I am still floating on cloud when i wrote this post. Finally, I had a chance to try Andre's cooking. I first got to know him when he turned Jaan from just another restaurant into the #39 in the prestigious World World’s 50 Best Restaurants. I never make it to Jaan, and he left Jaan to set up his own restaurant. He said in an interview that he has always wanted his own small place where he can push the boundaries of his creative mind and to reach out to all who are curious about his creations.
I was extremely excited when I saw the news that his new restaurant would be open on 10 Oct 2010. However, as much as he said that the price will not be crazy, I hesitated to pay $288++ per person (without wine pairing) for dinner. I need a special reason, i told myself.
GT made my dream come true. When he knew that Andre was the place that I always wanted to go, he made reservation for dinner to celebrate my birthday. I look forward in anticipation for my birthday to come. Celebrate birthday with your love one in your dream restaurant & chef, what else can i ask for?
Andre is located in Bukit Pasoh, at the New Majestic Hotel. Bukit Pasoh house Absinthe and Otto, and with Andre, it will be the new favourite place for foodie. We are welcome by a lady in black, and shown to the sofa at the level one of the shop house. However, it was not a good start, as they took our reservation wrongly, they thought that we were booked for a table of 3. Nonetheless, they were apologetic, and said that they would change the table setting. We were shown to our table at level 2 of the shop house within 5 minutes.
A small place indeed, maximum capacity would be around 30. It does not give you the fine dining, intimidating feel, it felt like you are at home with Chef.
There was no alacarte menu. It was a set 8 courses menu that Chef Andre has prepared. Actually if you add the starter and the dessert, it was actually a 10 courses meal! We also chose to have the wine pairing menu, a good idea if you are a good drinker.
We started with the Amuse Bouche, 3 items in total: Chicken skin Masala, some popcorn spread and onion truffle tart. There was no photo of the Chicken Skin Masala as it did not turn out too well due to the dim lights.
My favourite was the Onion Truffle Tart. Crispy and fragrant. The popcorn felt a bit strange, the texture was smooth like eating popcorn cream.
Alright, now that our palate were clear, we were ready for the main!
First main was
Pure
As the name suggested, there were no seasoning used. All the flavours were the natural flavour from the ingredients.
The next dish: Salt
The black thing to your left was actually oyster. It was mixed with seaweed to form a jelly like thing. It was
the first time that I had oyster in such a way. No more tabasco sauce, no more lime. A total refreshing way to eat oyster. I am not a big oyster fan, but I would not mind a second one.
Next was South, with Risotto on the bottom, fish and juicy prawn on top. If i remembered correctly, Southern France was where Chef Andre spent much of his time. The photo below showed some white foam, which was actually crab foam. I have informed them while choosing our wine that I was allergic to crabs, therefore i did not have the foam.
The next dish was Texture- Squid ink risotto and cauliflower puree
Since I could not have squid, I had this as my replacement. A mixture of fish and garnished with some baby baked potatoes.
Next, Memory. This was my favourite dish of the night. Served in a large glass, it looked like chawamushi. But it was actually foie gras with black truffle sauce. It did not have the greasy feel of your usual foie gras, and the black truffle enhanced the taste! Master piece, it was chef Andre creation since 1998.
This was GT's favourite dish, Terroir. The main was milk fed lamb from Wales, the most tender lamb that we had ever tasted.
Close up on the lamb:
After all these, we were served a cheese platter with condiments such as prunes and apricot. Dessert was my second favourite of the night. The chocolate sponge was the most heavenly sponge that I have ever tasted. I wonder if I could request for take away? I had a pleasant surprise from the Chef, a complimentary birthday cake and a signed card!! Icing on the cake was a photo with Chef Andre when he was doing his rounds to thank the diners. He was such a humble man, his first statement was "Hope it was ok"
My only gripe was that no flash was allowed in the restaurant, thus most of the photo did not turn out as good as I wanted them to be. But well, we do not live in a perfect world. The food experience was once a life time experience, and to share it with your loved one, it is definitely a blessing. Thank you GT for this wonderful birthday present.
Restaurant Andre
Address: 41 Bukit Pasoh Road, Singapore
Tel: +65 6534 8880
