Les Amis
One of the many highlights of this trip was finally meeting Victoria, writer for Appetite Magazine, the brains and creator behind GastroNOMmy and, officially, friend.
While our meeting was short, it was quite fabulous as we chatted and got better acquainted over some of the coolest dessert I've ever had. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when she said "Let's meet at Les Amis," because the restaurant is a very very very fancy establishment known for its haute cuisine. I started to suggest a change of location, since I was terribly under-dressed but when she sent a text back saying, "oh no no, the pastry chef wants to make us his desserts" I couldn't have cared if I wore a gunny sack, appearances be damned I was going.
The pastry chef turned out to be Chef Daniel Texter who was most recently the pastry chef at Noma. I loved meeting him and to hear the chef describe his creations in person made everything even tastier.
In Les Amis, we were surrounded Singapore's ladies who lunch (on $85 lunches at that) or, as they're nicknamed there, tai tai's. The husband and I muttered to each other that we should come back at the next opportunity for a full meal because the menu looked amazing. Over coffee we nibbled on freshly baked bread - sourdough, fruit bread (like fruit cake but not yucky), olive sourdough and the fluffiest white bread. I'm glad I practiced a little bit of restraint with the butter (brought in from Australia I think) and sea salt because we were presented with not just one but two desserts.
Pickled papaya, lime meringue and the yellow bits are a curried puff that was like a cold, fluffy meringue, almost ice cream in texture when it melted a little. I'm not usually a fan of papaya but Chef Daniel mentioned that this was the sweeter kind from either Thailand or Hawaii, I forget which but it tasted sweet instead of, well, I have opinions on how papayas taste, let's just put it that way.
While our meeting was short, it was quite fabulous as we chatted and got better acquainted over some of the coolest dessert I've ever had. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when she said "Let's meet at Les Amis," because the restaurant is a very very very fancy establishment known for its haute cuisine. I started to suggest a change of location, since I was terribly under-dressed but when she sent a text back saying, "oh no no, the pastry chef wants to make us his desserts" I couldn't have cared if I wore a gunny sack, appearances be damned I was going.
The pastry chef turned out to be Chef Daniel Texter who was most recently the pastry chef at Noma. I loved meeting him and to hear the chef describe his creations in person made everything even tastier.
In Les Amis, we were surrounded Singapore's ladies who lunch (on $85 lunches at that) or, as they're nicknamed there, tai tai's. The husband and I muttered to each other that we should come back at the next opportunity for a full meal because the menu looked amazing. Over coffee we nibbled on freshly baked bread - sourdough, fruit bread (like fruit cake but not yucky), olive sourdough and the fluffiest white bread. I'm glad I practiced a little bit of restraint with the butter (brought in from Australia I think) and sea salt because we were presented with not just one but two desserts.
Pickled papaya, lime meringue and the yellow bits are a curried puff that was like a cold, fluffy meringue, almost ice cream in texture when it melted a little. I'm not usually a fan of papaya but Chef Daniel mentioned that this was the sweeter kind from either Thailand or Hawaii, I forget which but it tasted sweet instead of, well, I have opinions on how papayas taste, let's just put it that way.
Next was the char grilled chiku with a chiku brulee and gula melaka (a type of palm sugar) ice cream and gula melaka cruch. Much like when a pear, or any fruit really, is char-grilled it produces a smooth yet smoky flavor which, to me, made the chiku taste better. A chiku is a South East Asian fruit that grows on trees. It's shaped like a kiwi but not fuzzy and the inside is a dense, almost burnt caramel tasting fruit. I've personally never seen it used in a dessert so this was quite a treat.
Really, the whole day was a treat and I cannot thank Victoria enough.
I'll have more recaps soon, I promise! I've just been super busy but there's so much more I want to share with you all from my trip to Singapore.
