The french ladle up great soup. Especially onion soup. And right here in Singapore, The French Ladle does just that, and much more. It might be in the Pandan Valley, not the Loire. However, a meal here is like teleporting to a restaurant in a quaint little french town.
The restaurant is homely and inviting, with wooden tables and chairs, brightly lit with natural light filtering in from the large windows. The place seats just 30, and its fronted by a husband and wife team, Johnny Teh and Lisa Goh. Johnny has loved his food from young, and has worked in number of reputable hotels and restaurants before venturing out on his own. Lisa gave up a successful corporate career, underwent a diploma at the At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy, and then trained in a number of reputable restaurants. All this for her schoolgirl’s dream of owning her own restaurant. And well, I must say I am happy they did it!
The menu takes me right back to my trip through France. Head Cheese! Cold Duck Sausage! Duck Rillet! Pig Head Terrine! In an age of hipster cafes, it is so good to see a menu like this.
When I start a meal at a french restaurant, the bread and butter is often an indication of what is to come. It takes effort to have fresh, warm bread ready for your customers. One thing about rustic, crusty bread – it stales quickly! The bread that came was warm and crusty, and the butter was delicious. It was an harbinger of the good things to come!
The foie gras was perfectly seared, with a delicious onion marmalade. Somehow, this is still my favourite way with Foie Gra. Seared till crisp, with a sweet-sour sauce.
The french onion soup – oh my! It looked like you could stand a spoon in it, and I savoured every spoonful! A french onion soup needs two things – lots of perfectly fried onion, and a great soup stock. I have tried it before. It involves a fair bit of hard work to stir stir stir the onion as it fries, watching closely to make sure the whole lot browns nicely but does not burn.
For this meal, I stuck with comfort foods. Their mains are satisfying and comforting, and traditional. There is Duck Parmentier. This dish is a classic from Gascony, the southwest corner of France bordering Spain. Think of it as a version of shepard’s pie, but made with duck confit. Now, its the duck confit bit that makes this dish special, and greatly increases the work that goes into this dish. The was crispy duck topped with creamy, cheesy potatoes, and served with a red wine sauce.
Another classic is beef cheek, braised in red wine. As I would have expected, the beef had been slow cooked till folk tender, along with mushrooms. This was served with carrots and and buttery mash. It was rich, satisfying and wonderful!
We skipped desserts this time. But I plan to be back. Soon.
Details :
2 Pandan Valley (Inside Pandan Valley Condominium),
#01-206 Singapore 597626
Operating hours:
Tue-Fri: 12noon- 3pm (Lunch), 6pm- 10pm (Dinner)
Sat: 11am-3pm (Brunch), 6pm-10pm (Dinner)
Sun: 12noon-3pm (Brunch), 6pm-10pm (Dinner)