Brasserie Les Saveurs @ The St Regis, Singapore

A few weeks back I was invited by ShiTing (lobsterpaints.com) to join her for a media lunch at Brasserie Les Saveurs which is a signature restaurant of  St Regis, Singapore. The restaurant has recently launched it's latest a la carte menu featuring contemporary French indulges specially hand crafted by Chef de Cuisine, Antonie Bonnet.

Brasserie Les Saveurs @ The St Regis, Singapore

Brasserie Les Saveurs @ The St Regis, Singapore

Antoinette at Palais Renaissance

I am sure the brand name "Antoinette" sound familiar to those who love cakes, pastries or French food. Following the success of Antoinette’s first three outlets (Penhas Road, Mandarin Galley and Scarlet Hotel), Owner-Chef Pang Kok Keong unveils Le Jardin d’Antoinette which is also one of their largest outlet at Palais Renaissance.

Last Saturday I was invited to a lunch tasting at their new outlet, located at Palais Renaissance together with Celes (Celestial Delish), Derrick (SG Food on Foot) and ShiTing (Lobsterpaints).

After some self introductions between Chef Pang and us, we started to look around at their cake and pastry counters while taking some photos. Below are some of the pastries and cakes which are available at Antoinette.

Array of Cakes available

Array of Assorted Macarons on display

Pastry Section: with Danish Puffs, Brownies, Muffins and etc

The Main Dining Area designed after Versaille’s expansive outdoor garden which is a unique round shaped dining space decorated with vintage furniture featuring floral accents such as flower print upholstered seats. The outskirt of the dining area is also surrounded with hanging vines as well as floral arrangements. Furthermore there is also a special elevated gazebo sits at the centre of the dining area too.

{Soup} We started with their new Classic French Onion Soup (S$16.50) which is prepared using caramelised onions in a rich chicken and veal broth accompanied by cheese toasts made from Antoinette’s signature 24-hour baguette. To perfect it, the soup is topped with a cheesy crust which resemble "cover" and it is made using parmesan and gruyère cheese.

On the 1st try, the soup taste a bit sour but when you dig in more, it actually release a hit of sweetness from the caramelised onions and it goes well with that crispy cheese crust.

{Entrées} Next we had the Tartine de Nicoise (S$26.00) which is an open face levain sandwich hide beneath some butter lettuce, French beans, tomatoes, olives, anchovy, a three-minute egg and some seared tuna.

According to Chef Pang, these Levain Bread (sourdough) are made from their own kitchen in Antonietta and the process for making this bread is quite tedious and it takes up to 16 days to cultivate the yeast from scratch plus another 2 more days to proof the bread before baking. So when having this dish, we must really appreciate each and every bits of its ingredients especially the Levain Bread which has a unique flavour and texture.

{Main Course} During the tasting, we tried 3 main courses and first to serve was Confit de Poitrine de Porc (S$36.00) is a traditional French confit of pork belly that is first cured in a mixture of sea salt, brown sugar and aromatics before it is cooked and covered in duck fat at 90 degrees Celsius for 12 hours.

The dish was plated with 5 pieces (about 2 cm each) of thick, tender and fragrant pork belly together with decent amount of garlic mash (which you might thought is mashed potato), seasonal vegetables and mustard sauce. Although I am a "pork belly" lover but I find this dish a bit on the salty side unless you are having it with some water or wine to balance the taste.

{Main Course} Next we had Bouchées aux fruits de mer (S$30.00) which is a luxurious seafood medley that consists of scallops, prawns, squid and mussels sautéed with white wine and cream. It is then served in a puff pastry case which resemble "vol au vents" but it is made with a unique reverse folding method which results in a flakier and crispier crust.

I love their fresh and seafood and taste of the sauce is is not overpowering to the whole dish but on the down side, me and ShiTing find that our scallop is kind of overcooked which makes it chewy and difficult to bite.

{Main Course} For the last main course Chef Pang brought in Prawn crumble pasta (S$26.00) which is an aglio olio-style pasta dish featuring spaghettini tossed with parsley pesto instead of basil and sprinkled with their homemade anchovy crumble.

During the introduction, Chef Pang mentioned to us that those crumble was made using Antoinette’s pain de mie loaf as well as a kalamata olives and Spanish anchovies tapenade. No wonder when all mixed together it has such a unique taste which you might mistook the breadcrumb with grated cheese.

{Dessert} For the dessert, Chef Pang shared with us 4 of his new 2012 collection which you could read more on the post below. Above we shows  Chloe (S$9.00 per slice) which is a combination of refreshing and fragrant yuzu cremeux with white chocolate vanilla mousse on a light sponge cake and almond sable.

This is one of the lighter taste cake which we concluded out of the 4 that we had tired so if you prefer something light and refreshing perhaps this would be great hit for you.

{Dessert} Forbidden Fruit (S$9.00 per slice) has a delicate layered creation that features granny smith apples in various incarnations including green apple mousse, vanilla caramel apple and green apple jelly, complemented with maple cremeux on a financier cake.

On 1st bite you will feel hint of sourish taste perhaps from the apple jelly but when you slowly savory it with a cup of tea, you will fell in love with it because of it sweet, fragrant and sour combination. I guess this is similar to feeling of "falling in love" taste.

{Dessert} Kyoto (S$9.00 per slice) is a Japanese matcha crowd-pleaser with green tea mascarpone mousse, chestnut cremeux, almond crumble and a green tea finger sponge. It has a very fragrant matcha aroma and after taste which we all loved. A "must try" for matcha lover.

{Dessert} I personally love this Tarte Exotique (S$8.50 per slice) which I think I can conquered two at one time. It has an almond base with a luscious gula melaka cremeux, finger sponge and light coconut mousse crowned with a delicate fruit coulis sphere. Because I love almond base tarts and as well as the unique aroma from the Gula Melaka, I highly recommend this dessert which I am sure you will love it as much as we do.  

Just to share there is a private dining room which is perfect for groups of 8 - 10 pax to hold function such as Formal Dining, Gathering, Birthday or etc.

Antoinette at Palais Renaissance

390 Orchard Road, Palais Renaissance,
B1-08/09/10C,
Reservations No.: +65 6735 6392

Operating Hours:
11.00am to 10.00pm daily (last order 9.30pm)


Lastly I would like to thank Hsian Ming (from Sixth Sense Communications and PR Consultancy Pte Ltd) and Chef Pang (Antoinette at Palais Renaissance) for this tasting invitation. For more photos of this tasting, you can click on Cuisine Paradise Facebook page HERE.

My First Brioche

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Brioche is made using similar method as compared to bread doughs. It is make from enriched French pastry with high egg and butter content that give it a rich and tender crumb. The texture is "light and slightly puffy" with a dark, golden and flaky crust achieved from the egg wash applied after proofing.

Although I have seen and read up different brioche recipes from baking books but it has never trigger me to work on it until I saw how easy Bryan Wong made his brioche on last Wednesday, Knock ! Knock ! who's there? (Episode 10) cooking variety show.

MY FIRST BRIOCHE

Since I cannot find any related recipe that Byran (on episode 10) used, I decided to Google the most suitable and foolproof recipe to try it myself. So from the lists that I searched, I finally set my eyes on this Quick Brioche Braid by Nick Malgieri from his book The Modern Baker.

This recipe is done using a food processor and the steps are quite easy to follow plus it's bonus point is; it required zero to a few kneading of the dough depending on it's texture and weather. So if you like crusty bread with soft and buttery texture, this brioche recipe is  definitely to be added to your "Must-do-list". And for those who do not have a food processor, you can use a heavy duty mixer with dough hook attached for this recipe too.

Recipe adapted from The Modern Baker, Quick Brioche Braid.

(Make: 2 Standard Loaf | Preparation: 10 mins | Waiting: 1.5 hours | Baking: 20 mins)

Ingredients:
1/4 Cup(60 ml) Lukewarm(43°C) Milk
1 1/2 Cup Unbleach Plain Flour
1 1/4 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
56g Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into small cubes
28g Caster Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Large Egg
1 Egg Yolk

Egg Wash:
1 Egg + Pinch of Salt, lightly beaten

Method:-

1. Pour lukewarm(43°C) milk in a bowl and whisk in yeast till well-mixed. Next with a whisk stir in 1/2 cup of flour till it became a sticky dough.

2. Loosely cover the bowl with cling wrap and set aside until the dough slightly risen (about 20 minutes).

3. In a food processor fitted with dough blade, add in butter cubes, sugar, salt, egg and extra yolk.

4. Pulse the mixture until butter is finely chopped and well mixed throughout the mixture.

5. Scrape yeast mixture into the food processor and pulse about 5 - 6 times to till well mixed.

6. Add 1/2 cup of flour and pulse till the mixture is smooth(refer to the photo above).

7. Scrape down mixture in the bowl, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and pulse again until the mixture is well blended. Rest dough in food processor for about 10 minutes.

8. Start the processor and let it run continuously for 10 seconds till dough leaves the side of the processor.

9. Turn dough out on floured surface and give it a quick knead. Divide dough into half portion to make 2 loves of brioche.

10. Cut each dough into 3 equal pieces and roll each pieces into a thick rope (if the dough is too sticky, keep in the fridge for 20 minutes before plaiting).

11. Line baking tray with greaseproof paper, plait the dough and shown above and let it rise till dough in size (about 60 - 90 minutes, depending on the weather and room temperature)

12. Just before baking, lightly brush the dough with egg wash and bake in preheated 180°C oven for about 20 - 30 minutes(i bake mine for 22 minutes) or till golden and glossy in colour. Cool bread before slicing.

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For ME: I ate it with some Orange Marmalade where the tangy taste of the marmalade blends well with the rich buttery pastry. 

For My Boy: He loves his Brioche with his favourite Nutella and since he has set his heart for this he don't even agreed to share the very last slice of the loaf  with anyone of us.

For FRIENDS: I have packed a few slices in each bags to share with friends on what's our new love for this month. Thankfully for those who tried loves these brioche to bits.

{Guest Post} Quiche Lorraine by My Cookinghut

Today I am excited and happy to be able to invite Leemei from My Cookinghut to share with us one of her recipe on how to make a French classic, Quiche lorraine which is a rich open pie with a filling of custard baked with bacon and Gruyère cheese.

Leemei is a freelance recipe contributor, food stylist and photographer which is based in London. I love her wide collection of recipes which includes Italian, Middle Eastern, French and etc. And recently her new cookbook – Lemongrass and Ginger Cookbook: Vibrant Asian Recipes which contains a big handful of delicious Asian recipes is scheduled to be published in Spring, April 2012. Although it is still a few months away, but this fabulous cookbook is available for pre-order now and you could could refer more details HERE.

QUICHE LORRAINE

I was thrilled when Ellena asked me to be her guest blogger. Ellena is the author of a great food blog named Cuisine Paradise, which is one of the Top 10 Best Food Blog in Singapore. There is a vast collection of tested and tried recipes on Ellena’s blog. Bedies, there are some great restaurant reviews too!

I have been following Ellena’s blog for quite a while and I absolutely love what she has been sharing on her blog. Thank you very much, Ellena, for giving me this great opportunity to appear as a guest on your blog!

Today, I have decided to make a French classic, Quiche lorraine – a delicately wobbling, full-flavoured beauty that is really easy that everyone can make at home. Quiche lorraine is a rich open pie with a filling of custard baked with bacon. Gruyère cheese is commonly added too.

The bottom crust is a crisp savoury pastry. A good quality of pastry is important. You could make it yourself or get the best short crust pastry you could get at the supermarket. Most of the time at home, I will make it from scratch. Unless I am extremely busy, I will then grab a ready made one.

Quiche lorraine is best served at room temperature. I love to make it a day in advance and let the flavours develop for full impact to be enjoyed the next day.

[Soft Break]So, what do I normally eat with quiche lorraine? Personally, I like to serve it with a simple leafy salad - drizzled with extra virgin olive oil ,seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper. It could be just be as simple as that to serve it as lunch or dinner!

Have I tempted you enough? Make it yourself, ideally including homemade pastry, and with fresh eggs and cream.

RECIPE FOR QUICHE LORRAINE

Shortcrust pastry:

225g plain flour
100g unsalted butter, diced
1 egg yolk
a pinch of salt

Filling:
300g diced bacon
230ml double cream
20ml milk
3 eggs
100g gruyere cheese
a pinch of grated nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:-

1. To make the pastry, put the flour and salt into a bowl, add the butter and rub with your fingertips until the mixture becomes like a breadcrumb consistency. Add the egg yolk and about 2-3 tbsp of water, mix until the dough just starts to come together. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

2. Roll out the pastry into a square on a lightly floured surface and line a 25cm fluted tin or a 35cm rectangular tart tin. Trim the edge and pinch up the pastry edge to make an even border raised slightly above the tin rim. Put in the fridge for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C. Then, line the pastry shell with a piece of greaseproof paper and baking beads. Blind bake the pastry for 10 minutes, remove the paper and beads and bake for another 5 minutes or until the pastry is just cooked but still very pale, then remove from the oven. Reduce the oven to 180°C.

4. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the diced bacon for 1-2 minutes. Drain well and soak up excess moisture with kitchen paper. Discard extra fat of the bacon if necessary.

5. Mix together the cream, milk and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of grated nutmeg. Stir until combine. Scatter the bacon into the pastry shell, then pour in the egg mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is set. Leave the quiche in the tin for until cool to handle. Serve at room temperature.

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Lastly I would like to thank Leemei for taking her time to prepare this wonderful guest post for Cuisine Paradise and you could find out more about her recipes and travel experience from here website, My Cooking Hut @ http://www.mycookinghut.com/