Salted Egg Lava Croissant @ Antoinette

The lure of croissants. I do have a slight weakness for it and dragged the wife to go around Paris to taste it. You probably have watched Gordon Ramsay's YouTube where he went to Arnaud Delmontel to learn how to make the perfect croissant. That was one of the early YouTube that made me go around tasting Croissants. Arnaud do have one of the nicer croissants in Paris.

The lure of croissants also made us choose Melbourne as a destination for our family trip. Last November, in the cold winter of Melbourne, with the wife and baby in tow, we queued for Melbourne's ultimate place for croissant at Lune Croissanterie. This place really has one of the better croissants around in the southern hemisphere! (I mentioned slight weakness so I won't list out all the places and silly things I do.)

For croissants in Singapore, Antoinette has one of Singapore's better croissants. I don't use the word best because I haven't found one. (Mua ha ha ha....) On 1 February, Antoinette joined the hype of having Salted Egg Lava Croissant. (Hurray!)



This is Chef Pang Kok Keong's Salted Egg Lava Croissant. The browning of the dough is just perfect. (This was indoors taken without flash, so there's a tinge of warmness in the photo, this is as real as you can get when you dine there)  You can see the layerings and this was taken out fresh from the oven, so as you bite into it, it layers shatters as it should.

We were told it's made from French butter and it has been laminated and shaped in a controlled environment at 12 degrees Celsius. That is why we should leave the making of croissants to the experts. My sis and cousin have been planning to make their own and planning how to get the kitchen really cold and surface cold etc... So much planning.

If you wonder about the size, this is one huge croissant. It is served one croissant on a plate!
(For those who play the piano, it's about 1 octave plus around 2 white keys in width)



This silly boy wanted to take a photo in natural light to show you the colour of the croissant, so he sneaked out the bakery/restaurant with his plate.  Here you go, the colour from the Maillard reaction of the dough. Such nice browning. The layers too. This was 'sawn' using a serrated knife that's why it is so nicely cut. (Chef is not telling the temperature and time he took to bake it.)

The croissant filling that is 'lava-ly' (you can pronounced it as lovely too), is made from real natural egg yolks, sugar and milk. The colour is this because it is made from natural egg yolks. Most places that mass produced lots of 'liu sar' products will use egg yolk powder as it is easier and less time consuming.

If you have to take photo, you got less than a minute to do it if you want the lava to flow out. It will harden up as it turns cold!

Talking about time consuming, the salted egg yolk lava is hand-sieved to give it a smooth texture. If you have been watching lots of cooking show, you know those who wow-ed the judges always hand-sieved their mash potatoes etc.



Here you go, another shot to show you the 'lava' and also the air pockets in the croissants.
For those who love both croissant and anything salted egg yolk, you can try this.


The Salted Yolk Lava Croissant is made fresh daily in limited quantities (couple of hundreds at the moment). The croissant is priced at $6.50++ for dine-in and $6.50+ for take-away. I recommend you dine-in. You need to eat it warm so it's flaky and the filling still oozes!

Available at:
- Antoinette's Penhas outlet from 1st February at 11 am daily.
- Antoinette's Mandarin Gallery and Softel So Singapore outlets from 10th February at 1 pm daily.

Website: www.antoinette.com.sg
Facebook: www.facebook.com/antoinette.sg
Instagram: antoinette_sg

Antoinette Penhas Road
30 Penhas Road (off Lavender Street)
Singapore 208188
Tel: +65 6293 3121

Antoinette Mandarin Gallery 
333A Orchard Road
Mandarin Gallery
#02-33/34
Singapore 238897
Tel: +65 6836 9527

Antoinette Softel So Singapore
Lobby Level 
35 Robinson Road
Singapore 068876 
Tel: +65 6701 6868

Le Jardin D' Antoinette @ Palais Renaissance

Have you recently discovered a French garden in Orchard Road? It's located inside Palais Renaissance. This is only 'roofless' gazebo that you can see from the higher floor when you look in the centre of the mall.

This is the newest branch of Antoinette that most ladies in Singapore are familiar with.



If you are one that has eye for details, you should look at the details Chef Pang puts in for the design of this place. He's so hands-on, that I wonder how such a busy can find time to do it. It must be his passion.



From what I heard, these pieces of furniture can't really be found elsewhere. They were partially custom made for this place.

This was a recent invite by Antoinette through their PR folks for a tasting.
It's to taste their new menu and also the 2012 Cake Collection.

The portions shown here are much smaller than the real thing because we were trying out many items. The actual portions are 2-3 times bigger.



Classic French Onion Soup / $16.50

The classic soup that was so appetizing. It was a very rich and aromatic bouillon, full of flavour from the caramalized onions and meats that was used to make it. There was a piece of cheese baguette inside. I love how the gruyere and parmesan crust covers the soup bowl.


Tartine de Nicoise / Butter lettuce, French bean, tomatoes, olives, 3-minute egg, anchovy,
and seared tuna served on levain ($26)

This very light and tasty salad was served with Chef Pang's homemade levain (sourdough bread). If you don't already know, Chef Pang's restaurant makes their own bread and they also culture their yeast. The bread was made using yeast that was culture 16 days.

This reminds me of mum's experiments, she sometimes make bread from yeast spores that floats in the air. It takes a super long time. Am not sure how Chef Pang, but I guess it's from some controlled environment to get the flavour he wants for his bread. Mum's version is not as nice, maybe I should bring mum over and let her try it to improve her version. ;-)


Bouchées aux fruits de mer / Seafood in puff pastry case ($30)

The seafood like the scallops, squid and shrimps were done just nice. It's for those who like cream based sauce. 


Confit de Poitrine de Porc / Traditional French style pork belly confit served with garlic mash, seasonal vegetables and mustard sauce ($36)

Oh, I like this dish. The pork belly that was not too fatty, was confit in duck fat. It's a dish that 'babitarians' (babi - the word that Peranakan used for pork) would love!

For this dish, how I wished it was the full portions that I think has 3-4 pieces of this delicious pork.



Prawn Crumble / Spaghettini aglio olio style with fresh prawns, anchovy crumble and parsley pesto ($26)

This pasta was really unique. The texture of the al dante pasta with anchovy crumble and pesto reminds me of how we sometimes cook 'play cheat' pasta at home. We would use noodles or thin pasta and sprinkle some hae bee hiam on it. The texture is similar, but this of course taste much better!


It's a dry version of the regular pasta. You may like it.


A trip to Antoinette is incomplete without tasting their cakes and pastry!
Here's what we sampled:


Chloe / Yuzu cremeux, white chocolate vanilla mousse, light sponge cake, almond sable ($9)


Tarte Exotique / Almond tart, gula Melaka cremeux, finger sponge with gula Melaka, coconut mousse, exotique coulis ($8.50)


Forbidden Fruit / Green apple mousse, maple cremeux, vanilla caramel apple, green apple jelly, financier cake ($9)

The cakes and tarts were all equally good. You need to try them all to pick your favourite!



You can pick up all these delightful chocolates for takeaways!


And savour all the macarons you want too!
So many choices! Which is your favourite flavour here?



Many people will prefer sitting in Le Jardin (Garden), where you get an airy feeling where people in the mall can also see you have your meal.

If you prefer more privacy and want to feel like you are dining in some European aristocratic dining room, you can opt to dine in the inner room called Le Salon d'Antoinette.


If you are organizing a private function, you can also book Le Salon I'Elysee, a private room that can sit 8-10 people. If you want to organize something special for 2 you can also book this place. They can provide customized menu too if you book this room. For rates, do call them.

Thanks to Chef Pang and Hsian Ming from Sixth Sense Comm for hosting the group of us.


Antoinette at Palais Renaissance
390 Orchard Road,
B1-08/09/10C Palais Renaissance
Singapore 238871

Tel: +65 67356392
Hours: 11 am - 10 pm daily
URL: www.antoinette.com.sg