St. Regis Singapore: An Afternoon Tea with celebrity French Master Patissier Eric Lanlard.

It seems that I only seem to blog about Celebrity Chefs coming to Singapore. A bit too tired after work to write and playing with the little one is more fun than writing!

What am I writing about today?

If you have a minor obsession like me, in minor I mean:
- watching too much food shows online and also on cable,
- love 'stalking' certain celebrity chefs when they are in town,
- buy too many physical cookbooks from Kinokuniya, Book Depository, Amazon,
- have an equally big collection of cookbooks on the Kindle....

I have a good news for fellow fans of French Master Pâtissier Éric Lanlard!
He will be here in Singapore at the St. Regis from 3 - 8 January 2017!

This stalker did take quite a few photos of him, but not with him. There was too many people at 'that' event the other time. Maybe this time I'll take a photo with him.



If you have Éric Lanlard's latest book that came out this year, "Afternoon Tea", you are in for a treat.
Here's my Kindle version of it.


(I am contemplating buying a hard-copy just for him to autograph it when he's here)


The reason I said you are in for a treat is because the recipes and photos in the book will become tangible and edible right before your eyes! Our dear Éric and the pastry chefs at St Regis Singapore will prepare it and you will get to taste it. The regular St. Regis Singapore's Grand Astor Afternoon Tea at Brasserie Les Saveurs will serve things in his latest book!

I did get a peek at their menu for that week, I compared it and hey, almost everything on the menu is in the book!

Here's a tentative menu that I got to see:

On the 3-tiered stand:
Top Tier: Pistachio and Rose Financiers, Tartelettes aux Fruits, Raspberry Choux Craqueline Buns
Middle Tier: Tartes Flambées, Brie and Onion Marmalade Gruyère Eclairs
Bottom Tier: Cacao Beef on Pain Perdu, Egg Florentine Roulade, Lemon Macarons with Smoked Salmon.
Accompanied by Spicy Crab Filo Tartlets

Savouries:
Mini Salmon Mousse and Nigella Seed Paris-Brest, Herb-marinated Boston Lobster Rolls (in the book it's Herby Lobster Rolls), Paprika Chicken Ciabattas, Pickled Veggie Bundles

Scones:
Lemon Scones, Orange Blossom and Bee Pollen Scones, Raw Cacao and Raspberry Scones, Wholemeal Scones, Cheese Scones. (The regular arvo tea here is known for the scones, but it's gonna be equally good with Eric's Scones.)


(screen shot of the Orange Blossom and Bee Pollen Scones recipe)

Desserts:
Gluten-free Chocolate Cake and 17 other desserts. I wonder if they will serve all or selections of it daily. I am thinking of the Clementine and Pomegranate Cake, Scandinavian Apple Cake, Salted Butter Caramel Brownies, Saffron Crème Pâtissiere, Îles Flottantes etc....

The savouries, scones and desserts should be a buffet like their regular Grand Astor Afternoon Tea Buffet.

Price:
$58++ per person from 3 - 6 January (Tuesday to Friday)
$68++ per person from 7 - 8 January (Saturday and Sunday)

If you have your SPG Membership, there's additional discounts and you get Starpoints too!


Photo above from his "Afternoon Tea" book.

For those who don't know Master Pâtissier Éric Lanlard, he's a two time winner of the British Baking Awards' esteemed Continental Pâtissier of the Year prize. His fans who love his food includes Elizabeth Hurley, David and Victoria Beckham and of course the Queen Mother. He has published 8 books, appeared on many TV series and he runs Cake Boy - his cafe, cake emporium and cooking school in London.

Who is excited?

An Afternoon Tea with celebrity French Master Pâtissier Éric Lanlard. 
St. Regis Singapore
29 Tanglin Road
Singapore 247911

Reservations:
Tel: +65 6506 6860
Email: bls@stregis.com
Web: brasserielessaveurs.com

Seasonal Taste @ The Westin Singapore, The Great Thai Feast.

It has been some time since the wife and I dined here. We first dine here when we saw the opening specials of Westin Singapore and booked a room for a short staycation. (Time passes so quickly as they are now 3 years old!)

We wondered into Seasonal Taste because there was nothing really opened at Asia Square at that time. During the weekends the restaurants at Asia Square were all closed then. We decided to have the a la carte items during lunch and they were good. All the Westins around the world has this healthy menu. Healthy yet tasty menu.

For dinner, we had dinner one night at Cook and Brew and another night at Seasonal Taste. We had their buffet then and somehow we never came back. If you watched enough restaurants reality TV, you know why you shouldn't come during the early days of opening. LOL.

We are back this time and this was an invite from the hotel and was also an unhosted tasting. You just dine like a regular guest, they foot the bill. If we liked it, we write about it. We were seated near a table of 4 hungry ladies, a couple on a date and a table of 8 businessmen on company dinner.

For 2 weeks till 31 July, they are having The Great Thai Feast.



If you are a SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest, not Sarong Party Girl lah...) member (which is free by the way, and I have it since 2003), you get a discount of 20% plus Starpoints for future hotel stay redemption.



One of the highlights of the Thai Feast is the Kor Moo Yang (Marinated Grilled Pork Neck). Yes, it's the fatty and muscled meat part of the oink oink animal and is used in Thai and Chinese cooking for melt in the mouth dishes. I am sure if you have been to Thailand, you have bought them to snack like me.

The dipping sauce Jim Jaew is an addictive sauce accompanies this dish. I drizzled it for most of the things I ate!



Another highlight of the Thai Feast is the Tom Yum Gung. Prepare to "cough /choke" on your first mouth. Recover from it and you will want more. I know my stomach, so I shared a bowl with the Mrs. If I have more of it, the body will tell me!

The table next to us really loved it from their chatter.  It's sometimes a joy to watch other people eat right? "Eavesdropping" on people who talk loudly and enjoying and laughing silently with and also at them. 



Marry a partner who peels prawns, and she will dish a bowl to share and then peel it for you as well.



Papaya salad - the 'live' station that has the chef pound your salad in the Clay Kruk mortar and wooden pestle. Do you think the clay mortar bruise the Som Tams and Nam Priks gentler so they are better flavoured?

It's recommended to eat it with the Grilled Pork Neck, fresh prawns and/or salted egg.



Pad Thai! There was once when a few of us visited Bangkok, we were on a Pad Thai discovery. We ordered and tasted Pad Thai from so many places, from streets carts and small eateries, chain restaurants and higher end establishments. We discovered that where the locals eat, the noodles are QQ / al dente. If it's a place where tourists go, it's soft like how we normally get in Thai restaurants here. I wonder if my observation was correct.

Well, this Thai Chef prepares it the QQ way here. Your parents might say it's undercook haha! A good thing about a buffet is you can add as much peanuts or chilli flakes or lime on it.

Many people will avoid the raw bean spouts and chives right?



I had many rounds from this station. Skewered meats, chicken wings and roast chicken with that dipping sauce that is addictive. 



I have a confession. I mostly skipped this station. Too much veggies for a pig out night.
I only took the Nam Prik for the veggies and used it for some rounds of cold seafood and meats.



Not Oysters Kilpatrick, but grilled oysters with Red Curry and Green Curry. 
I think they have this for those who don't like freshly shucked oysters! Somehow they tasted so good. 



The main staples of the Seasonal Taste buffet - Canadian Lobsters, freshly shucked oysters. (also mussels, prawns, scallops). For the Thai Feast, they have in addition to the usual dips and sauces, Thai sauces and dips.

This was the Mrs. She always love her lobsters and oysters.



This is my plate. I prefer Lobsters and Prawns. I had them with Jim Jaew.

Oh, if you like Pork Skin/Rind, they have a bag at the salad table and it disappears quickly. If you see it when you walk past, grab some and then top it with the spicy spreads. That's why there is pork rind on my seafood.



They have a quite a few Thai based desserts too. The colourful Khanom Luk Chup, it's mung bean filling inside the colourful outer layer. Like Ang Ku Kueh! 

They also have some Thai Pumpkin Custard which disappeared quite quickly! When I wanted to taste it, it's gone!



I had Khao Niew Ma Muang (Mango Sticky Rice), I know many people love this, but I am one who don't appreciate it. I like my Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce eaten with a scoop of Dark Chocolate Gelato, so good. I had a few more scoops of blood orange sorbet, mango sorbet and avocado gelato.

A photo posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Jul 27, 2016 at 5:38am PDT

I had 6 helping of this addictive Cha Yen (Thai Milk Tea), made from black tea infused with condensed milk. The hungry ladies beside us, they were also thirsty! Instead of these small mugs that is placed at the dessert table, they used their big iced water glasses from their table to fill it up! That good! I think I haven't had anything with condensed milk for a long time that's why!
(Warning, very sweet! Thai style sweet, which I think some people can't take it.)

If you consider this for dinner this week if you are planning for some Thai food. On a Wednesday night, it was quite filled up.


Seasonal Taste
The Westin Singapore
Level 32,
12 Marina View,
Asia Square Tower 2
Singapore 018961

Tel: +65 6922 6968
Email: seasonaltastes.singapore@westin.com
Web: www.thewestinsingapore.com/seasonaltastes

The St. Regis Bloody Mary 80th Anniversary Brunch

If you are at any St Regis Hotels and Resorts in the world, you can always order the "Bloody Mary". It's their signature drink and it was perfected 80 years ago at The King Cole Bar, The St Regis New York. Perfected by Fernand Petiot in 1934, the cocktail was once known as the Red Snapper because its original name was sounding too vulgar for that era. 

St Regis properties worldwide will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of Bloody Mary this month. If you have visited the different St Regis property, you would have seen or drank a local interpretation of the Bloody Mary. In Singapore, there is the Cili Padi Mary. I tell you, it's spicy! Many people said they prefer this version that has a kick to the original Bloody Mary.

(In any case, due to health reason at the time, you are not convenient to have alcohol, you can always ask for non alcohol version.)



The St Regis Singapore will joining in the celebration like her other sister hotels around the world by having a gastronomic spectacular every Sundays in October. It's called the St Regis Bloody Mary Anniversary Brunch.

It's kind of an indulgence as you can see in the following photographs. I had the privilege to try it out last weekend. The price starts from SGD 148++ for adults.



It's a 4 hour affair. The Bloody Mary Anniversary Brunch starts at 11am. From 11 am to noon, there's complimentary hour of aperitifs at the Astor Bar. You can relax and start your lunch with the Bloody Mary! Maybe try the Cili Padi Mary as well!

At noon, all guests proceed to Brasserie Les Saveurs. It's where the food indulgence begins. From noon to 3 pm, slowly enjoy the food. You got 3 hours to eat.

There's always live music playing at Brasserie Les Saveurs the times I have been there. Last week when I was there, a group of people started dancing after lunch and then got back to desserts after they got tired after dancing.



The are some options for you to choose:
- Epicurean Delight ($148++) with complimentary flow of freshly brewed coffee and tea.
- Astor Indulgence ($180++) with complimentary flow of wines, beer, soft drinks and juices.
- Connoisseur Experience ($195++) with complimentary flow of Ruinart champagne, wines, beer and juices.

Ruinart Champagne is now the house champagne at St Regis Singapore. The wife and I served this during our wedding a few years ago (at another hotel)!



The selection of fine breads and rolls available. It's always tempting. I was saying to myself, skip this section, carbo will make me fatter, but in the end, I gave in and took them and even spread them with more French butter.



The Cold Seafood section was so tempting as well. North America lobsters, scallops, black mussels, langoustines, oysters, prawns poached in court bouillon, clams, crayfish and Sri Lankan crabs!

Indulge slowly, they are being replenished quite quickly. The few times I walked past, they are being replenish.


So tempting isn't it? It was interesting when I posted this on Facebook and Instagram and ask: Which is the odd one out? The answers that came back shows that people are so brilliant!
- Oysters, coz the rest are cooked.
- Scallops, because it's the only thing that doesn't go well with lemon.
- Clams and mussels, they are bivalves, the rest are crustaceans.



Claws have been cracked, ready to eat lobsters! I like!
Don't get too friendly with Ms Langoustine! She's tricky!



Ms Piggy's dancing ballet! Someone is there slicing it for you, all that you can have!



From the live cooking station last Sunday, there was the Foie Gras done in different ways.
I think they have (or alternate it with) poached Boston Lobsters on certain weeks.



Are you a fan of this?



Oh, I was so happy to see this. Like moods, we sometimes prefer warm prawns to the ones served on the cold seafood section. They have some warm seafood too!



I definitely love warm clams. Reminds me of the delicious ones at Belgo in London. They were tasty like the ones in Belgo, which I think taste better than Léon de Bruxelles in Paris. If you ordered the free flow beer, you can just have this and beer. No, no one will do that, you want to eat everything else right?



The Sashimi counter. It's quite amazing with the salmon head staring at you.
Beautiful, unless you are an OCD and you will want to rearrange everything straight instead of artistically. LOL



Another cooking station is where you get Blinis freshly made and served with accompaniments of your choice topped with Avruga Pearls.



You can choose from poached scallops, poached lobsters or smoked salmon.
Since I was in the queue and I wanted to try everything, I ordered all 3.



I saw this and couldn't resist. Prime Rib of Grass Fed Beef.



A slice of it is not enough. Unless you are too full, you will go back for more.

There's also what they call "pass around food". Service staff will carry big metal trays and let you try special dishes fresh out of the kitchen. Here are the four that was passed around when I was there.



The Tomato and Crabmeat Maki Roll with Bloody Mary Vinaigrette. Interesting flavour!



The White Mary Liquid. It's Bloody Mary Sherbet and Vodka Celery Jellies.
Try this, it's very very appetising. The sourness of it will make you go for more beef!



Yellow Fin Tuna Tataki that is coated with sesame seeds and served with citrus salsa.



Poached Egg fans, eat this. Poached Hen Eggs topped with foie gras foam.


Video clip that I loaded to Instagram.

There are also Main Courses that you can order, they will prepare it on the fly and serve it to your table. It's the warm food that's cook when you want to eat it. Here's what we had:



Poached Cod Fish that was served with White Mary Vodka Beurre Blanc, sauteed leek and celery. The Slow Dried Cherry Tomatoes, that little thing was bursting with umami. Very nicely done.



There are also 'passed around desserts' in addition to the ones at the buffet. This was the Cherry Tomato Mousse. It was interesting that a tiny cherry tomato has been emptied and filled with tomato mousse. Served with chocolate cream.



If you are bringing your kids here, the price is $75 per child (4 - 12 years old).
They have their own mains too that you can order for them.
This is the Snapper's Fish Fingers with french fries.



There's always the chocolates and desserts that you can eat here.
There are many more food options that I can't possibly show all here. If you like what you see, you can book the brunch here. 

It is available on Sundays, 5 to 26th October 2014.

St Regis Bloody Mary Anniversary Brunch
St Regis Singapore
29 Tanglin Road
Singapore 247911

Tel: +65 6506 6860
Web: http://www.stregissingapore.com/bloodymary

Afternoon Tea at Brasserie Les Saveurs, St Regis Singapore.

It was one of those days that the wife and I happened to take leave on a weekday. We don't have a helper at home, so the day was meant for me to do the household stuff that is more labour intensive. Maybe also this OCD husband needs his taps polished and grout lines in the bathroom to be 'white' and thinks the wife can't do a good job. When the Grohe taps in the bathroom and kitchen had been nicely polished and grout lines visibly clean it was already past 1 pm. (obviously we did not wake up that early just to do housework)

The other eye sore that I had to do for the day before the wife gets angry. The stack of newspaper that I have been stacking on one of the tables at home. As I was clearing them, I was flipping the makan section and saw that Sheraton has a unique Japanese Afternoon Tea. I tip toe to the wife showing her the article. I have worked hard enough today, let's go, I treat you. She gladly agreed and said she'll call and see if there's a table. To our horror, it seems that many people in Singapore don't need to work, the place is fully booked! It's the 2nd time in 2 weeks that we wanted to book something at Sheraton and it's fully booked. (We found out it's because of the various 1-for-1!)

Disappointed, sweaty and hungry, I was clearing my bag and saw the Supper Club card that was given to us sometime back. Basically it gives us discounts, if you are interested you can read it here. We haven't been using it, and suddenly remembered the wife mentioned that she wanted to go there for Afternoon Tea. I dangled the card at her and she smiled. Yes yes, let's go. Wait, let me call first, don't want to have 2nd disappointment for the day, she said. Oh yes, there's space for 2 of us. It starts at 3 pm.

So to 'tong' until 3pm, we opened our chocolate fridge and yup, indulged in some chocolates. Then showered, clean up and then we left the house.



I tell you, after a morning of polishing, I saw fine lines on this teapot and I wanted to polish it!
It's clean and a few tiny lines outside doesn't matter, I had to tell myself.

The afternoon tea here is called "The Grand Astor Afternoon Tea".
We saw the tea menu and it had a nice selection of Black, Red, Green and White Tea. There are also tea blends. They source their tea from TWG. The Mrs had the Pai Mu Tan and I had Emperor's White Garden Tea.



This is what greets you when you enter Brasserie Les Saveurs. It's cakes and all kinds of sweets that reminds me of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.



Oh look, it's a Stairway to Heaven!

Since I started with Joseph the musical, let me name more songs. Are you a Led Zappelin Stairway to Heaven person? Or Neil Sedaka Stairway to Heaven person? Or are you like me the Korean Drama Stairway to Heaven Drama person?

Ok, back to the food.....



No, we did not start eating desserts and cheeses first. It was too beautiful to miss. I took photos first because everyone, almost everyone was walking around with the mobile phones taking photos of themselves and their food. So it's the best time to take without looking weird!



They have a selection of western, Asian and local sweets and savouries for you to indulge.



Guess what I spotted? If you have been following me on Instagram, you would know I have a soft spot for Curry Puffs! They are not hand twirled for the corners, but this vegetarian curry puff was really quite nice. It had the soft gooey flowy kind of texture inside. I think they don't serve it daily. Everything changes depending on what the pastry chef feels like making.



If you are a scones person, you probably want to come here and have your afternoon tea here. 4 kinds of scones served on that day. I like the cranberry scones while the wife likes the pesto scones.

They rotate the flavours of the scones too. The Duck and Orange Peel scones were not available that day. Someone said the bacon ones were good too. Another time perhaps.



If clotted cream's not for you, (it's not for me, the wife loves it) there's the honeycomb drip honey!



Or choose from 10 different jams / conserves.



Yes, I like my honey and lemon curd.
(ahem, yes this statement applies to my dining companion too and she's reading this.)



On the menu we saw the 'big' word used to describe this.
Presenting the "Quintessential Three-Tiered Silver Stand"!



On the silver stand there's the Pot Pie, Soup and Quiche of the Day and also with the classic finger sandwiches. That's our pot pies and the carrot soup. Nice warm carrot soup, something I can try to replicate at home!



Here's a peep into the Pot Pie. It's chicken and mushroom and quite aromatic and flavourful.



The quiche of the day, I could not really catch what the serve staff said, but tasting it, it's mushroom and we smell a bit of truffle too.



Two mouths of rice for the day came from the sushi. I can survive without rice for days, but when I saw the rice, I thought I will still have a bite! They serve the sushi in half portions! What an excellent idea!



They had live stations with someone making crepes and waffles as you order it.
Who can resist not ordering waffles?



I always pick the chocolates here. The one with the SR initials is the 64 Manjari Chocolate Ganache and is one of my favourite. White Chocolate with Sicilian Pistachio is nice too!



This made me laugh. I was thinking of having Chai Tow Kueh (Asian Carrot Cake) in the morning, but got to eat this Carrot Cake instead.



I took one of this because it's pretty. Yes, admit it, there are things you pick to eat because it's beautiful and you know people will be tempted on Instagram! LOL!!!



This last photo because I love ice cream / gelato and I can help myself to as many scoops of it.
The Yuzu sorbet is really really good. Help yourself to 2 scoops or more if you like it!

Something happened when we were asked for the bill. Something that was common when we were growing up, but seldom nowadays. Remember the old times that our parents used to foot the bills of their friends if they happen to dine at the same place. It happened to us. The wait staff said: "Sir, Mr S has foot the bill for you." So 'pai seh', but thank you!

The afternoon tea here is priced at $48++ per person Sundays to Fridays.
On Saturdays, there's a Tea Dance and it's $58++.

Afternoon Tea at Brasserie Les Saveurs
St Regis Singapore
29 Tanglin Road
Singapore 247911

Tel: +65 6506 6888
Web: http://www.stregissingapore.com/