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| The small and intimate restaurant seats about 20-30 people |
After the week long food show, I decided to treat myself and
my wife, who had to put up with one week of my disappearance, to a French
dinner at Fleur De Sel. Parking at Tras Street has become a nightmare so I
parked at the Orchid Hotel located about 300m from the restaurant. As I entered
the restaurant, I was quickly greeted by the hostess as well as the smell of
cheese thanks to a platter of cheese displayed near the entrance. Guess I might
have some cheese tonight. The small and intimate restaurant seats about 20-30
people and the open-concept kitchen takes centre-stage. Chef Alexandre
Lozachmeur who you cannot miss is quick to greet me. I have met Chef Alex when
he was formerly at Au Petit Salut and his credentials includes cooking
alongside acclaimed French chef, Alain Ducasse.
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| The beef tartar which was served with some salad and a bread crisp on top |
As I studied the menu, I quickly dropped the idea of cheese
in exchange for the Fleur De Sel set dinner. This is a five course dinner with three
fixed dishes and a choice for the appetiser and main course. I started with the
beef tartar which was served with some salad and a bread crisp on top. The
pieces of beef were not finely chopped but instead chopped slightly coarser,
something you should only do if you are using good quality meat. This
coarseness allowed me to chew a little and enjoy the flavours of the herbs and
condiments used to flavour the meat. It was a little spicier than most places
probably from larger amount of Tabasco and/or Djion mustard and a little sweet
and tangy from the egg and Worcester sauce.
The next dish was a choice between the lobster bisque with
lobster tartar or the seared foie gras. Of course I went with the healthier
option. The seared duck liver was served with an apple tartin, some salad and
drizzled with duck jus vinaigrette. It was delicious to have a slice of duck
liver with a slice of apple tartin in the same bite. You can really understand
why the sweet tart combination of foie gras and apple and made for each other.
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| Pan seared scallops served with parma ham |
For the third course, I had the pan seared scallops served
with parma ham, chicken jus and pumpkin puree. The scallop was cooked to
perfection! It was as tender as scallop gets and nice and moist inside. The
scallop with just the parma ham can get a tad salty so eating it with some
pumpkin puree helps to balance the saltiness.
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| Braised Monkfish |
For the main course, I had the option of the braised
Monkfish or the slow cooked duck breast. Since I went for the sinful appetiser,
I decided to go with the monkfish. The fish was served in bouillabaisse jus
with fennel, dried tomatoes, croutons and baby potatoes. The fish was extremely
hot when it I ate it which I enjoyed. One of my pet peeves is eating food cold
when it should be eaten hot. The bouillabaisse jus was flavoured with some
rouille and you could clearly taste the fish stock flavoured with garlic and
saffron.
For dessert, it was Le Baba or Rum Baba as some know it.
This traditional dessert is made of eggs, butter, flour, milk and yeast. The
version here has a layer of vanilla whipped cream and is soaked with Grand
Marnier just before serving. As the server placed the dessert on the table, she
proceeded to pour chocolate sauce on the cake. The chocolate helped to lessen
the taste of the rum and the airy cake was a light finish to a big meal.
I felt the set dinner I had for $108++ was reasonable. The
great thing about this small restaurant is that Chef Alex is personally cooking
all the dishes. When I was there, he only had one assistant to help him and the
two man team did great to ensure the dishes came out at a good pace.
Fleur De Sel:
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