorice, Jello Yuzu, fennel & batak pepper.

(picture on right) Cucumber & shiso sorbet, spruce jelly, blackcurrent leaf oil, hanaho and Muskmelon & Manzanilla, Wakayama Gaki (persimmon) & chamomile, Amaou Strawberry & pinecone

The 3-hour long dinner had well-portioned dishes (note: for a female eater) and was well-paced. I managed to finish everything. We had a drinks pairing and a non-alcoholic pairing, if you are interested in the details of the drinks here it is:

Drinks Pairing

Apple Eric Bordelet, Sydre Argellette 2017 Normandy

Tamasakae Schichi Hon Yari Kokoku 2018 Shiga

Gruner Veltliner Nikolaihof Im Wingebirge Baumpresse 2013 Wachau

Kitanishiki Tamagawa & Zen Time Machine 88 Kyoto

Chardonnay Jobard-Morey Meursault 1er Cru 2018 Beaune

Pinot Meunier Roger Coulon Coteaux Champenois 2018 Champagne

Merlot Radikon Merlot 2006 Fruili-Venizia-Guilia

Moscato Di Asti Ca’dGal Vite Vecchia 2014 Piemonte

Non-Alcoholic Pairing

Koji Rice Kamairi Heirloom Tomato Muskmelon

Toasted Red Rice Toasted Red Rice Buckwheat-Orange caramel Tamarind

Kombucha French Rose Da Hong Pao Oolong Dian Hong Black

Raisin Mushroom Tea Brown Butter

Barley Roasted Cauliflower Chiku Hoshigaki

Raspberry & Tomato Redcurrant Omija-cha Kinome

Carrot Purple Carrot Smoked maple syrup

Coconut Rhubarb Banana Elderflower

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• ★ Jaan By Kirk Westaway
• ☆ Mirazur at Mandala Club (Pop-up in Singapore)
• ★ Braci
• ★ Nouri

Humpback

Humpback opened quite a while back but when we passed by they were bustling with crowd and the place seemed packed. Was looking for a place for drink with a few sharing plates when the place popped up in my mind. So here we are gulping down fresh, plump and juicy oysters from America with our cocktails – Watermelon Sangria and Firedancer. Tried 3 types of oysters: hama hama, blue pool and eld inlet. Trying them together allowed us to make immediate comparison and it was clear that my favorite was the hama hama, followed by eld inlet.

The lighting condition was not ideal for photo-taking…hence the photos taken using my mobile phone were quite unflattering…

Honestly the oysters and cocktails were the highlight of the meal. The other dishes we tried were nice but nothing worth shouting for.

We tried several seafood items including Sea urchin cauliflower puree, chives, brioche Hamachi ceviche tiger’s milk, sweet potato, horseradish Savoury clams fregola, pork belly, clam broth and Lobster roll fish roe, yellow frisee, fries.

Amongst which, the more notable dish was the Lobster roll. However at $39, it seemed rather pricey for the size.

Nonetheless if you are looking for a place with great oysters and cocktails, Humpback will make a good choice.

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BOCA [Relocated]

After trying fabulous Portuguese food in Macau, we were confident that Portuguese food suits our taste bud perfectly. Decided to visit BOCA to try our their dishes.

Started with Sangria Espumante and Sangria Branco difference being first was mixed with sparkling wine and the second is with white wine. The other ingredients used for the cocktail are the same: brandy, elderflower, mint leaves, orange, lemon, lime, peach, star anise, apple juice and ginger ale.

First starter was Clams “Bolhão Pato” Clams, garlic, coriander, white wine, extra virgin olive oil. The dish by itself was a tad too salty but it goes well with the crispy bread soaking up the savoury gravy. Octopus salad Octopus, onions, capsicum, cilantro, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar was next. We had a similar dish in Macau and was mersmerised by the tangy sauce with the chewy octopus. The version here reminds me of ceviche but served with octopus instead of fish.

The dish that impressed us most was the Shrimp “porridge” Bread “porridge” with shrimp, extra virgin olive oil, fish stock, coriander. The “porridge” was packed with richness of the fish stock used to make the broth.  The shrimp was crunchy and provided added texture to the mushy bread bits in the dish.

We wanted to end our meal with Portuguese Egg Tarts but was told that it was sold out as they were baked in limited quantities each day. Nonetheless we managed to get our hands on them on another day. It was slight different from the Lord Stow’s one in Macau but tasted more like a baked Creme Brulee.

[Update in May 2017]

BOCA has relocated to 8 Ann Siang Hill Singapore 069788.

Other Related Posts:

• Hashi Japanese Restaurant
• Oso Ristorante
• Eight Cafe & Bar
• Restaurant Andre

The Clan Restaurant [Relocated]

Have long heard about The Clan Restaurant, received their flyer when they first opened. What took me so long before visiting them? Perhaps that fact that its housed in the GAN clan association building made this place seemed rather exclusive, along with their simplistic black & white signage which made them feel rather “cold”. Actually I literally felt cold when inside the restaurant as we were seated right opposite the aircon unit right in the path of the draft. Didn’t request for table change as we went in without reservation, the service staff initially told us that they are fully booked but then allowed us to be seated.

Due to the coldness of the draft, I requested for warm water but was advised that the water cost $2.50 and would be more worthy to get the bottled still water which can be served at room temperature that cost $8. I forgot that since the still water has been in the cold aircon room, the room temperature water turned out rather cool…

Was served palate cleanser – lime sorbet very promptly. We took our time to browse through the ala carte menu and the service staff was quick to remind us to finish up the sorbet before it melts.

We settled for the Cepes Mushroom w Truffle Paste and Tempura Espuma Soft Shell Crab w Homemade Citrus Sauce. The soup was rich & creamy, pretty standard of good quality restaurants. Enjoyed the fritter-liked crispy espuma soft shell crab.  

The highlight of our meal had to be the Prime Beef Short Ribs on Hoba Leaf w Peppercorn Sauce on Lava Stone. The ultra tender pinkish marbled beef was heavenly and I’ll order it again in a heartbeat when I’m back next time.

Green Lobster Crustacean Oil Pasta was the other main that we tried. Service staff was attentive to inform us that they’ll be using fettuccine and not spaghetti for the dish. The lightly seasoned dish brought out the freshness of the lobster meat.  

Ended our meal with Chocolate Lava w Homemade Gelato as recommended by the staff. The lava cake was nice and the relatively small portion allowed us to enjoy the dessert without feeling too overwhelmed by the rich chocolate filling. 

Serving of food was pretty fast and we completed our meal in 45 mins. The odd thing was the dining hall at Level 1 was still relatively empty at 7.15pm when we left, maybe most of the guests are coming in later? We however saw larger group of guests ushered to the 2nd level.

As we were seated near the kitchen, there was a lot of activity – with the staff moving around to collect the dishes. I would have enjoyed my meal more if the aircon was not blowing at me, don’t feel rushed to quickly finish our meal and at an area which is further away from the kitchen.

We went for ala carte as we weren’t exactly hungry. But do go for the 6-course set dinner which is definitely more worthy as its quite reasonably priced and provides for a fuller meal.

[Updates on Jul 15]

The Clan has relocated to No.1 Selegie Road, PoMo #02-01/08 Singapore 188306

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Majestic Restaurant

I’ve been wanting to try Majestic Restaurant for some time but somehow was under wrong the impression that they don’t serve set lunch on weekends. Chanced upon their website again recently and saw that the set lunch was available on Sundays as well, so we went to try it out.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, we saw that there was another set lunch promotion under Citibank credit card at $68 per person (min 2 persons). We settled for the 5-course menu with credit card promo.

Starter was a combination of lychee siew mai and sliced peking duck with mixed fruits salad.  The outer layer of the siew mai was coated with a thin batter and stir-fried (akin to sweet & sour pork) with refreshing taste of lychee. The peking duck was crispy and even had a crackling sound when I took a bite.

There were 2 choices for soup: braised majestic claypot shark’s fin soup with crabmeat and double-boiled sea treasures soup with abalone and black truffle. The double-boiled soup was light and filled with nutritious Chinese herbs.

For the third course the options were pan seared ribeye in homemade sesame dressing and grilled hungary mangalitza pork chop with truffle salt. The thinly sliced pan seared ribeye was ultra tender and juicy. I swear that my eyes lit up in amazement after my first chew. It was absolutely fantastic. The pork chop was also pretty tender but nothing beats the ribeye.

After the delightful ribeye, I bore high hopes for the stewed boston lobster noodles with ginger and spring onions. Unfortunately this dish was a slight disappointment. I felt that the noodles were too gluey and starchy.

For desserts we were allowed to choose any item from the dessert list, so we ordered a cold item: crispy durian ice-cream and a warm item: double-boiled tian shan snow fruit with dried longan and snow fungus.

The crispy durian ice-cream was awesome. The durian ice cream was dipped and covered with a light batter (similar to those used for banana fritter) and fried. The exterior was crispy and hot while the interior was the cold durian ice cream. The warm dessert was pretty standard.

Overall this was a really unique modern-Chinese restaurant offering quality food.

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Roosevelt’s Cafe [Closed]

Had brunch at Roosevelt’s Cafe housed within Dorsett Residences, located right next to the exit of Outram Park NEL station.

Tried the Eggs Royale – Poached egg, smoked salmon, hollandaise, English muffin and Spaghetti Marinara. I find the hollandaise slightly bland but the egg was huge and flowy  yolk was thoroughly soaked up by the english muffin once it was cut.

The marinara was ordinary, nothing to shout about.

The place is a bistro cafe & bar. So they also offer beers and cocktails at the place.

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Hashi Japanese Restaurant [Closed]

Hashi Japanese Restaurant opened recently at Bukit Pasoh road taking over the shophouse formerly occupied by Absinthe (shifted to Boat Quay) as they are all under the management of the same group. I’ve read some reviews about this place that serves up Kaiseki cuisines but hesitated due to its pricing starting at $98 for five courses. I know its probably quite reasonable for Kaiseki meal but being a new establishment I would prefer to wait-and-see.

Had the chance to visit them when they participated in Restaurant Week Singapore (7 – 13 Oct 13) with the option of $55++ per pax dinner menu. In fact I took the opportunity during RW to visit a few other restaurants on my radar to try their food. One of the key purpose of RW is to let diners enjoy a meal at discounted price and if the food was good the restaurants get to expand their clientele and lure diners to return for future visits.

Ordered a bottle of Junmai Ginjo IWAI sake for our meal, loved the colourful print on the bottle. The RW menu had Appetizer – Cold Soba and mixed salad with Yuzu dressing and 3 Kinds of Seasonal Sashimi comprising of Scallops, Tuna and Aji.

Sashimi Bento Box divided into 4 sections:

(1) Japanese cucumber and wakame seaweed with vinaigrette sauce, Boiled marinated spinach, Japanese style steamed duck breast and White fish Kara-age -Nice side dishes especially the vinaigrette sauce with chewy seaweed.
(2) Mixed Tempura Prawn and 3 kinds of vegetables – Freshly fried and lightly battered.
(3) Japanese slow cooked white radish with choice of Beef cheek or Pork belly – We tried both, 1 preferred the tender braised beef while another enjoyed the soft pork belly. So conclusion was both were equally good.
(4) Japanese Hokkaido steamed rice with pickles

Ending our meal with Miso Soup and Japanese Dessert direct from a 5th generation shop in Shizuoka – sake flavoured cake and chestnut with red bean paste.

To me this meal probably justify the dining star which cost $20 more for their RW dinner menu (restaurants without dining star cost $35++ for dinner) as the chef had prepared a number of small bite items from appetizers to dishes filling the Bento Box.

The environment was clean and zen-like, with seats well spaced out. We had a small glitch when the kitchen forgot about our bento box and we waited quite a while for it, other than that the service was pretty attentive.

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Oso Ristorante

Its the start of Restaurant Week in Singapore (7 Oct to 14 Oct 12) where participating restaurants offer discounted set lunch/dinner. The downside is the reservations are extremely hard to make. Initially I didn’t even make an attempt to make any booking this year (cos my shortlisted restaurants were snapped up even during the pre-reservation booking period for Amex card users last year). This year, I only made an half-hearted attempt after a colleague updated me that additional slots were released for some of the restaurants.

Oso Ristorante was one of those who had slots available for dinner. We wanted to visit Oso Ristorante a few months ago while strolling around Bukit Pasoh area. The place was packed on the balcony, filled with many expatriate looking foreigners enjoying their drinks. However we didn’t make the visit as I felt that the pricing was kinda steep for an establishment like Oso…

Since they were participating in Restaurant Week, I didn’t mind giving their $55++ 3-course set dinner a try.

Housed in a conservation shophouse, the 1st storey was a hip lounge area, while the dining area is on the 2nd storey. The set dinner served on Restaurant Week was as follows:

• Warm cauliflower timbale with avruga herring caviar in dill dressing sauce – For some unknown reason, the dill dressing were missing on ours. I only realised when we saw others had a lump of white paste on top of the Avruga Caviar… Maybe having the dill dressing will make the avruga taste more palatable…
• A shooter of hot seafood cioppino bisque soup with grated orange skin – I believe it had a dash of truffle oil in it. Acceptable but nothing great.
• Homemade “tagliatelle” pasta with light “Taleggio” cheese fondue with baby peach in white truffle flavor – From the textur of the pasta, can tell that it is definitely tasted homemade (not those commercially packed kind), nice cheese sauce but slightly gelard. Good that they served it in a small portion.
• Braised Wagyu beef cheek in Barolo red wine served with lemon mash potato – A bit similar to Beef Bourguignon. The braised beef cheek was soft and melts in your mouth. We ordered a glass of Barolo and Bourgogne to pair with this dish.
• 70% dark chocolate and almond timbale “bonnet” – Nice presentation, the choc & almond were made into somewhat like pudding texture. Good pairing.

Overall I felt that Oso Ristorante fell below my expectations in terms of food. Not sure if they were constrained by the lower budget of Restaurant Week menu…but even so, the quality of execution wasn’t exceptional. I enjoyed the wine more than the food…

The decor of the place gave me a very “heavy” and gloomy feeling. Service was good though, the staff were polite and welcoming.

I’m very sure there are much better Italian restaurants in Singapore.

Other related posts:

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Eight Cafe & Bar

Eight Cafe & Bar is a cozy eatery located in one of the shophouses in Bukit Pasoh. Their eclectic decor is what attracted me to visit them. In fact I first noticed their mini beer garden at the back of the shophouse while walking along the Duxton Plain Park.

Other than ala carte menu, they offer 2-course or 3-course lunch/dinner. Here’s what I had:

• Mushroom Soup – thick and creamy
• Foie Gras with Tiger Prawns – (This is a daily special written on their chalkboard) Foie Gras wasn’t the best quality, but I liked the sauce on the tiger prawns
• Beef Steak – done to our order of medium rare, soft & creamy mash potato
• Creme Brulee – portion was just nice for me to end my dinner, desser was smooth and well-made.

We also found an interesting device on the table to keep us entertained while waiting for our food. Its an astrology reading toy. After inserting a $1 coin into your star sign, you pull a lever by the side and the top of the device lights up while spinning. Your astrology reading will drop out from the bottom.

This place is one of the surprise mid-range cafe around Duxton area (which is beginning to filled with many eateries opened by ex-Michelin chefs). And there is no service charge and GST.

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★ Restaurant Andre [Closed]

2011 has been a year filled with gastronomic adventures for me. Restaurant Andre is the 4th restaurant I indulged myself in, from the San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant 2011 list.

Being an extremely new establishment (opened in Oct 2010), it was a magnificent feat for Chef Andre’s own restaurant to be ranked #100 within such short period of time. It was ranked #2 in Miele Guide 2011/2012, behind Singapore’s top restaurant – Iggy’s. It wasn’t surprising that Restaurant Andre is so well-liked since prior to starting on his own, Chef Andre had already established himself as a reknown chef while helming at Jaan par André.

Restaurant Andre is located in a shophouse at Bukit Pasoh. There was no menu at Restaurant Andre, they only serve degustation meal designed by Chef based on the theme “Octaphilosophy”. The 8-course meal ($288) were based on eight elements, each inspired by Chef’s experience in his culinary journey. They were: Pure, Salt, Artisan, South, Texture, Unique, Memory and Terrior.

We started the dinner with a set of snacks. Andre’s version of “Fish & Chips” laid in a garden of “soil”. I absolutely loved the “soil” as its made of Chocolate and Fried Garlic. I never thought these 2 ingredients could ever be cooked together!!!

Another snack that impressed me was the presentation of “Fish Tartare“, with the mini clothes peg used to secure the paper wrapping them.

Next we moved into the dinner proper starting with the element “PURE“.  The presentation of the dish could easily pass off as a Japanese fine art. Light and Elegant. The Scallop Ravioli wrapped around Japanese Chive, served in Purple Cauliflower Consomme looked just like a serene painting.

“SALT” is a dish without any additional seasoning. Chef intended to present the ingredients in their natural taste. On the left was Oyster with Jelly covered in a layer of  Seaweed topped with Umibudou. On the right was Granny Smith Apple Foam. Surprisingly I don’t find the granny smith apple sour nor acidic at all. In fact I thought it had a tinged of sweetness which brought out the saltiness of the sea water jelly and balanced the taste of the oyster well. I loved the feeling of Umibudou seaweed popping in my mouth. =)

The next element was “ARTISAN” and to reflect the element, the plate used to present the dish was handmade by Chef Andre. Amazingly, I ate the eggplant!!! (something which I dun like but forgot to tell them). The eggplant was supposed to absorbe the collagen from the duck tongue on top. I particularly enjoyed the deep fried crispy root vegetable on the right.

“SOUTH” was a 2-part dish inspired by Chef’s 12 years of stay in South of France. On the left was flounder fish with tomatoes and permisson sorbet; and on the right was Sea Urchin Risotto topped with assortment of seafood. Excellent dish as I’m a huge Seafood Lover!!!

“TEXTURE” was a playful dish, playing mind games with the guests. The simple-looking yet complex-tasting dish was presented on a longish textured black slate. The server explained that this dish was Squid with Rice but after serving the dish, the server invited diners to make a guess on which portion was the Squid and which portion was the Rice. Any discerning diner would eventually tell that the white “rice-looking” risotto  was finely chopped squid while the black looking portion was rice cracker. After finishing the dish the server then asked diners for their answers. While I was pretty close with the answer that squid was cooked with cheese and cauliflower puree (I missed the 2nd component);  rice cracker had charcoal added in it to get its colour (I guessed it had squid ink).

“UNIQUE” was a combination of egg with mushrooms. The server explained that black boned chicken egg was used for this dish, topped with Iberico Ham. It wasn’t really that unique to me as it tasted similar to a dish I had at another top restaurant. But I still enjoyed the well-executed dish.

Final 2 dishes are “MEMORY” and “TERRIOR“. “MEMORY” was the dish on the top left: foie gras jelly, black truffle coulis with japanese chives. Its called “MEMORY” because it was the first receipe by Chef Andre back in 1998.  I liked that it was presented in a clear double wall glass, which kept the food warm and allowed us to see the foie gras jelly at the bottom. For non-foie gras eater, it was replaced by Black Truffle Spaghetti. Sadly there wasn’t any freshly shaved truffles topping it…

I wasn’t sure what the “TERRIOR” element meant to Chef Andre as it wasn’t explained. My own interpretation would be this dish would go well with Burgundy wine!!! Haha…

We had the Sommelier paired a white wine for the first half of the meal and a red wine for the second half of the meal to match the steak. This dish had beef, mustard seeds, pea puree, french root vegetable. The addition of mustard seeds was a nice touch as it brought out the flavour of the steak.

With that we completed the 8 elements.

We were offered either cheese platter or a pre-dessert, naturally we opted for the latter. The pre-dessert was goat cheese ice cream, nice. I must admit that I was apprehensive about taking goat cheese until I tried it at Attica Restaurant (in Australia) earlier this year and had no qualms about having it again =)

Dessert was Chocolate with caramel sponge, ice cream with chocolate sphere and chocolate soil. Being a chocolate person, I absolutely enjoyed it! Excited by the rich chocolate oozing out from the sphere when I sliced it opened.

Last was the petits fours comprising of white chocolate popcorn, grape fruit jelly, passion fruit marshmallow and madeleine.

We finished our dinner in 3 hours and after our meal, Chef Andre was seen going from table by table to chat with the diners. Many of the patrons were surprised that such a young chef has 20 years of culinary experience as Andre started cooking at the age of 15! From our short interaction with him, we could felt that despite his great achievements, he was a humble and modest person.

[Updates on 26th Feb 13]

Restaurant Andre was ranked No.5 at the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Our heartiest congratulations to Chef Andre~

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