Posts Tagged French
Review – Gunther’s Modern French Cuisine, Singapore
This restaurant was found by searching the Internet and although we hadn’t heard of them, they are #7 on Miele’s 2009/2010 list. Located on a small side street, this was not your typical hotel restaurant, which might be a good thing. We were greeted warmly by Fabio, our waiter for the evening. We didn’t really study the menu much as the Menu Dégustation already caught our eye. At S$128/US$92 it was very reasonable…at least by Hong Kong standards. They were also very flexible and said that we could change our main course if we did not eat lamb. No problem for us and we stuck to the original menu.
Their wine list was also very extensive and the best was their wide selection of half bottles. We ordered a half bottle of 2006 Christian Moreau Chablis 1er Cru to match the first few dishes, but started off with a glass of Champagne to compliment the caviar in the first dish.
The amuse-bouche was a prawn tempura. We know we’ve been spoilt by Inagiku, so this tasted a bit bland. The first appetizer, cold angel hair pasta with Oscietra caviar was a very good start. Even when served cold, the pasta was still al dente! Amazing!!! The caviar went well with our glass of Perrier-Jouët Champagne. No wonder this is their signature dish. Next up was the grilled bamboo clam flown all the way from Scotland. Mixed with tomatoes and pilaf rice, this was a strong flavored dish. Kind of overpowered the freshness of the clam, but the end result was very good. The egg fondant with grilled mushrooms and Spanish ham was right down C’s alley…eggs! On the first bite, R immediately knew that C would love this dish…and he was right. Without a word, it was gone in no time. The combination was perfect. The egg was very smooth and the yolk was very runny and very rich.
Fabio saw that we had just started a half bottle of Pichon Lalande 1994, so he took the initiative to let us try the roasted foie gras with crushed candied almonds, another signature dish of theirs. This was very nice…made us have the urge to order a half bottle of d’Yquem. The rich Lalande did the job and we did have a main course to come. The main course, grilled lamb rack was in R’s point of view very good. But C commented that it was quite gamy (膻). Obviously, this word was not in R’s dictionary, so it didn’t bother him a bit.
The fine apple tart “à la dragées” was not what we expected. The two thin wedges did not look like your typical apple tart. But paired with the Havana rum raisin ice-cream, it was perfect. Of course, C had the French cheese…but no trolley here, just a small sample of four cheeses…a bit disappointed.
The service was remarkable and the food exceptional. Not too fancy, just fresh ingredients and great implementation by Chef Gunther Hubrechsen. Definitely worth a higher ranking on the Miele list in our opinion.
– 18.5/20
Gunther’s Modern French Cuisine
36 Purvis Street #01-03
Singapore 188613
T: +65 6338 8955
E: restaurant@gunthers.com.sg
W: www.gunthers.com.sg
100402 Gunther's - Amuse-bouche, prawn tempura
100402 Gunther's - Cold angel hair pasta with Oscietra caviar
100402 Gunther's - 2006 Christian Moreau Chablis 1er Cru
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Review – Galvin at Windows, London, England
Opened since May 2006, Head Chef André Garrett and Chef Patron Chris Galvin, Galvin at Windows ha recently been awarded its first Michelin star, we were off to try this place for lunch. Located on the 28th floor of the London Hilton on Park Lane, it was very close to our hotel, the Mandarin Oriental. Being so high up (there aren’t many tall buildings around) meant great views overlooking Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace and beyond.
We tried their Menu du Jour with two courses for £19.50 (US$29.30). Both R & C had the cream of cauliflower velouté for appetizers and shared the baked fillet of cod and braised pork cheeks for their main course. Maybe a bit heavy for lunch, especially all the chocolate for the petit fours. Nevertheless, the food was nice and next time we’ll have to come back for dinner.
– 16/20
Galvin at Windows Restaurant
London Hilton
28th Floor
22 Park Lane
London, W1K 1BE
England
T: +44 (020) 7208 4021
W: www.galvinrestaurants.com
100217 Galvin at Windows - Menu cover
100217 Galvin at Windows - Dining area
100217 Galvin at Windows - Table with a view
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We’re in print – HK Golfer Feb/Mar 2010 issue
We are delighted to be a contributor to the HK Golfer magazine, which is the official publication of the Hong Kong Golf Association. Our part is for the 19th Hole and talks about food. The first write-up was for the French Window and debuted in the February/March 2010 issue. Click the thumbnail to view the PDF of the article. This is a bimonthly publication, so the next one will be in April/May.
201002 HK Golfer Feb/Mar 2010 - French Window
Review – La Cuisine de Joël Robuchon, London, England
This was the first stop on our London gastronomic fest. As Hong Kong already has a L’Atelier, we decided to try La Cuisine here instead. There’s also a L’Atelier in the same building as well as the Salon Bar. La Cuisine employs a traditional restaurant seating surrounding the open plan kitchen. This made us feel like dining inside the kitchen, in contrast to L’Atelier, where the counter seating surrounds the kitchen.
We immediately went for the Menu Découverte for £125/US$190. The dinner with matching wines was £165/US$250, but we upgraded to the prestige matching wines for £205/US$312. We didn’t want to start out on the wrong foot.
We started with a Parmesan cappuccino. The strong fragrance of the cheese went well with the bits of foie gras mixed in. Next was a huge tin of Oscietra caviar. Reminded us of the “caviar” from the Krug Room. But this time, it was the real thing. And underneath was a crabmeat mix. Yummy. C must have liked it as it was gone in an instant.
While we were still savoring the aftertaste from the caviar, the next dish delivered thinly shaved foie gras with winter truffle on a bed of marinated potatoes. All these strong beautiful flavors kept our mouths busy.
More truffles followed next in the form of mushroom and black truffle croutons on top of a quail egg for the Jerusalem artichoke soup…forget about all the cholesterol. The remaining courses were done very well, but nothing special – caramelized scallop, sea bass and free range quail stuffed with foie gras.
A fun dessert was the mandarin sorbet lollipop covered in white chocolate with a flower on top. However, it was a bit too sweet for our taste. The finale was the Chocolate Tendance, which was chocolate with chocolate and chocolate. Sinful…very sinful…
Joël Robuchon never ceases to impress and this is no exception.
– 17.5/20
La Cuisine de Joël Robuchon
13-15 West Street
London WC2H 9NE
England
T: +44 (0207) 010 8600
W: www.joel-robuchon.com
100215 La Cuisine - Stairs leading up to the 1st floor
100215 La Cuisine - View of the open kitchen
100215 La Cuisine - The kitchen surrounds the restaurant
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Brie at Gaddi’s, Hong Kong
Updated on Jan 25th, 2010 with feedback from C.
Ah Gaddi’s again… Didn’t intend to do a full review this time, but brought the camera along…just in case. Luckily we did. In between our soup and main course, the captain asked us if we liked cheese… You must be kidding…of course!!! YES!!!
Just when we thought the question was referring to an after dinner cheese trolley of some sort, a cheese dish appeared in front of our eyes. It was a long strip of Brie! In the middle of a course? It turned out to be Brie marinated with truffle. Kept in the fridge for a few days, it was served slightly melted on a bed of truffle mash potatoes and topped with more truffles. Wow! The taste was not as pungent as we expected (judging from the ingredients), but it was just right as it did not overwhelm the main course that followed.
We later found out that this was a teaser for the black truffle dinner at the end of January. Reservation please.
– 20/20 18/20
Gaddi’s
Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong
Salisbury Road, Kowloon
Hong Kong
T: +852 2315 3171
W: www.peninsula.com
100109 Gaddi's - Brie marinated with truffle
