Le Restaurant is the brainchild of French chef, Nicolas Joanny, who hails from the Provence in the southern part of France. His love for fine ingredients stems from growing up in a family of food lovers who grew practically every food that was laid on the table, right down to the olive oil which was home-produced.
Nicolas graduated from the renowned Culinary Institute in Burgundy, Chateau Chinon, at the age of 17. During the second year of his study, he attended training under the watchful eyes of famous chefs at two prestigious Three Michelin Star establishments.
No promising chef would miss the opportunity of working in Paris. Nicolas worked at top-notch Parisian restaurants such as the 2-Michelin star Le Vivarois and 3-Michelin star Taillevent (which I recently recommended to Chee Koon when she visited Paris). Later in his Paris career, he was chosen as personal chef to ex-French prime minister, Alain Juppe.
Before coming to Singapore, he spent 4-years in Bangkok as Executive Chef of Le Vendome which is internationally recognised as one of Asia's top French dining spots. Last year, Nicolas set up Le Restaurant in a restored house, part of the Bukit Pasoh Conservation Project.
Nicolas acknowledges that his style of cuisine is traditionally French with emphasis on the use of products from the Provence. He uses mainly natural jus and emulsion rather than cream. He understands and respects the natural flavors of each ingredient that he uses to create traditional seasonally changing French menu. His philosophy and culinary skill are best displayed in his 6-course tasting menu.
The menu for the night included several appetisers, a main course, dessert and complimentary coffee/tea with pralines.
As soon as we had finished placing our order for the main course, freshly baked bread and duck
rilettes were brought to our table.
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| Duck rilletes |
The
rilettes was raked and packed tightly with just enough oil to ensure a smooth texture, which is the mark of a good
rilette. The softness and smoothness of Nicolas' duck rilettes went very well with his freshly baked breads.
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| Potato Soup with Parma ham |
Soup was then served. Nicolas had chosen potato soup topped with a thin strip of Parma ham. At first glance, the soup resembled Louis Diat's
Vichyssoise. However upon tasting, I found that it had a very light and delicate flavour without the strong overtones of leek which Diat uses in his creation. The soup dish was combined with Australian yabby done two ways. On one side of the soup dish was a filo wrap filled with yabby meat, deep-fried to a crisp golden brown. On the other, sat a yabby completely clothed in its shell and grilled to perfection.
A prawn dish followed the soup. A sizable blue prawn was denuded and grilled. This wasn't my favourite dish as I found the prawn to be a little over-done causing it to lose much of its natural juices. It was a tad too dry for my liking.
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| Grilled blue prawn |
My grouse with the prawn was soon forgotten when I tasted the Japanese hen egg. Infused with white trufle essence, its taste was simply sublime. A tiny slice of
kurobuta pork accompanied the steamed egg. The pork definitely added to the dish's presentation. Did it enhance the taste of the steamed egg? I am not so sure that it did but that didn't really matter at all.
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| Japanese hen egg infused with white truffle essence |
Next up was North Atlantic scallop served with an ensemble of different meats including bits of shrimp and chicken. The scallop was very lightly seared in order to retain its
sashimi quality texture. Of course, it tasted wonderfully velveteen and I voted this the best appetizer of the meal.
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| Seared North Atlantic scallop |
For main course, I selected the slow roasted rack of lamb from Tasman fields. This is Chef Nicolas' version of the famous French favourite,
Carre D'agneau. Chef Nicolas uses only the best imported Tasmanian lamb. I ordered medium rare and true to honesty, it arrived done to my preference. It was rare but not overly bloody yet the meat was tender and had the 'melt in your mouth' texture. Darling wife opted for the 200-day grain fed beef tenderloin. One bite of the main courses and we were convinced that these were the creation of a
Chef de Cuisine.
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| White Chocolate soup |
Dessert was white chocolate soup (not my favourite) and Chef Nicolas was very kind to whip up a
creme brulee infused with vanilla for me even though this was not offered on the tasting menu for the day. Not quite in the same league as the
crema catalana that I have eaten in Catalonia, it was still definitely better than many others I have tried outside of Spain. Darling wife's white chocolate soup with Belgian chocolate was interesting in its presentation.
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| Crema Catalana |
Chef Nicolas' culinary skills and adeptness have the ability to sway one's mood and make one forget about any other inconveniences that might have been encountered. I was told not to use flash photography hence, the rather poor quality of the photographs used here . I thought this was a rather unusual request by the management. I have used flash photography in many of the world's top restaurants including our very own Au Jardin Les Amis and Tatsuya, and have never encountered any problem.
Despite this small inconvenience and the fact that the restaurant lacked the ambiance of a fine dining restaurant, I would still recommend it simply because the food was good.
Nicolas Le Restaurant
31 Keong Saik Road
Bukit Pasoh Conservation Project
Singapore 089138
Ambience: 6
Food: 8.5
Service: 7
Pricing: $$$$$
Recommendation: Chef Nicolas Tasting menu
