Good Interesting 2pax Lunch @ Immanuel French Kitchen on 19Mar2015

duck rillette & kakuni belly pork

duck rillette & kakuni belly pork

went with a friend to try out immanuel french kitchen at salute coffeeshop at alexandra village on 19.3.2015.^^

my interest was piqued by the saw a write-up on ST Life on enochximmanuel 6-course dinner menu 3-day event.

i did not managed that but did went with my wife to enoch’s the evening before. so today, it’s time to try out immanuel french kitchen.

it’s not easy to get parking even at 11.45am. anyhow i managed to parked at SCAL (singapore contractors association limited) building.

salute coffee shop

salute coffee shop

salute coffee shop

salute coffee shop

salute coffeeshop is really an interesting concept. all the stallholders are “boutique restaurants” in a non-air con environment.

the “people in white” wearing the stew kuche tees seemed to be policing the place. i was early & place was quite empty so i sat at a 4-seat table. they asked me to move to the next 2-seat table. reasonable ask, good practice i guess – so comply, not that there was a choice!

they did that to a young couple again who came to sit at the table i vacated. well, at least it was consistent & diligent.

immauel french kitchen menu

immauel french kitchen menu

we came mainly for immanuel french kitchen. chef immanuel tee has rather illustrious pedigree, having worked at jaan with chef andre chiang, restaurant andre (where he met & worked with chef enoch teo), michelin starred guy savoy & pastorale, & keystone.

young chef was busy. there were another 3 helpers.

we ordered the duck rillette & the kakuni style braised belly pork. both were good!

kakuni style braised belly pork

kakuni style braised belly pork

kakuni style braised belly pork

kakuni style braised belly pork

kakuni style braised belly pork

kakuni style braised belly pork

the belly pork was excellent. i guess sous vide, & very well done for taste, texture, with the onset egg & croutons. very enjoyable dish, big for 1pax & quite perfect to be enjoyed by 2pax or 3.^^

duck rillette + gerkhins

duck rillette + gerkhins

duck rillette

duck rillette

i love the duck rillette. it was a very good helping too, & served with pickled gerkhins, which i liked too. the baguette was good too & excellent taken together with the duck rillette. i want to eat this again!

mussels pot

mussels pot

mussels pot

mussels pot

mussels pot

mussels pot

the stew ruche menu did not look exciting. we were not going to take the knuckles, & the pasta did not look great. of course could not tell until you tasted it but on photos alone, think my own pastas are better than any of them.

1 reviewer commented that the ramen burger had nice bulgogi but the burger tasted like maggi instant noodles snack!

my friend decided to try the mussels pot from seasalt. this was poor really! & such a simple dish to make. mussels were just slightly overcooked & not so juicy & succulent. the sauce gravy was ordinary.

worse, 1/2 the mussels had beards that were not removed, quite “dirty” really. no chance i would try this again.

c.h.e.f andy

Degustation Dinner at My Favourite Restaurant @ Jaan on 8May2013

prawn cannelloni on crustacean jelly decorated with ikura & topped with oscietra cavier

prawn cannelloni on crustacean jelly decorated with ikura & topped with oscietra cavier

recent update = the-best-dinner-degustation-jaan-on-20jan2014

dinner at Jaan has always been a most enjoyable experience. we used to go Jaan quite a lot when Andre Chiang first arrived, and while we enjoyed his degustation dinners we liked his ala carte menu even more. 🙂

when Andre left (predictably) to set up his own restaurant & some swedish chef joined Jaan, we had given it a miss for most part of 1+ years, but somehow managed to rediscover Jaan a year+ ago when it was helmed by Julien Royer, the young current Jaan Chef, and we liked his degustation menu just as much now. 🙂

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7-course Menu Prestige

The Menu Prestige was a 7-course affair. as usual there were 2 great to super & very substantial amuse bouche, as well as a pre-dessert, so it was no less a 10-course meal. 🙂

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the first amuse bouche was 3 small items – a rye cracker with a very nice hummus dip, another cracker & a wonderful eel with jelly stick & croquette.

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the second amuse bouche was a cepes mushroom tea. this was truly sublime with such intense flavours & the best soup I had ever taken anywhere. 🙂 the bread basket came at this point as they baked them fresh. 🙂 I had truffle bread (very nice) and sour dough.

the FIRST course was prawn cannelloni on crustacean jelly decorated with ikura & topped with oscietra cavier. this was wonderful in taste as it was a beautiful picture to behold (see top photo).  I did though find the jelly just a little bit salty.

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the SECOND course was a 55min (at 60degC) rosemary smoked organic egg with iberico chorizo. It had wonderful smoked rosemary flavour. the texture & flavour combination of a very smooth, somewhat sticky egg yoke with savoury chorizo was excellent.

bread & butter crusted Norwegian scallop with pumpkin puree

bread & butter crusted Norwegian scallop with pumpkin puree

THIRD course was a bread & butter crusted Norwegian scallop with pumpkin puree, a great dish. the scallop meat was very sweet & totally consistent – looked like it was sous vide (vacuum low temperature cooking) then deep-fried.

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next, the FOURTH course was pan seared foie gras in 3 large bite-size pieces topped with strawberries & a very good fish broth or dashi stock – this was somewhat new variation to the usual caramelised version & it was easy to eat too with a spoon. 🙂

confit atlantic turbot with squid, grilled leek

confit atlantic turbot with squid, grilled leek

the first Main –  the FIFTH course was an excellent confit atlantic turbot with squid, grilled leek. they called it confit here but they were all sous vide to produce the very excellent consistency & sweetness. My wife liked this very much. I was a bit undecided as while it was good I might actually have preferred a good pan-seared version of this great fish. 🙂

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hay roasted bresse pigeon confit leg with barley & morel mushrooms

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the second Main – the SIXTH course – was hay-roasted bresse pigeon confit leg with barley & morel mushrooms. I had always loved this dish, very sweet & tender both the breast & leg. again, it was sous vide then hay roasted. the barley was excellent touch. 🙂

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very nice pre-dessert sorbet palate cleanser

this was followed by a very nice pre-dessert sorbet palate cleanser.

choconuts version 4 - different flavours of chocolates

choconuts version 4 – different flavours of chocolates

the SEVENTH & last course was a choconuts version 4 – different flavours of chocolates. every version at Jaan was good, basically it was just re-decoration of the same items but showing off the chef artistic plating skills. 🙂

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coffee was served with petite 4 – marshmallows, nutty chocolate, a rock melon sorbet stick, and a rosemary infused profitero lollipop.

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Jaan the restaurant – we had a window seat great view

we managed to get window seat for the evening. the view was great! MBS, Esplanade, the Flyer – very enchanting skyline. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy