It's rare on a weekday that I have lunch with my sis. We had taken leave because we had an appointment with Chef Julien Royer later in the afternoon to discuss what to prepare for the Bosch Dream Kitchen Contest we were participating in. Chef Julien was our mentor chef.
You can do an online search and read about Chef Julien. I shall not repeat them here. I am not being bias if I say that he and his team is really good!
We decided that before we met the Chef in person, we would like to taste his food without him knowing. We thought of booking but decided not too just in case his team found out. We just walked in to try our luck if there's a table for us at 12:30PM.
Later at the appointment, he told us we should have let him know so he can serve us some extra dishes other than what we have ordered. We thought it would be good that we come ourselves, pay for the food ourselves so that when I decided to post this up, it's more authentic.
I think the set lunch at Jaan might be the best value around.
It's $58++ for a 3 course meal with coffee.
What you get is more than a 3 course meal.
You get pre-meal snacks + 3 course meal + petit fours + coffee/tea + a superb view!
Service was outstanding too. As usual, when we dine, we pretend to be total noobs, asking a few questions now and then and see how the service staff answer them. Throughout the meal, we were served by 4 persons and 3 of them were outstanding.
There was one day that we had another appointment with the Chef and sis was there early and got to the dining area and she saw there were all ironing the table cloth. Wow... is that why the table cloth was so nice without crease etc. Now you know, if you dine there, feel how nice and impeccable everything is there!
As soon as we place your order, we were served pre-meal snacks.
The balls were potato croquet. Nice and warm, it's also starts to awaken your appetite. The thin brown piece in the middle is actually crackling chicken skin! Have a bite of it and you wish all chicken skin were made like this! What's on the wooden stick were smoked eel squares.
Sis and I were discussing our food, after all we were suppose to plan our menus with the Chef. We realised how clever of them to have different textures. Served to a panel of say 3 different judges, whether they like things crispy or soft, savoury, umami, it's all there!
We also had thin crispy rye 'bread' served with 'My Hummus'.
I am not usually a fan of lentils, but this was delicious. Sis and I enjoyed it. The lentils were whole yet it was really soft and sweet. Not the usual lentils we have with our favourite local Indian food for sure.
The card writes: "My personal interpretation using lentils from Saint-Flour, Auvergne and Chestnut Paste".
Yes, we noticed textures again. Thin crispy bread with soft lentils and chestnut paste.
The amuse bouche was Cepes Sabayon and Mushroom Tea.
It's served with a double glazed cup that had dried porcini mushrooms from Chaspuzac (near where the lentils come from too). The server will then come with a pot of 'tea', tea in the form of mushroom soup that had fresh porcini mushrooms. You should try this! So rich, so creamy, so fragrant with bites of soft and crispy mushroom bits.
Yes, we noticed different textures again! Crispy mushrooms and soft ones and the presentation was a mini show! No wonder we have been enjoying our meal.
How nicely the butter has been shaped, presented in a glass inside a stone.
Yes we did ask, French butter.
The bread on the right, you got to try it. The Truffle rolls. It's so fragrant and the soft, it's worth asking for seconds or even thirds!
This might be funny, sis was saying, please don't instagram your food for this meal. The other 3 teams will know what we are eating! Shoosh will you? she said. Can I just instagram this truffle roll without mentioning where it is? I pleaded. Seems that so many instagrammers know exactly where we were within a few minutes of posting! Oops...
55' Rosemary Smoked Organic Egg
For my starter, sis had the 55 minutes rosemary smoked organic egg that has been cooked at I think was 63 degrees Celcius.
Oh, the mini theatre show when the egg was presented. Rosemary burnt and the fragrant smoke fills the air. The egg was then poured into a double walled serving glass. Doesn't the above already look so beautiful?
The egg cooked at the temperature turns the egg white from transparent like feel into something translucent and soft. The egg yolk at that temperate does not hardens but turns slightly custard like. It was poured into the bowl that had smoked rattes, autumn mushrooms, chorizo iberico and buckwheat.
Why is this dish so worth it? The egg would have taken you about an hour to cook. The smoked rattes potato mash would have taken more time. The potato was not boiled in plain water, it's in some stock. Shhhh. I wonder if that's suppose to be a secret, but I learnt that from Chef Julien. The potato is then smoked with rosemary. How tedious it is to prepare the potatoes! The saltiness from the chorizo and crispiness from the deep fried buckwheat and aroma from the mushrooms. The combination was just absolutely lovely.
I had the Bresse Chicken, Confit Oxtail, and Foie Gras 'Presse'.
Yes, it's the Bresse Chicken from France. Do an online search and you can find how much the chicken costs in Singapore, it's the same chicken that "Team D" used in the Bosch Dream Kitchen finale!
Try the flavours of the chicken, oxtail and foie gras combined. It was served with maple and beetroot reduction. Some sweetness and crunchy bits with bits of the 3 meats combined was a nice little flavour explosion in your mouth.
Oh yes, it comes served with a small piece of toasted poilane.
Must be very precious!
The same bread that sis laughed at me when we lugged it from Paris last time.
"Loti only leh" she said. LOL!
For mains, sis had the 36 Hours Kurobuta Pork. (For this there's a supplement of $15 in the menu)
Oh my, the most tender pork you can have. There's a layer of fat on it, but it's marbling that makes kurobuta so delicious. It was drizzled with 'autumn broth'. I wonder how many hours it took for the reduction, but it was so heart warming and makes you wonder what autumn vegetables and produce were used to make this broth.
The menu says served with 'forgotten vegetables'.
When the server served the food and described the dish, you are bound to ask what's forgotten vegetables'. It's vegetables that has always been around for the longest time, always flavourful and gives nice textures to food but has been forgotten by many who served more exotic vegetables.
For my mains, I had the Wild Caught Atlantic Mackerel.
You can see that the menu had all ingredients that are 'artisanal'.
Sis and I were analyzing the chef and his team plating techniques. The few dishes above, we realised everything has a 3 dimension look to it. At any angle, the food is pleasing to the eyes, even before we eat it!
Truth be told, I can't taste the difference between a wild caught mackerel and farmed mackerel. Maybe I should ask around or taste more of it to learn more.
I just know it was very nice! It was served with pickled shallot, deep fried crispy baby squid, sweet corn puree and jus 'dolce forte'. Yup, dolce forte - chocolate sauce!
For desserts, I had the Caramelized William Pear.
I chose this because I wanted to see how the pear will be like. It came served in such a beautiful plate, I wanted to ask where they got it from! (Of course I didn't). The pear was nicely caramelized with a nougatine placed over it and topped with the top part of the pear and a scoop of ice cream.
The plate was drizzled with salted caramel and dark rum jelly.
A very nice sweet end to our meal.
Sis had the 'Latte Poivre'.
Very unique indeed. Coffee chantilly with milk foam and java pepper ice cream.
It's sweet, has the nice coffee flavour and a peppery taste to it as well.
Complimentary Petit Fours.
Chocolate coated almond nibs and fruit jellies. Reminds me of the fruit jellies we used to eat as kids and haven't had it for the longest time! Of course these were nicer version of it.
Oh yes, the nice view that comes with lunch!
It only if was not so cloudy, the view would have been better!
We really enjoyed our meal and sis and I really took our time analyzing dishes that we haven't done before. Even the arrangement of veggies we took note. We have been flipping lots of food magazines too. Getting a bit too competitive it seems!
We paid $164.02 for our meal, we ordered a few drinks that cost a bit. We realised DBS did have a discount if you used their credit cards though. December and January are months that many get bonus. It's a nice treat to yourself and family/husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend.
Jaan
Swissotel The Stamford
2 Stamford Road,
Singapore 178882
Tel: +65 9199 9008 / +65 6338 8585
Hours:
Lunch - 12 pm to 2 pm, Sunday and Public Holiday closed.
Dinner - 7 pm to 10 pm, daily. Public Holiday closed.
