Mr. Robuchon @ Robuchon~

Friday. The single word that fills people with excitement as it signifies the end of a hectic work week and a time to unwind, relax and have a little fun. Or in my case, a lot of food haha..

I had a booking with L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon that night and despite having been a few times already was still highly anticipating the coming dinner. What made it even more special was the fact that Mr. Robuchon himself would be there that night so I was interested to see whether the standard of the food would be better with his presence. 

As I was dining for one, the manager suggested a series of small portions for me so that I could try more variety which was very thoughtful.

The amuse bouche that night was a combination of warm and cold. The cold part consisted of an artichoke and morel mushroom puree which had a very earthy flavour and the warm part was fois gras with port wine and bacon foam. This was really good, texture was smooth and the slight sweetness of the port wine complemented the richness of the fois gras. 

La Tomates. This is a seasonal dish, and I had been looking forward to seeing this colourful array of tomatoes in front of me again, There are five different varieties each with a different colour and texture. Some were more juicy while some had a more meaty texture to it. The sharpness of the flavour really helped to whet the appetite for the other dishes.

Le Fois Gras. Two perfectly cylindrical rounds of pale pink fois gras terrine accompanied with two dots of date jam. This was served with slices of thinly toasted bread. The simpleness of the presentation was just a mask to the intense richness of this dish. The way the terrine melted in the mouth contrasted with the crunchiness of the toast and the slight sweetness of the date.. it was so good!

L’Oursin. The pale colours of the sea urchin souffle with the wasabi foam was visually very pretty. The briny flavour of the sea urchin was very bold with the wasabi foam giving a subtle flavour. However I found the dish to be overly salty.

La Langoustine. Initially I was reluctant to try this dish as I am not a fan of lobster or any of its close relatives as I find the meat too chewy, however as it is considered one of Robuchon’s signature dishes, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Presented very simply, one plump ravioli stuffed with fresh scampi and truffles, coated in fois gras sauce with a side of sauteed cabbage to cut the richness. I was not expecting anything spectacular, but was most intrigued when my knife was able to slice through the scampi meat in the ravioli with no resistance at all. When I had my first bite, I was stunned. The scampi was sweet and tender, the ravioli skin was al dente and the fois gras sauce was luscious. This was the best dish of the night.

La Saint-Jacques. One plump scallop sitting in a sauce of coriander and coconut, topped with a crisp sesame tuile. The scallop was fresh and the coriander sauce reminded me a little of the flavours used in Thai cuisine. To me, this was just ok.

La Piece de Boeuf Wagyu. This was my main of the night. Pan seared Wagyu beef with ribbons of marbling. The part where the meat had been seared was quite chewy in texture, but the middle part with the marbling was melt in your mouth. At this point I was already quite full, so the richness of the beef was a little overwhelming for me. If I wasn’t as full, I think I would be more appreciative of this dish.

Time for dessert~ My favourite part of the night as usual 🙂

I was able to try their newest creation La Litche Rose. This was also something that I was not planning to order as I prefer something more chocolatey rather than fruity, but after seeing it being served to the couple next to me, I decided I wanted one for myself. It was such a pretty dessert. Essentially a layer of clear lychee jelly lined the base, with a tube of raspberry mouse next to a quenelle of grapefruit sorbet. A raspberry candy-like tuile sat like a hat on top and around it was pieces of lychee fruit, strawberry slices and raspberries. So summery and refreshing, it was actually a perfect ending to a heavy meal.

Or so I thought, until I was presented with a cheese plate 🙂 A selection of three cheeses, the one on the left was my favourite, I can’t remember the name, but it was all gooey and creamy the kind of texture I love in cheese with quite a strong flavour. The middle was a 24 month aged brie which was quite good as well, but not as soft. The top most was a goat’s cheese with quite a light flavour, the texture was slightly firmer, but was still to my taste.

And a perfect latte and petite fours to end my meal. Oh pistachio macaron I adore you~

To be honest, the standard and quality of the meal was just as impeccable as it usually is, the fact that Mr. Robuchon was there probably just made the general atmosphere more ‘alert’. However, it was still a great experience to be able to meet such a renowned chef.

Merci beaucoup Monsieur Robuchon 🙂

Weekend Ramblings

Despite, being a little under the weather and having a slight stomach bug that has literally been bugging me for the past week, it didn’t stop me from catching up with friends and indulging over the weekend… oops~

Friday night after my weekly dinner with my dad and listening to all the little random things and facts of life that he likes to tell me (it’s actually very interesting!) I met up with K for a looong overdue visit at Sift. Oh Sift chocolate cake how I missed you soooo much~ It was like greeting an old friend… except you don’t dig your fork in your friend and savour the smooth chocolate mousse gliding over your tongue.. haha yes getting *slightly* inappropriate here… The cake layers inside were a little dry, and the overall package was a lot sweeter than I remembered, but it did satisfy my craving.

Sift Chocolate Cake~

K had her usual chocolate pavola despite being sick, and she definitely enjoyed it judging by the speed she demolished the crisp chocolate meringue topped with a dollop of cream and strawberries.

Chocolate Pavlova with strawberry champagne jelly

Saturday afternoon I met up with C for a girly movie outing~ Snow White and the huntsman. The movie portrayed a more sinister aspect of the fairy tale, and rather than fall in love with who was supposed to be the ‘prince’ in the movie, the rugged huntsman was the one who broke the poisoned apple’s spell with his true kiss. The movie I guess was not too bad, but all things are made better when you have caramel popcorn accompanying you throughout the movie~ Being brought up overseas, you can only ever get salty buttered popcorn, but the caramel popcorn you can buy here definitely kicks it’s butt. Crunchy and sweet, so utterly addictive!

Dinner was at Classified up in Exchange Square. Classified is one of my favourite places for a relaxed brunch or casual dinner. If you are a cheese fan, this place is definitely a must try for you as they host a large variety of different cheeses. Their melted Camembert is to-die-for. One small whole Camembert is topped with thyme and truffles then baked in an oven. It is then served aside pieces of toasted poppyseed and sesame bread. Oh the joy when you dig your knife into the melted centre and scoop out the melty, oozy innards of the soft cheese onto your bread… *mmm*.

Baked Camembert~

So of course we ordered the Camembert and to seem a little healthy we added a chicken and bacon avocado salad without the bacon. Yes, I admit I don’t like bacon, the sight and smell of the fat on the rind really puts me off. I was already mentally thinking that I would pick off all the bacon as I assumed C like most people would like bacon. So I was actually surprised when she said she didn’t like bacon and we both started laughing as neither of us really wanted to mention it in case the other person liked it. Luckily she did~

Dessert was as return visit to Sift. Haha, yes I know I only just went there on Friday night, but who says I can’t try different things. And so we had the lemon trio and sticky toffee pudding. The lemon trio was very yellow in presentation (well no surprise there). A long platter with a martini glass of floating meringue in lemon curd, one perfectly made lemon macaron and a small lemon tart. The lemon curd in the tart was delightfully tangy without being overly sour. The biscuit base still had a slight firmness to it, but I would prefer it to be thicker so there is more bite to it. I didn’t really enjoy the meringue as it had a funny taste and it had an odd texture, sort of like hard foam.

Lemon Trio

The sticky toffee pudding is similar to a sticky date pudding, where the cake part comes in a slice. We were served quite a generous piece with the buttery toffee sauce drizzled over it and topped with a quenelle of vanilla ice-cream.~

Sunday I had a booking for the 3 michellin star yum cha Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons. It takes a month to make a booking so I was quite looking forward to it since I hadn’t been in a while. Originally I was planning on a yum cha for one. Yes, for one. When I tell people that I have yum cha alone, it always comes with the standard funny look and ‘huh? how can you have yum cha for one’? It’s easy, make a booking, sit down at the table, order your tea and dim sum, food comes, pick up chopsticks, eat. Ta-dah~ easy as pie.

Yes, I know people aren’t referring to the actual process of yum cha. I guess what they can’t fathom is the breaking of tradition. Yum cha generally in people’s minds is where a gathering of family members, or friends, or an amount of persons greater than one, sits down together, order a lot of food together and make loud, gossipy conversations with each other about their happenings over the week. They don’t see yum cha as a solo activity. For me, eating alone doesn’t bother me at all. I know some people who detest sitting at a restaurant alone. They usually eat at a faster than normal pace which is sad as it means they don’t actually enjoy their food, or rather not eat out at all. I think that being able to eat alone means that you are able to enjoy the company of yourself. Sometimes all you want is to just have a little alone time, be a part of the noise and ambience in the restaurant and to focus on the food. I have discovered that eating alone, you also recieve more attentive service from the staff which to me is a positive aspect.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived that my booking for two (I normally make a booking for two even though only I show up because I want to be seated at a bigger table :p) became a booking for 3 as C and her fiance R came to join me since I had mentioned to her the previous night that I was lunching at Lung King Heen. More people meant that more things were ordered which made a happier me 😀 We had the prawn dumplings, assorted mushroom dumplings, bbq and mustard greens cheong fun, their signature abalone pastries, baked BBQ buns with fermented bean curd, veggies (yeen choi) in broth and fried egg noodles. As usual, the ingredients used was top notch as expected form a 3 star establishment and you could see the care taken by the chef from the presentation of the delicate dim sum. The skin of the dumplings were translucent, and had a slight chewy texture. The prawns were fresh and the mushrooms had a meaty bite to it.

Har Gao

Assorted mushroom dumplings with celery

The cheong fun was good, soft rice roll noodles encasing tender pork pieces.

BBQ Pork and mustard greens cheong fun

Their abalones pastries are heavenly, a mixture of sweet and savoury. The abalone, braised in soy sauce was very tender and the shortbread like pastry holding the diced chicken melted in the mouth, leaving a buttery, sweet flavour on the tongue.

Abalone pastries~ 😀

The baked BBQ buns were decent, soft BBQ pork encased in a soft bun. I prefer their pineapple BBQ pork buns more with the sweet, crunchy crust, but they weren’t on the menu that day.

Bake BBQ Pork buns with fermented bean curd

 The veggies were very tender, using all the baby shoots of the yeen choi, but the noodles were just normal, nothing really special. For dessert, we had the custard pastries which came four to a serve. I think they use quite a lot of butter in the pastry as the sweet smell wafted towards me even as it was placed on the table. The pastry was quite similar to the one used for the abalone pastry and the sweet custard filling was very rich and fragrant.

Custard Pastries~

 Petite fours were coconut and red bean pudding and what we call ‘ma zai’ which is fried dough that is puffed up and treacled together. I thought these were only so-so, nothing special. I have to say I did enjoy myself and I hope C and R enjoyed their yum cha experience there too~

Petite Fours