Dining at Restaurant ANDRE can be a long wait. They're always fully booked and reservations have to be made three months in advance at times. I'm not one with much patience but I've certainly been dying to dine here since forever. Lucky me, I know the Pastry Chef of Restaurant ANDRE. Matin got me a reservation for lunch on a Friday afternoon and to be very frank, I was counting down the days fervently. Two weeks never felt this long. I must say that the wait was absolutely worth it as I legit had the Meal of the Year here. An experience beyond words.
Waiting area
Second level
So pretty right! If only my room looks like this!
Snacking :
We were treated to an extensive spread of snacking, thanks to Matin!
That chocolate soil was so yummy!
"Gin and tonic"
Fish and chips topped with vinegar powder
Textures of Zucchini
Because I don't take vegetables, I was given this beautifully crafted dish of smoked eel and onion. The eel was so tender and flavourful despite being simply paired with basil oil, caviar and a crisp onion biscuit. Exquisite presentation, awesome taste.
Baby Squid Pasta
Topped with charred grains. The kelp juice made this look really intimidating. I dug into it expecting a harsh taste of vegetables but I was so wrong. There was a subtle sweetness in the rich kelp juice that complemented the chewy squid nicely and the smooth potato mousse that sits at the bottom of the bowl was delish. A surprisingly pleasant dish.
Torched Horse Mackerel
The fresh mackerel possessed a captivating sweetness and a delicate softness that really amazed me. Loved the onion veloute and thin crisp chips too. Incredibly delish!
Lamb was on the menu but we don't take lamb so the good folks changed it to chicken for us. I gotta say that I was really blown away by how crazy tender the chicken was. Seriously, I've had tons of chicken that wowed me with their tenderness and juiciness but none of them came close to this. Lightly salty, and accompanied with crunchy barley grains, this was a pretty great dish
Before desserts were served, we were told that we were gonna have alot of dessert! Much to my delight, of course!
I was very intrigued by the unique presentation of this dessert. A tessellation of slices of grapes all lined up so perfectly next to each other encased in a gel? We have here a red grape and white peach carpaccio, raspberry parfait, fizzy white peach & raspberry and bergamot gel. When I was eating this, I was thinking "wow, this is pretty damn mind-blowing". That fizzy touch, especially, was addictive.
Didn't think that I was gonna like this because its citrusy and there is jackfruit and lemongrass in there. It took me by surprise because the entire combination of bergamot, whipped mandarin, jackfruit lychee sorbet and lemongrass granite worked unbelievably well. None of the flavours overwhelm and they all were complementary in flavour. I enjoyed the brilliant play on textures too and I was thinking "wow, this is even more mindblowing".
White coffee - $10
We didn't know that coffee and tea were not part of the menu so we ordered a coffee and two teas ($8 each). Their selection of tea is very unique and definitely worth a try. The coffee was creamy and smooth and better than I expected.
Just when I thought that we were done for the day, we were presented with more desserts. And spectacular ones may I add.
This looked so much like butter, flour and chocolate and they were served with eggs and milk. We were told by Johan that everything is not what it seems to be.
Johan poured the egg and milk onto our plates
And here we have all the ingredients needed to make a cake. We were told to mix everything up well just like how we would a cake.
This DIY Cake changed my life. Not just because of the remarkable resemblance to "real" ingredients but also the entire idea behind it
1) egg : treacle tart
2) chocolate : chocolate
3) milk : cinnamon rice pudding
4) sugar : smoked vanilla marshmallow
5) butter : popcorn semifreddo
6) flour : white chocolate yogurt cake and snow with caramel popcorn, hazelnut biscuits, nougat chips and brown butter icecream beneath
A beautiful mess that tasted more than sensational, completely blew my mind and gave me a new perspective on the limitless possibilities in the culinary world.
Petit Fois
Possibly the least outstanding of all was the petit fours. The Dr Pepper lollipop was interesting but the madeleines and Earl Grey jelly thingy didn't quite cut it for me. The Kaya Toast Macaron, however, was the highlight of my day. The macaron shell was so perfect, filled with a delicious kaya filling and the texture of the macaron resembled that of a kaya toast. I was all like "omg how is this even possible?" I took my time to go through it and I was so sad that I could only have one. I could eat this everyday! So insanely good and this is what you call ending a meal on a high.
Impeccable service, beautiful place and terrific food. I'll definitely be back! Lunch at Restaurant ANDRE is priced very reasonably at $128. I had a glass of white wine procured from a small winery in France and it was divine, albeit a little pricey at $30. I'm already thinking of my next visit to Restaurant ANDRE! I need more of those Kaya Toast Macarons.
They change their menus pretty often so there's always a reason to go back and pamper yourselves!
Thank you Matin for the extra sweet treats and snacking and for getting me the reservation! I'll see you again soon!
41 Bukit Pasoh Road
Singapore 089855
(Lunch) Wednesday, Friday : 12pm - 3pm
(Dinner) Tuesday - Sunday : 7pm - 11pm
---
Love, K
No comments:
Post a Comment