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

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/

Lunar New Year Feasting @ Yan Ting, St Regis Singapore

Many people now have many 'reunion' dinner this month. We have family dinners, colleague dinners, friend dinners and every of these meals, you have it at different places. Many have already had multiple yu sheng and there are more to come!

If you are still in the midst of planning where to have one of those many 'reunion' dinners, this dishes at Yan Ting might tempt you and pick up the phone and book. It's available from now till 14 February 2014.

Executive Chinese Chef Mak Kip Fu joined Yan Ting in the last quarter of 2013. He is one of the few master chefs in Hong Kong that originally handled the woks at Fook Lam Moon, considered one of the best Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. The same kitchen that produced many of Hong Kong's top Cantonese master chefs.


Prosperity Yu Sheng with Norwegian Salmon – $88 (Large) and $48 (Medium)

There's no fanciful or elaborate design but a more traditional decided by the Chef Mak and his team. I have gone back to Yan Ting again on my own to have the Yu Sheng with my family because my MIL wanted to have one that is good.

The combination has something that we normally don't see which is fresh enoki. It also had micro herbs that we usually see in western fine dining plating. The version above had sliced abalones as special additional add-ons.


Braised Superior Bird’s Nest Broth with Crab Meat – $78 per portion

It's a huge nest in my serving and a generous amount of crab meat too. Bring your lady here and she will thank you for ordering this for her. All right, guys love it too.


Braised Whole 5-Head African Abalone with Seasonal Greens – $52 per portion

Another dish that was very delicate and well prepared dish. The abalone was braised just nice and it was still tender and you could easily slice it with your knife. The sauce that is served goes well with the abalone, mushroom and greens.


Hong Kong-Style Steamed Coral Trout – part of a set menu, no ala carte pricing available

The coral trout was so beautiful in many ways. Served in a bamboo steamer dim sum style, it looked so beautiful. The texture of trout was tender-firm. A cut of ginger made sure even the pickiest fish eater won't complain it is fishy.

Steamed Hong Kong style, it happens to be one of my favourite way to cooking fish.


Prosperity Oyster with Moss and Conpoy – $42 per portion

A dish sounds very auspicious. I am just happy it is delicious too!
When I was a kid, I totally do not like dried oysters. I have learn to enjoy them and this was nicely done. Oh, the oysters and the scallops. It was just divine.



Baked Rack of Lamb with Chef’s Signature Coffee Glaze – part of a set menu, no ala carte pricing available

One of chef's signature dish. When I first took a bite, I did not know it was lamb because it had no gamey taste. The coffee glaze over it made it quite irresistible, even for a non-coffee drinker like me. My piece was so tender and it was just so enjoyable having it.


Braised Ee-Fu Noodles with Seafood in XO Sauce – part of a set menu, no ala carte pricing available

I think it had more ingredients than noodles, but who would mind? Ee-Fu noodles is probably the only 'yellow' noodle that I love. It's so comforting for me to slurp it down. This version with enough oommph XO sauce made it quite a pleasure indulging it.

Their Special Recipe XO sauce is available for purchase at $38. Check the hotel's ordering hotline / URL on how to order.

(If you like my mum's recipe of XO sauce, it's here, if you have time to make it at home yourself)


Fragrant Home-Made Almond Tea with Hashima & Glutinous Rice Cake – part of a set menu, no ala carte pricing available

I must confess I don't know how to appreciate almond tea and hashima. I would say it tasted good and I know it's good for our skin. I gladly ate it all up. I should maybe start ordering this in places that sells it and let me compare.

For a whole listing of the various a-la-carte and set menus available for the Lunar New Year, please visit: http://www.yantingrestaurant.com/cny2014


There are quite a few takeaways too, if you are to go bring food for your reunion party. Suckling Pig, Pi Pa Duck sound like things that people will enjoy.


Yan Ting 
St Regis Singapore
29 Tanglin Road,
Singapore 247911

Tel: +65 6506 6866
Hours: 11:45 AM - 3:00 PM; 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM daily.