Les Amis - Singapore
A classic place setting for the upcoming traditional French meal
Rating: 19/20
Where: Singapore
When: Dinner for 3 on 13 November 2022
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 420-520 SGD
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: Excellent classic French cuisine with ingredients from France, perfect service
Les Amis prides itself on being the first independent fine-dining restaurant in Singapore, founded in 1994. The restaurant is located in a mall, but its entrance is on a small side-street bordering the shopping center. Inside, the dominant colors are red and gold, suggestive of a Chinese restaurant, but the cuisine here is definitely French. In fact, it is so French that most of the ingredients are sourced directly from France: the butter, the vegetables, seafood and some of the meats. Locavore cuisine this is not. The ambiance of the restaurant is a bit old-school - among Singapore’s three three-star restaurants, this one is definitely the most traditional.
The menu allows one to choose between two tasting menus, with five (420 SGD) and seven (520 SGD) courses, respectively, or one can order a la carte. We went for the shorter of the two tasting menus (three three-star meals in a row were taking their toll...). There is no wine pairing as such, but the sommelier is happy to pair wines by the glass with as many or as few courses as desired. The wines I had were pretty good and went well with the food, so this is something I'd recommend getting. But since the pours were quite substantial, a full wine pairing might be better shared among two people.
We were offered a variety of breads: baguettes, slices of country bread, cheese bread with Comte, raisin bread, bread rolls stuffed with figs, among others. Upon request, they were served warm. The breads went very well with the accompanying butter from the Loire valley. It was difficult to stay disciplined and not to fill up on bread before dinner 18.
Our first appetizer was a little tarte made from filo dough and topped with caramelized onions and slices of champignons. This was a very light dish, the filo dough nicely crunchy, the onions sweet, and overall reminiscent of a tarte flambee. Lovely 19.
The second amuse bouche was angel hair pasta prepared with seaweed, chives, a shiso flower and topped with a generous helping of caviar. A small croissant was served on the side to complement the caviar. The Kristal caviar was delicious, and the pasta also very good: slightly vinegary, light, and with hints of herbs. The croissant was ok, but nothing special - its absence would not have diminished the dish 19.
Our first official course featured even more of the amazing caviar. Go big or go home is clearly the rationale behind serving such a humongous amount of the prized fish eggs. Surrounding a mountain of caviar were small cylinders of potatoes (imported from France) that were topped with creme fraiche, peppers, dill and shiso flowers. With such excellent caviar, it's hard to really screw up a dish, and the kitchen didn't really try. The rest of the dish reminded us of potato salad - a bit weak in flavor by itself, but a great complement to the salty, slightly lemony caviar 19.
A scallop from Brittany had been cooked in the oven, and was served with capers, bell peppers, autumn herbs and seaweed. It was surrounded by a lovely buttery sauce. While the sauce was delicious, the scallop unfortunately was (as is not uncommon) very, very light in flavor 18.
Next came a salmon steak from Normandy that had been cooked with the skin on. It was served with a sauce made from red wine, lobster, coral shell, mushrooms and shiso flowers. In the middle of the red sauce was a dollop of white fish stock cream. The sauces were excellent, savory and stood up well to the red Burgundy that was paired with the dish (20 for the sauces). The salmon was a bit overcooked for my taste, a more raw center would have been preferable. As presented, it was a bit disappointing. When ordered a la carte (or as the main course in the pescatarian version of the menu), the salmon dish was accompanied by a plate filled with turnip slices sauteed in butter. Holy moly! These were easily the best turnips I've ever had - aromatic, buttery, perfectly salted. Waiting a minute or two to let them cool down a bit made them even better. The best single dish during dinner tonight (20, easily). Overall, this was a 18+, dragged down by the only so-so salmon. (Our waiter, overhearing us praising the turnips, brought another portion, unasked, a few minutes later. It was quickly and happily devoured.)
Speaking of the pescatarian menu, it inserted a dish of mushroom bordelaise here. The mushrooms were cooked with shallots - nicely browned and delicious. They were served over mashed eggplan - creamy but tasting a bit light by comparison 18.
For the main course, we had a choice between Australian wagyu beef and Black Forest venison. We went with the former. The steak was served with crispy potatoes, and topped by "aromatic vegetables", including bell peppers, capers, shallots and surrounded by a beef jus. On a side plate were celeriac slices cooked with butter. These slices were the best thing about the dish, almost as good as the turnips served with the salmon (19 by themselves). The potatoes were puffed into pillows similar to panipuri, and tasted more like potato chips than anything else (14, maybe). The beef was decent, but lacked any of the marbling expected from the wagyu breed, it was pretty lean instead. It could have been better (maybe 16 or 17). Overall, a 18 saved by the celeriac.
For the optional cheese course we requested "stinky, strong" cheeses, and two of the three we received fit that bill nicely. A good cheese course, but a step down from the one we had the previous night at Odette.
A chocolate tarte made with Venezuelan chocolate, carob and a biscuit bottom was very good. The chocolate was almost liquid and seeped across the plate when the cake was cut. At the same time, this dish was not particularly heavy, a nice balance to achieve for a chocolate dessert. Lovely 19.
Our main dessert was a pear. It was served as thin slices of pear that had been arranged to form a sphere. The pear had been cooked with vanilla, star anise and port. Underneath was a caramel pastry cream, a sable Breton cookie and some caramel coulis. The pear and cookie were both great, the caramel cream even better. A very good, not too heavy dessert 19.
Some petit fours concluded the meal. These turned out to be not as inspired as the preceding desserts. Pistachio macaroons were very sweet 16, a peanut chocolate praline was ok 15, as was a pear tartlet with almond bits 16.
Finally, a word about the service. Our server, an older gentlemen, was the epitome of old-school perfection. He slowed down the recitation of dish ingredients so that I could take better notes (only the second time that this has happened a me), and even apologized that it took him a few courses to notice. One of my dining companions was my under-age nephew, and our server took extra care of him. He proactively offered to cook the steak, scallops and salmon well-done. There was nothing more that we could have asked for.
Overall: My expectations for Les Amis were admittedly the lowest among the three Singaporean three-star restaurants, since Zen and Odette are much better known outside of the country. But what we found instead was perfectly executed classic French food, and an equally professional service. Solidly three stars all the way through, with a few deviations above and below. My only disappointment was the lack of any sense of place - exactly the same dinner could be served anywhere in the world. While that means that, say, flying from Paris to Singapore for this restaurant might be a little bit pointless, if you're here already, then it is definitely a most worthwhile visit 19.
