Brasserie Wolf

It is white asparagus season!! Missy likes white asparagus and had got some to try cooking them (thought it might be cheaper and more for her).  Bella gave some tips on how to blanch the asparagus and it was done perfectly, with a bite.    

Brasserie Wolf was offering a white asparagus menu and their executive chef was talking about it on his fan page.  Missy felt she should give the restaurant another try, just for her love for the white asparagus.  Poached white asparagus, poached egg and hollandaise sauce was the dish chose out of several that were offered.    Missy wished she could love the dish, but nay.  The egg was okay; the hollandaise sauce was perfect and the white asparagus SUCK big time!   Missy’s attempts to slice them broke them into strands.    It was difficult to chew or cut the asparagus into bite able sizes.  Rather disappointed that one of her favorite ingredients was done so badly.

Traditional French onion soup with Gruyere cheese & toast was done well.  The soup was flavorful with loads of onions.  The plentiful Gruyere cheese with the toast gave the soup a great touch of heartiness.  It’s hot, it’s flavorful and it’s cheesy!!! Missy loves.    Brasserie wolf’s version could easily be one of Missy’s favorite French onion soups in Singapore.

Missy read somewhere that Brasserie Wolf has this new grill, supposed to be a big hoo haa that produces excellent food.  When the menu mention Josper grilled foie gras with griottine cherry sauce, she has to try it out.  When the foie gras came, Missy felt they had served a whole liver of a young duckling.  It was such a generous portion.  Missy loves foie gras; unfortunately this really turns her off.  The foie gras piece was like a lump of gooey fat.  The outside was soft; the inside was gooey, Missy felt disgusted by it.  The taste wasn’t impressive as well.    Due to these various reasons, she chose not to finish the dish.   This was another waste of her favorite ingredients.  * Big sigh + a roll of eyeballs *

USDA Choice, Rib eye 220gm with bone marrow, bordelaise sauce and mash potato was asked to serve raw.   Missy likes her steak raw these days.  Mash potato was okay, bone marrow was fine, bordelaise sauce was so so and the steak was tasty.   She felt the steak could had seared better, it just lack so much in coloring.  If look is everything, it will be a F.

Missy was asked to leave her contact behind, as she had feedback she did not enjoy the asparagus.  For that effort from the lady manager, it was worth mentioning.  What is also worth mentioning is the executive chef wasn’t in the kitchen preparing or even supervising the dishes that were served.  He was out busy doing some off site catering.  To this, Missy wonders if she had been short changed by the restaurant, as she had actually went to try the skills of chef Claudio Sandri.

For some of the extra photos : MissyGlutton's fan page

Balzac Brasserie (Rendezvous Gallery)

Missy had been really busy with foodstuffs lately.  Going to classes to learn how to cook and getting together with like-minded friends to cook a feast.   She is still determined to write at least a posting a month.  Today is the last day of April, the last chance to write her one thousand and one post.  May is supposed to be the month of celebrations.  Why?  Because May always just bring a picture of a group of people in rainbow colored clothes, holding onto colorful ribbons and dancing around a tall wooden pole.  Unfortunately for Missy, it had became a month of mourning.  After Missy's loss of her princess JRT, the month of May had been a period of darkness.   Wishing lots of love to her princess and have a happy life over the rainbow in doggy heaven.

So back to the usual program: Food.  Recently Missy went to a few newly open restaurants and one of them happened to be Balzac Brasserie at Rendezvous Gallery.   This place was on the radar and vague plans were made to visit it one day.  The visit was hurried by a chef's Fan page, somewhat promoting this place.  As it came highly recommended, Missy went to try out this French brasserie armed with high expectations.  Disappointment came fast, the main for the set lunch "Pan seared Wagyu beef steak" was not available and changed to some stew.  Missy had wanted a steak and not a stew, as she was also interested in trying the french onion soup in the a la carte menu.  

Disappointed, Missy decided to organize her meals from the selections in the a la carte menu.  Missy decided to have the chef special " foie gras", the french onion soup, gnocchi and rice pudding.  Missy had liked the flavors of most dishes she tried that day.   

Pan-fried foie gras with caramelized apple and duck jus was the chef special on the board.  Missy loves a good piece of goose/duck liver.   At the price Balzac was asking, Missy was hoping to get twice the size of what was served.  Missy was told once, food served in fine dining restaurants usually are smaller in portions…  The foie gras was definitely pan fried and not seared.  The whole piece was cooked.  This is one of the harder foie gras she ever had, kind of reminded her of those liver slices served in pig organ soups.  Even with the sweet caramelized apple slices, the whole dish came across as rather bitter.  

The Oignon de cevennes (Traditional french onion soup with gratinated gruyere cheese) was flavored but not hearty.  There was something lacking, and it doesn't have the heartiness a good bowl of french onion soup would give.  Missy is wondering if the stock had caramelized onion slices were just thrown in before serving.  Using the bread slices with oats or wheat on the crust was not exactly inspiring.  Those oats or wheat gave the soup a different texture aka difficult to chew and add a different (not a good one) taste.  Stingy with cheese is another characteristic of this soup.  All Missy wants from a french onion soup is a full bodied soup cooked with lots of caramelized onions, a slice or maybe two nice baguette slices and lots of melted cheese.  Good french onion soup is surprisingly hard to get in Singapore.

Artisanal tarragon gnocchi, tomato confit and butternut squash emulsion was the main.  Yes, Missy ordered an Italian dish in a french place.  Can Missy just blame the lack of inspirations that were in the menu? Or at least blame the missing Wagyu steak from the set lunch?  But, Nay.  Gnocchi is one Missy's most most most favorite pasta dish.  The gnocchi was deliciously cooked and extremely good! Other than that, Missy thinks the whole dish was…. a disaster.  The tomato confit could have been a runaway from the hot oven.  The skin was so intact and the fruit tasted so raw, it definitely escapes from a salad bowl.  The deep dish of butternut squash emulsion could have been the swimming (inspired from Bella's comment)… alright, Missy is exaggerating…. but it could have been a tiny kid pool for the gnocchi and the single tomato…  Missy would really prefer sauce emulsion for this dish.  Giving the benefit of the doubt (even after discussions with friends who cook professionally and as hobbies), the chef might wanted it to be a stew.  Gnocchi stew?  Could be the first and last time for Missy.

Riz au lait (Mamie Dubois' traditional rice pudding served with caramel sauce and toasted pistachios) came warm.  Surprisingly Missy thought this was the best dish she was served in Balzac.  Spoonful of warm rice pudding mixed with super duper sweet caramel followed by the crunchy pistachios bites was almost good enough to forget everything else that is lacking in previous dishes.

Like what Missy told Mr. D.B, this place is not bad, but not completed.   Food presented and served were halfhearted attempts at even trying to please.   It seemed the people behind these food doesn't have the heart to complete the dishes and left Missy rather disappointed at the end of the day.

Some of the pictures from the meal @ Balzac Brasserie.

BTW, Missy is still eating daily and posting photos on the facebook fan page

Chef Bruno Menard @ Jaan

Missy likes to read the different food magazines available in Singapore.   She would try to get reservations for the visiting chefs and some of the new restaurants featured.  Okay, Missy might not be the brightest in a box of crayons.  She won’t know and honestly really care who are all the famous chefs or what their backgrounds might be.  What is the most important for her is the food that are prepared and put in front of her.

Chef Bruno Menard was going to be a guest chef in Jaan for a few days. As she has her class afterwards, it had to be a semi rush job.  Unfortunately Missy was only able to make it for only a day, and immediately she called up Red-Waterbottle to force him to go for lunch. 

The menu presented was:

Amuse-bouche: -  Smoked foie gras custard and sorrel espuma

This was an excellent combination of sorrel and foie gras.   The richness of foie gras mixed with the rustic taste of sorrel gave Missy the purrs.  The internal humming was starting, definitely a good sign of her enjoyment of the food.

Appetizer: - Saint Jacques (scallops) and Avocado, Caviar D' Aquitaine

Fresh scallop were great with avocado.  Little grains of caviars, a bit of the scallops and a slice of avocado were nice.  It was the salt grains and lemon zest gave the dish a slight extra touch, which could have been overlooked by a lesser chef.  

Soup: - Roscoff onion soup, parsley custard and white truffle Chantilly

The soup was presented in a spaceship dish.  When it was uncovered, the soup did look plain at first.  When she dug deeper, there was the parsley custard.  Missy wasn’t a big fan of parsley, but it hard worked so well in this soup.  The humming had slowly developed into a song.

Main: - 

Venison fillet and ginger butter, beets "Noque" and condiments

French sea bass, Lemon gnocchi, marinated grapefruit and "Dolce forte" sauce

Missy wasn’t too impressed with the mains.  It was a good beginning of a song, and was hoping for a big bang in the end.

Refresher: - Oriental flavor granite

The taste was rather unique, not the usual lemon or lime a regular chef would have done. 

Dessert: -  Coffee, Pear, Cardamom

Chef Bruno promised Missy would like the dessert.  Unfortunately, Missy is not a big fan of coffee or cardamom.  She did love the poached pear.  

Petite fours: -

Mignardises

It was just a cookie from rather unique box from France.  Missy would definitely buy a box of it, if she sees it being sold out there.

Like a good chef who would taste his food regularly, chef Bruno Menard came out to check with the customers.  Chef Bruno Menard is based in Japan, and his many years there had given the skill to combine many different ingredients into perfect harmony. The food was so wonderful; she could have buried him deeply in praises.  Missy was sincerely worried that her love for the food might have created an unwanted thought in her head.  How many people will discover him missing, kept in her cellar (she wished she has)?   

Missy only found out how famous chef Bruno Menard was when she goggled for a Smoked foie gras custard and sorrel espuma recipe to try out.  Missy’s best hope is for Chef Bruno to start sharing his recipes in a book or maybe start his own place in Singapore.

La Petite Cuisine (Upper Thomson)

Missy's take on La Petite Cuisine (Upper Thomson)

Le Cuisson

Missy's take on Le Cuisson

Chef Laurent Peugeot @ Il Cielo

Missy's take on Chef Laurent Peugeot @ Il Cielo

Au Petit Salut French Restaurant (17th Feb 2009)

I love having meals with friends. Friends who know the importance of sitting down, having a good meal and good conversations. Might be a conversation which could be meaningless to the rest of the world, yet be a topic of interest for me and them. It is not the results of the conversation that matter, it is just the plain chatting, discovering another point of view, which might be or not be agreeable to one self.

If you do want to have such a moment with some friends, I think Au Petit Salut might be one of the choice, however, do make sure you get a corner seat, or an outdoor seat if the weather is good.

The start of a wonderful meal starts with a peek into the daily offerings...

Bread basket
I was so busy shooting... that the bread became cold when we started eating it.... so the service staff were nice enough to get us another warm portion :)

Oyster

I can't say too much about it, but my friends did enjoy them. I wasn't in the mood for oysters that day.... so I had missed out on something good.

Bisque de homard

Lobster bisque with tarragon and lobster ravioli

This was nice... why do i think it is nice? hahah cause I finished it :p

I am not a cook, I would not know what was in it... other than the obvious ones, which was written in the menu.. lobster and tarragon :P

Foie gras de canard poele au vinaigre de Xeres

Pan seared duck foie gras served with baby spinach, red onions and Xeres vinegar

I like the red onions and the Xeres vinegar and mix with a bit of the baby spinach, I am crying for another serving of this wonderful prepared foie gras. And YES I do think force feeding to get this foie gras is a bad thing, so i always TRY to say a prayer for the poor duckie when i consumed the liver... though... I might had forgotten to do it when I was having its leg...

Salade de gourmande au homard, anguille fumee et St- Jacques

Cold seafood platter with lobster. smoked eel and grilled scallops, mesclun salad with basil dressing (I think we got salmon tartare instead of scallop.... )

I can't say there was anything special about it... Maybe there are just too much vegetables in it... I know it's a salad dish... but I am just so much a vegetable hater that the sight of a few leaves laying on each other just put me sooo off a dish.

Cuisse de canard confite

Crispy french duck leg confit with green lentils stew and yellow frisee salad with walnut dressing

okie... so this is the other part of the duck we had. It is, I felt, been cooked too long. I find it rather dry and hard. So I would say this duck had given its leg for a unworthy cause. I would not order this dish again, just so no ducks would have to give up their legs for it. (Hey, it might not be in good humor for any animal lovers. But in the frist place, it's my opinon! so I guess anyone who doesn't think it's funny... too bad. Move along! )

Filet de boeuf a l'echallotes

Pan seared beef tenderloin (150 gm) served with shallots and garlic confit, mashed potato

We definitely love this dish. As I had not have any good time with red meat, my tiny bite of it gave me the impression that this tenderloin was done the way we wanted it to be. Excellent dish indeed.

Filet de daurade Royale de l'Atlantique au four

Oven baked Atlantic royal seabream served with ratatouille and tomato coulis

Fish! I so do like fish dishes. I think this seabream is indeed a great piece of meat :D. Along with the ratouille and tomato coulis, it had made to the only dish I would order for my main, should i come back again. However, I do detect some bitterness around the tummy area, though it's a good dish, I definitely think it could make some improvements. (did I mention I am not a good cook??)

Selection de fromages affines Francaise, pain aux noix et salade

Selection of matured French farm cheeses served with walnut bread and salad

Not the best selection of cheeses... could have easily given a miss. However the bread was excellent :P I won't mind packing some of the walnut bread for my cheese parties.

Fondant chaud au chocolat

Warm melted 70% dark chocolate cake served with chocolate sorbet

Chocolate... I, who can't resist chocolate... find this dark chocolate cake which had chocolate sauce oozing from the inside, fantastically amusing. I do enjoy the taste of it. I didn't won't say this is on the top top of my chocolate list. Nothing can replace my current love for peanut butter chocolate :p

Mignonettes au pain d'epices et abricots, glace macadamia

Mini gingerbread filled with apricot jam and served with macadamia nut ice cream

okie... I don't like ginger. I don't like gingerbread. I do not like the tiniest bite of the gingerbread I tried. But I like the ice cream! :P hehe so if u are a fan of gingerbread, I think it would be a good dessert to order. If not.... you can always ask them for more ice cream without the gingerbread. However, you might not get your wish.

The service here was great and indeed a, I felt, a worthy meal to have at this excellent restaurant. However.... I think the fact that it is not a HUGE stadium sized place, it would be good if you are able to get a cosy corner... or an outdoor table. The fact that it is such a worthy lunch, alot of business people head there for their client meetings, which is great business for the resturant, but a lousy deal for me. I just want to have a nice place to take a break from the stressful world and I definitely do not like working lunch... much less other ppl's working lunch. And yes I am shamelessly listening into their conversations... not because I want to, it just because the sounds are bouncing off the walls/glasses of the restaurant.

Hi! James from DXS Bank. It is great meeting you that day.

Jaan (25th Oct 2008)

The view..... how precious, yet boring it is...

Was supposed to have a meal with SOME frens... but some couldn't make it. We decide to get a nice lunch and meet up with another fren after. The lunch became quite a chat about life and our life purposes...... Interesting chat indeed... not that I had decided what my life purpose is. But it's not about me... and it's about the meal...
We got very slim breadsticks... one was the parmesan cheese stick and the other one was made with squid ink. I enjoyed the salty parmesan cheese sticks... but I didn't think too much of the squid ink ones.

Then we have the bread...

Consomme de feuilles de combawa, aka Spiced Kaffir lime consomme, lightly smoked duck breast effiloche

I didn't try this... so I don't exactly know how it tasted... but I think it turned cold... after my friend waited ever so patiently for me to finish snapping the soup.

Confit de saumon a la Mediterraneanne is Mediterranean Salmon confit, warm tomato ceviche Vierge; with baby herb salad and green apple cucumber sorbet....

Nice presentation... though the food ain't nothing to shout about. I have rather neutral feelings towards it... :P

And next I had Tartare de Saint-Jacques
it was... Hokkaido sea scallop tartar, oscietra caviar accompanied with herb baked baby potato"rattle". baby vegetables "a la grecque" I thought this was enjoyable. The scallop tartar definitely tasted better with the baby potato.

Creme Brule de foie gras du Perigord (Perigord foie gras creme brulee with spice bread powder)

My friend and I agreed that we prefer a piece of foie gras, I am sure we don't mind a huge slab of it ... making foie gras into such stage... cheated us of our experiences of eating that sinful oily and delicious piece of liver, which we were looking forward to...

Gigot d'agneau braise (Braised lamb shank in it's jus with spice, wild mushroom apricot cereal)
wasn't keen on red meat... so didn't take up the offer of a pc of the lamb shank... but had stolen a few forkfuls of the delicious cereal. I had on my friend's words, the lamb shank was nicely done.... Should I trust him? hmmm...

Loup poele, risotto de courgette (Seared seabass filet on zucchini risotto, orange emulsion and fresh herb tempura )

I like!! I really like.... the tempura shiso was goood... the seabass had crispy skin and a moist and soft flesh... and the best part of it... the zucchini risotto... forget about al denta.. just do it the way i like it, slightly softer. The combination... Give me another one anytime!!! :D

Gelee de rhubarbe et fraise vanille (Vanilla scented pink rhubarb and strawberry, verbena emulsion and black current sorbet)

Nay I didn't try this... didn't really like the sound of it... don't like the looks of it.. don't like, don't like, don't like! :p

Mousse au chocolat amer (Crispy praline and chocolate mousse, Calisson; ice cream, cherry semi-confit)
It's chocolate!!! how bad can it be.... well... in this case... this was really bad....

WE were disappointed in the frist part of the meal, it was another meal saved by the main...and yet lost again with the desset... What I meant was the starters SUX, the Mains ROCK and the dessert went under without putting up a good fight!



This picture... is in honor of my fren... who had annoyingly though that this is the best "food" picture I ever take... I feel like biting his finger now! :p