Les Amis

It's been a looooooong time since zq and I met up with jes. So we made plans for lunch and settled with Les Amis. Jes made the reservation and we made our way on the day of our reservation. There's the $55/$75/$95/$125 set lunch.

Breads. We were served breads while waiting for our food to arrive. The waiter placed the bread and told us the bread that they served- Mini Baguettes, focaccia with black olives and sun-dried tomatoes,  bacon and pommery mustard roll and another bread that I can't remember. They also gave us a plate with unsalted butter and salt. My favorite was the focaccia. The saltiness of the tomatoes and olives complemented the plain and slightly chewy bread. The bread with mustard and bacon was nice as well. It was crunchy but not overly crispy and the mustard(which was quite mild) and bacon goes well together.

White aspargus in "Blanc Mange", Oscietra caviar. Blanc Mange actually refers to a sweet gelatinous dessert like pudding. The dish looks really pretty! Taste nice too. To me somehow the asparagus 'blanc mange' tastes a little like cheese and the caviar added some nice fishiness to the dish. The base of the dish(not sure what it was) was quite plain which helped lower the saltiness of the asparagus.

Oscietra caviar in harmony with cold angel hair pasta and sherry vinegar. Another picture worthy dish that not only looks nice but taste nice. On the side are edible (japanese?) flowers and chives. The pasta was well seasoned and I could taste truffle instead of sherry vinegar. The amount was just nice, not too mild but not too strong as well. The flower added(as you would expect) a flowery taste to the pasta and the caviar was simply pure black bliss.

Warm lobster encased within baby spinach accompanied by fish bone sauce. This wasn't one of my dish but jes was nice enough to let me try hers. It was truly yummy. The lobster was warm, juicy and firm, the sauce was flavorful and the roe on top was wonderful.

Crispy cornouaille langoustine balanced with a 'Folichonne' side salad. The langoustine was wrapped in pastry before being deep fried had salty pastry and sweet tender langoustine. Quite nice but what I really love about the dish is the side salad! It's one of the nicest salad I have eaten maybe because of the seaweed that gives it some Japanese feel(I have a weakness for jap food).

Now on to mains. Baby lamb rack with pommery mustard ice cream. The waiter said to eat the ice cream with the lamb to experience the hot and cold combination. The lamb was a little tough to cut as compared to beef. However when I placed the lamb in my mouth, it was soft and very easy to bite. So tasty. The ice cream melted too fast in my mouth for me to taste it with the lamb. The mashed potaoes on the side were good, smooth, creamy and buttery.

Grilled dry aged Australian beef tenderloin with a robus aroma of Telllicherry pepper accompanied with traditional sauce. Jes said that the pepper was a little too overpowering. The beef was slightly tougher than the lamb.

Granite of fresh coconut on a mosaic of tropical fruit and milk jelly. The granite really tasted like fresh coconut. The tropical fruit that we were served was pineapple. At the bottom of the glass was the milk jelly. There's also a biscuit(?) in a round shape which tasted something like love letters.(the biscuit eaten during Chinese New Year)

Hot souffle of Reine-Claude with a refreshing sorbet. My first souffle ever. Tasted like I was eating airy sweet egg. It was nice but I didn't like the airy texture.

Petits fours served with lemon custard dip. Lemon Madeleine and canele. The warm Madeleine were slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It tasted sweet and lemony. The canele had a slightly hard exterior but on the inside, it was something like a steam cake. The lemon custard was sour and somehow I think the dip was a little redundant since the petit four tasted nicer on its own.

Rate:
Breads: 7.5/10 ☺
White aspargus: 9/10 ☺
Cold angel hair pasta: 10/10 ☺
Lobster: 9.5/10 ☺
Langoustine: 8.5/10 ☺
Baby lamb rack: 8/10 ☺
Beef tenderloin: 8/10 ☺
Granite: 6/10 ☺
Hot souffle: 6/10 ☺
Petits fours: 7/10 ☺

SET- Contemporary Cusine -CLOSED-

Zq wanted to try out this new restaurant that just opened- SET. SET offers 5-course set lunch at $28.80++ and 6-course set dinner at 38.80++ which comprises of contemporary fusion cuisine.

There was a 20% off their set menu when zq make a reservations through hungrygowhere. However it's only till end of September. But there's still a discount of 10% from 1 Oct till 31 Oct.

First course is the Chef Starter- Bacon and Mushroom Gratin with Homemade Toast. The bacon and mushroom gratin is served in a plate and you use a spoon to spread it on the toast. I love the gratin. It has the perfect combination of mushroom, bacon and cheese. The toast was also great. Each person is served 1 slice of bread cut into two. The toast is crunchy on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside. One of the best toast I have ever eaten! The toast and gratin goes really well together.

Second course is the Cold Dish where you can choose either Smoked Duck Breast, Tomato Caprese, Huai San Carpaccio or Salmon Garvlax.

Zq ordered Smoked Duck Breast- Slices of smoked duck breast on a bed of fresh greens with cherry tomatoes and topped with an orange dressing. Everything was good except the dressing. I didn't like it. It was thick and slimy(?)

Second course, Tomato Caprese. I made a great choice when I chose this. I love this out of the three cold dishes that we tried. Fresh juicy sliced tomatoes with creamy feta cheese and frisee is a lovely combination. The melon ball however was a little weird in the equation.

Second course, Huai San Carpaccio. Huai San is actually a wild yam which has many medical function such as lowering blood pressure and it is very good for your skin. Thinly slices of huai san, topped with diced beetroot and diced red jelly. The sauce tasted like soy sauce which went well with the plain huai san and sweet beetroot and jelly.

Third course is Soup. The choices were Mushroom Veloute w Peanut Butter, Roasted Pumpkin w Truffle, Double-boiled Herbal Chicken and Miso Soup w Sake.

I chose Miso Soup w Sake. I love the presentation of how it looks like I'm really drinking sake. The person said that you are suppose to drink the soup from the cup in one shot. I tried and failed. It took me at least two shots to finish a cup. Inside the miso soup there's tofu and spring onion.

Fouth course is Main where you can order either Marinated Rack of Lamb, Baby Pork Back Ribs, Roasted Chicken Pullet, Grilled Snapper with Salsa or Roasted Beef Tenderloin.

Zq chose Baby Pork Back Ribs. The taste reminded me of Bak Kut Teh maybe because it uses pork ribs as well. The meat was a little tough but portion was quite big. A good choice for people who have a bigger appetite.

Fourth course, Roasted Beef Tenderloin. Nice presentation. I ordered it medium rare. The beef was very flavorful and it sorts of melts in your mouth. Really yummy. There's also pink peppercorn, sprouts, garlic and mushroom on the plate.

Fifth course is Dessert. The options were Home-made Cake of the Day, Espresso Creme Brulee, Pistachio Panna Cotta, Poached Pear w Gelato or Huai San Jello.

Zq chose Poached Pear w Gelato- Pears poached in red wine for hours with a scoop of vanilla gelato and a quartered strawberry. The pear wasn't mushy but the sauce was a little weird. To me it tasted like soy sauce(my taste bud must be broken or something haha) but zq disagree.

Fifth course, Huai San Jello. Start with Huai San Cappacio and end with Huai San Jello was what the person recommended. Ending with the jello was not too bad. It was light and tasted quite similar to cheng tng.(maybe cause there's barley and white fungus inside)

Fifth course, Home-made Cake of the Day- Chocolate Coconut Cake. Chocolate cake, desiccated coconut topped with gooseberry. The cake was quite nice. The coconut added some richness and sweetness to the chocolate cake.

I think this is a great place to dine. The food is good and the service is great too.

Rate:
Bacon and Mushroom Gratin with Homemade Toast: 9/10 ☺
Smoked Duck Breast: 6/10 ☺
Tomato Caprese: 9/10 ☺
Huai San Carpaccio: 8/10 ☺
Miso Soup w Sake: 7/10 ☺
Baby Pork Back Ribs: 7/10 ☺
Roasted Beef Tenderloin: 9/10 ☺
Poached Pear w Gelato: 6.5/10 ☺
Huai San Jello: 7.5/10 ☺
Chocolate Coconut Cake: 7/10 ☺

CIA Top Table

Went to dine at CIA Top Table with my course mates. Only open for lunch from 28 Aug to 7 Nov, 11.30am to 1pm. Reservation required.

We ordered our food and we were given some breads- bread stick, milk bun and ciabatta. The bread stick was nice as it had some crunch. The milk bun was lovely- soft, fluffy and slightly milky. For the ciabatta it was nice, soft and fluffy on the inside. They asked if we wanted more bread and we did! (so greedy of us)

Pan Fried Stingray Cake ($6)-salad greens, Vietnamese herbs and soy lime dressing. Nicely pan fried stingray cake- a little on the spicy side. The salad with the dressing had the right amount of acidity and it goes well together with the cake as it helped mute the spiciness of the cake. Not sure what the sauce on the side was but it complemented the cake well too.

Seafood Salad ($7)- squid, prawns, green papaya and Thai cashew pesto. The prawns and squid was mixed with a nice acidic dressing which was really tasty and refreshing. Even though there were some chili, it wasn't spicy. The papaya salad on the other hand was really disappointing, the dressing did not have enough acidity and the papaya texture was weird like jelly. Such a huge contrast between the seafood and papaya.

Chili Crab Ravioli ($15)- semolina pasta, greens and fried quail egg. The pasta was al dente. There was crab mixture on the inside. However the dish could use more sauce which would give more taste to it. Greens and egg was good. The thing that was disappointing was that it did not taste like chili crab.

Vegetarian Benedict ($9)- poached egg, greens, cheese, baked sweet potatoes, hash brown and hollandaise. Egg was well poached, yolk was still flow-y. Salad was good, nice dressing and fresh greens. Hash brown was not overcook. I think it's one of the nicer main dish I've taste for the day.

After that we were given the dessert menu and also some cookies- Milo macaroon, passion fruit macaroon, matcha cookie and orange Madeline. The macaroon shells were really crispy and hard- not so nice. Taste wise the Milo one was okay but the passion fruit one was a little weird. Matcha cookie had a nice unsweetened matcha flavor, orange Madeline was lovely(nicest out of the 4).

Kalamansi Meringue Tart ($5)- kalamansi custard, coconut graham crust. Kalamansi is actually a type of lime. The tartness of the kalamansi custard works well with the sweet meringue. Very nice.

Kaya Pain Perdu ($5)- kaya cream, salted gula melaka, white pepper ice cream. Pain Perdu is actually french for 'french toast' or if you want direct translation 'lost bread'. So if you did not understand, you wouldn't have known that there would be french toast. The french toast was really yummy- chewy and tasty(wished there was more even though there's already 3 on the plate). Sauce tasted more like coconut than the usual kaya flavor. Was a little disappointed with the ice cream as I could not taste the white pepper, only coconut flavor. Maybe they could rename it to Coconut Pain Perdu.

Warm Jasmine Rice Pudding ($5)-coffee ice cream, coffee glaze. Wished that the rice was cooked more till it was mushy. Didn't like that you could bite each grain of rice. The cream and coffee was good.

Frozen Landscape ($5)- pandan and coconut ice creams, kalamansi and hibiscus sorbets. The pandan ice cream tasted like real pandan instead of artificial pandan flavor(something you don't usually get). Coconut ice cream was nice, creamy, coconut-y and not too sweet. Kalamansi sorbet was refreshingly acidic. Hibiscus sorbet was flowery at the start and slightly bitter at the end. 

We also tried Moscato ($45/bt) which is a sweet white wine. Really nice and sweet. 

Rate: 
Pan Fried Stingray Cake: 8/10 ☺
Seafood Salad: 6/10 ☺
Chili Crab Ravioli: 6/10 ☺
Vegetarian Benedict: 7.5/10☺
Kalamansi Meringue Tart: 8/10 ☺
Kaya Pain Perdu: 8/10 ☺
Warm Jasmine Rice Pudding: 5/10 ☺
Frozen Landscape: 6.5/10 ☺