My last meal at JAAN was in 2014 when the restaurant was (still) helmed by head chef Julien Royer. After chef Julien announced his departure in June 2015, I have been curious since to see the changes that JAAN would undergo with a new head chef. And change, head chef Kirk Westaway did bring. He led JAAN to achieve 1 Michelin star when Michelin Guide first came to Singapore in 2016.

But even so, I held back my re-visit until recently (2017) with their revamped menu; Wanted to be sure I wasn’t going to have the same dishes in the exact same presentation. Think, smoked egg with dry ice effect.

And reservation was made via email. For party smaller than 4, securing the reservation with credit card was not necessary. Thought I should mention that because my girlfriend recently made reservation for JAAN for 4 people upon my recommendation, and she shared JAAN’s cancellation terms were pretty weird. Ie, she would be penalised if she cancel the reservation. Yes, upon cancellation. No grace period.

On the day of our dinner, I received a text message to re-confirm our dinner. Double confirmed lah! Keke. And having been to JAAN, we found our way easily to the restaurant. It was nice that we got a corner table by the window. But do arrive before the sky turned dark to enjoy the view at its best; By night, the glass was pretty reflective. My friend and I couldn’t see much too with the condensation on the window. Yes, our corner was cold. Though one should also appreciate the master piece on the ceiling. Made with Murano crystal from Italy, the manager jokingly shared it ain’t easy cleaning it too.

Food wise, the 10 courses menu got my interest. However, as it’s indicated that the entire table needs to order it, I enquired with the manager if it was possible to make an exception. Keke. But, it was only till the end of our dinner that I realised it wasn’t a good thing that I was persuasive he was obliging. Thus, from the dinner menu (pages 1, 2, 3, 4), my friend and I ordered:-

  
  

1) Appetiser #1, Complimentary (above) – Canapés selection of rabbit spring roll topped with parsley and yogurt, truffle and foie gras macaron, fish and chip, and smoked mackerel sandwiched between buckwheat bellini and topped with caviar. And yes, my friend ate the fish and chip before I could get a picture as a ‘revenge’ for always giving in to me. Sob.

2) Bread platter, Complimentary (above) – Assortment of walnut-cranberry bun, milk hot cross bun, and rye sourdough. And yes, that’s seaweed butter! Pretty unique.

3) Appetiser #2, Complimentary (above) – Charlotte potato foam with truffle bullion. I liked the additional of crunchy potato bits.

4) 7 courses menu, $238 comprised of:-

(A) Alaskan king crab (above) – Crazily pretty presentation; Wreath of crab, sea urchin, caviar and fromage blanc sorbet on English spring pea panna cotta .

(B) Golden beetroot (above) – Served with feta cheese, hazelnut and golden beetroot sorbet.

(C) Bacon & eggs (above) – Celeriac, chorizo iberico. And this was served in a big egg-shaped bowl. And when the lid was removed, we were greeted with a sight and smell of rosemary smoke. And we were recommended to mix the organic New Zealand egg with the other ingredients before eating.

(D) Scottish scallop (above) – Served with shellfish broth, kale and pear.

(E) Line caught snapper (above) – Violin courgette.

(F) ‘Forest’ pigeon – Foie gras, artichoke. Served with foie gras parfait, western mushroom, pigeon pie, and… Yes, pigeon juice. When we were placing our orders, the staff asked how we would like to have our pigeons done. We went with medium done although chef’s recommendation was medium rare. We don’t like our meat too bloody.

(G) Pre-dessert (above) – Amalfi lemon.

(H) Chocolate espresso (above) – Muscovado. And we were told the blobs of chocolate mousse progresses from 70% to 40% from top to bottom.

5) Signatures (10 course menu), $298 comprised of:-

  

(A) Dish #1 (above) – Tuscan oyster served with cucumber foam and kombu-dashi jelly (beneath).

(B) Dish #2 – Similar to my friend’s; Golden beetroot.

(C) Dish #3 (above) – Pertuis asparagus served with champagne hollandaise espuma and silvers of Joselito ham.

(D) Dish #4 – Bacon & eggs.

(E) Dish #5 – Same as my friend’s; Scottish scallop.

(F) Dish #6 (above) – Cod, organic chicken, quinoa and fish jus.

(G) Dish #7 – Pigeon.

  

(H) Dish #8 (above) – Cheese with dried fruit bread and sourdough crust.

(I) Pre-dessert

(J) Dish #9 (above) – Wild spring strawberry with timut pepper sorbet.

(K) Dish #10 (above) – Coconut sorbet with lime peel and coconut shredding.

  
  

6) Petit fours, Complimentary (above)

7) Chocolate cake, Complimentary (above) – After seeing pictures of the awesome-looking rich chocolate cake as shared by others on instagram, I knew I had to try it. Thus, when I was making our reservation, I mentioned dinner was to celebrate our anniversary. Friendship anniversary. Keke. And this certainly didn’t disappoint. But word of caution from personal experience, if one is packing the cake home, make sure to eat it within 2 hours or have it stored in the fridge. It melts…

8) Coffee/tea, Complimentary (above) – We went with latte.

I won’t lie. I was disappointed with my 10 courses meal. Having not read much about head chef Kirk Westaway prior to our dinner, I ordered the Signatures menu with anticipation that it would give me a crash course of his best dishes. However, my dishes were almost similar to my friend’s 7 courses. In fact, I was disappointed to be served oyster instead of the crab dish. And for my 3 additional dishes, I was served asparagus, cheese and coconut sorbet. Like what?

It certainly didn’t help that after our dinner, I did a quick search on Google and realised one of chef Kirk’s signature dishes was the heirloom tomato which is currently on the vegetarian menu. Which meant they could have at least included the tomato for me. Right? Sigh! That’s what I meant earlier when I wrote it wasn’t a good thing that the staff obliged and allowed my friend and I to not order the same Signature menu. I am pretty sure I would leave the restaurant happier with the 7 courses based on what my friend had.

I still recommend JAAN though. But don’t be as greedy as me. Stick to the 7 courses menu.

It’s also to note that the restaurant don’t offer tap water at the start of our meal. We had to choose between sparkling and still. We went with the latter and was charged $15 (for a 750ml bottle). So it was odd after we finished our bottle of still water and declined to have another, the staff came along and filled up our almost-empty cups to the brim with tap water. Err…

And for readers who are interested to know more about head chef Kirk, do read the interview which he did with Lifestyle Asia. It’s interesting to know that he’s actually colour blind. Not being able to differentiate bright yellows and greens along with dark reds and browns, head chef Kirk overcome it by identifying the colours by their shades. With an attitude like his, I honestly believe he would bring JAAN to greater heights.

UPDATE 1: Restaurant was awarded 1 Michelin star by Michelin Guide Singapore 2017.
UPDATE 2: Restaurant was awarded 1 Michelin star by Michelin Guide Singapore 2018.