I finally found haven in Singapore!!! I'm so so so so happy!!! YAY!!

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Met up with ol' friend Adi (ol' cos he's ol', heh..) at Holland Village.. he reccommended this French cafe, well, not realli AT holland V lah... it's actualli Jln Merah Saga.. it's more classy and, duh, more ex ..Anywayz, the place's called the Au Petit Salut French Restaurant. =)

Decor is very classic french. beautiful dim lighting and drapes on cushioned table tops. Not too luxurious thou.. juz enough. white and yellow seems to be the theme, making it inviting and relaxing..

Waiters there are very well trained. They don't seem to mind that both of us seem to be not int the payable range of age, and that both of us were in casual wear- tee and jeans.. We were welcomed in very nicely, shown the table and seated, juz as we would have been, i believe, if we were in evening wear. Wine glasses do scare me at times, so i'm glad they removed it when they realized that we were not gona order wine. One thing thou, when we asked for water, they gave us Evan mineral water.. and charged us $5.00 for it. So do make it clear, you want ICED water. You can say that it's either that they are sly, or that they realli thought we wanted mineral water... but when we told them that we wanted to switch to ice water later, at least there wasn't any rolling of eyes... the waiter was also very informative, in terms of wad's on the menu. Thou a little deceiving. The menu looks glam, but as you can see, it ain't reali top-notch french crusine they're serving. Food presentation ain't creative at all, very simple in fact. I love the way they try to make it as professional as possible. Everyone was very polite. I felt at ease, even in jeans.

The food was an experience!
okie, this is the first time to a proper french restaurant which serves authentic french food. lolz, can't blame me for being excited, no?

there is the exclusive Executive lunch set, which was extremely tempting, but also, pricey. Lobster Ravioli? sounds good rite? lolz...

In the end, we took the set lunch each. Comprises of a 3-course meal: entree, main and desert. $22 +++.

Adi took:
Entree: Creme of Mushroom
Main: Some cut of beef which apparently i can't find the name of in the internet.. the waiter said that they were the only restuarant in Singapore to serve it..
Desert: Frozen Cappuccino with choc sorbet

I took:
Entree: Snails with garlic and mint paste
Main: Seafood "sth" - duno the name lah, it's some type of pasta that i've not heard of ever, anywhere. Served with a green salad.
Desert: I forgot the name, but for simplicity: it's juz poached pear with vanilla icecream!

The Verdict:
Entrees:
Adi's soup was subtly spectacular, in my opinion. I liked the way that it wasn't flavoured too heavily. But their cream is literally, double cream from the packet type. if you can don't mind that, you'l marvel at the mushroom-flavoured cream.. lolz. kkaz, my description is very funni.. but it's really nice.

My first experience eating snails is not bad... in fact, the way they presented the dish is new and inviting. The red lil' dish in the middle of the plate is hot. i think they juz heated it up in the red dish in the oven.. they do gif you the lil' fork which is used to dig escargots out of their shells.. juz that this time, you dig them out of the lil' holes of the red dish. in that way, you don't miz out on the fork and diggin, i suppose.. lolz. The taste is juz like eating cooked oysters, or some other small seashell.. you don't realli know that you're eating snails.. unless you start thinkin about it. Each snail has a paste of garlic and mint on top of it, and sits upon a lil' droplet of tomato puree at the bottom of the hole. eat it all together,it tastes juz as it should.. dignified and delicious. the tomato puree and garlic and mint paste is a genius combi. i suspect that the snails are from the canned type thou... not the fresh ones. Oh well, make do huh.. =p not that i mind...

Mains:
Adi's: i don't eat beef.. but Adi finished every single thing on his plate..
Mine: what i didn't like was the presentation. the salad placed at a corner of a big plate, and the seafood pasta was served separately in a ceramic bowl, straight from the oven.
I ate all the salad first before moving on to the pasta.. a mistake. The pasta is RICH.. the simple salad would have complimented it.. but the pasta was juz heavenly... the 2 rows of things you see is the pasta. it's similar to lasagne. The seafood is wrapped in pasta.. Prawn, crab, scallop, etc. the stuff around is cream custard i think.. the mix is juz marvellous.. would have been better with the salad to balance the richness thou... i felt like royalty, eating such luxurious food..

Desert:
Adi: Frozen cappuccino doesn't seem like a bad idea... hmm.. but the winner of this dish is the choc sorbet.. it's soo chocolate!! Thick chocolate... indulgence!
Mine: poached pear with vanilla icecream: wasn't as good as i anticipated.. but it's really poached pear and vanilla icecream lah.. the nuts pulled the two components together, and added height to the flavour. it would have been nice if they had served it with warm vanilla cream instead..

Overall:
i felt that it was well worth the price. A new experience! French tastes are lighter than our Asian platter, but they have their own complexity and their own rules. They accentuate on sweet rather than savory. even their garlic and mint wasn't strong as i would have prefered. Or maybe the chef wasn't confident, thus was presenting his flavours mildly. i duno.. however, i look forward to my next french meal!!

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I save the best for last, hehe...
After the french meal, we walked down the row of french cafes. Original Sin is there.. hmm, shall try it one day! Anywayz, there is quite afew interesting shops there- there is one selling all organic food: herbs, oat porridge, etc; also, an posh-looking cooking school.. But among them all, one shop caught my heart... Gastronomia!

they put the Gelato near the door to entice, i guess. Well, if Adi din't wan to eat Gelato, we won't have entered... but enter, and immediately, you'll be hooked. A lil' selection of cookies is at the door, though expensive, they look delicious! $5 per packet!! Venture on!

Freezer compartments stretch thru the stalls on both sides. One side is similar to those you see in the pork section you see in markets (the heartland ones, not supermarkets..) however, like cold storage, they have a selection of pasta.. and here, they have more: salads, gratin, stuffed and grilled eggplant, sauteed mushrooms in creme, etc. i was soooo tempted! lolz, if not for tight purse strings, i WOULD have bought alot more than i did... anywayz, that is not all! on the other side, is similiar to the cold section in the supermarkets (where they put their diary, fruit juices, etc.) instead, here, they have ready-packed food.. one section: desert!! -tiramisu, cheesecakes (mango flavoured, rum-and-banana flavoured), fruit cakes, chocolate tiered cake, etc, etc, etc! then another section, they have ready-made pasta sauces!! and what a selection! i really really wanted to buy okie! but... no pasta to cook, and lazy me lah... lolz. but they also haf packed lagsane! -chicken, beef, chicken mushroom, etc! i bought (my fav!) salmon!! tt's my lunch tmr! can't wait to try!!

When i was there, i guess, i was lucky! they juz made some pizza! they had chicken and ham, veggie, and last of all (hehe, my fav!) smoked salmon and cheese!! duh! i bought one slice. Will definitely blog abt it when i've tasted it!

wait alrighty? i'm sure they'll taste great!

I love the place cos the decor was really welcomed: dark wood, like a taven.. and the food sold there are realli close to the heart: cookies, cakes, freshly baked bread, pizza, etc. fancinating and juz so aww-i-wana-try!! well, next time, when you haf time to spare in Holland V, do drop by there.. time juz slips away in grateful oblivion!

Note: when in you're in the area thou, watch your step.. there are plenty of pets around... so alot of "gold" lah... =p
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