Dinner @ Scotts 27

January 24, 2015 in French

It was one of the (rare) few days when I suddenly thought of revisiting a restaurant. Oh yes, if one knows me well, I’m the type who prefers to check out new places. However, while wanting to revisit Le Saint Julien for French cuisine, I realised they have since closed in January 2013. But after more google-ing, I learnt that they’re back in the F&B industry by being the managing consultants for Scotts 27.

And with that, reservation was made for 2 for a Friday night, 5 weeks in advance. Haha. Kiasu-ism was unintentionally at play cause my girlfriend couldn’t match mine.

And what set Scotts 27 apart from the rest was their twin concept of exclusivity and residential private dining theme. 2 weeks before our dinner date, the staff emailed us the menu. However, the mail went into my junk mail cause I did not realise they sent it. Ha. But the staff followed up with a call 1 week later to check with me. =)

And for ours, it was a menu built around the summer truffle season. However, worried about truffle overload and wanting to try some of chef Julien Bompard’s traditional preparation of French dining, I requested to change 1 of the dishes if possible.


The Heritage Room

And upon arrival, we were led to our room. We were housed in ‘The Heritage Room’. The staff also introduced our room as ‘The Tea Room’ which he said most of the female guests preferred. And before we started our dinner, we were brought on a tour of the place.


The Wine Room

So we got to see the other room which was a favourite with male diners; ‘The Wine Room’. With leather seats and over 200 labels of wines in display, the room exuded masculinity. If we had to choose between the 2 rooms, my girlfriend and I were happy to be in ‘The Heritage Room’. =p

And I was glad they were able to accede our request by altering our menu ($198 per person). And again, as with their concept of ‘dining as though one is at home”, we were not rushed into starting our dinner. While my girlfriend and I were catching up at the lounge area within our room, our night started with:-

  

1) Appetisers, Complimentary (above) – Artichoke, duck rillette and chicken terrine. And the idea of the bowl was to place our spoons into it after consuming the small bites.

2) Scotts 27 garden (above) – After moving to the main dining table to officially kick start our dinner, Edith came in to introduce the amuse bouche. Comprised of carrot puree, spinach, shimeji mushroom, raspberry bits, truffle and cocoa powder, we were told chef Julien was inspired by the plantation which surrounded the colonial house back in the 18 century. Although Edith joked that the chef was bringing the garden in since one can’t see the greenery at night. Haha. We were also told this dish would always be on the menu, but with some changes in the ingredients according to seasons like having pumpkin puree instead of carrot.


3) La truffe “louis outhier” (above) – Foie gras terrine wrapped with black truffle, gelee of duck and almond. Made to replicate a truffle ball with vegetable consommé jelly on the sides, the staff joked that it looked like a century egg to her. Haha. I liked how the staff come across more as friends rather than just waiting staff. And for this, we were also given a plate of nicely toasted bread to go with it. This was so good.


4) Lobster bisque with lobster claw (above) – Aiolo and garlic crouton. One of chef Julien’s signature dishes, we really liked the lobster claw which was wrapped with filo pastry. And just when we were hoping there was more when we finished our bowl of soup, the staff suddenly came in with a tea pot and poured us more soup. Nice!

5) Roasted cod fish and langoustine (above) – Truffled creamy savoy cabbage.



6) Stuffed quail with medley of mushrooms (above) – Port wine and truffle sauce. What we did not expect was when the staff set up a mobile station. The staff brought in the whole quail on a metal tray, presented it to us (which I quickly snapped a picture of. Ha) before bringing it over to the mobile station to slice it into halves and plate our mains in front of us. However, the stuffing within the pigeon was a little dry if consumed without the sauce.



7) Crepe suzette “a-la maison” (above) – Grand marnier and chantilly cream. With the option to choose between cheese platter and chef Julien’s signature crepe suzette for dessert, my friend and I decided to go for the latter. And we were treated to a flambe performance by staff Sha Sha. In the midst of preparing our dessert, Sha Sha shared with us that even 1 second in cooking the sugar would change the taste to the sauce. And this was so good. We wished we could have more. I also liked that the sauce had additional bits of orange skin. A must try.


8) Scotts 27 petit fours (above) – And to end our dinner, Edith came in with our petits fours where she mentioned essence of St Julien was still kept in Scotts 27 with chef Julien’s signature financier (small almond cake) and truffle chocolate. I opted to have latte for my choice of coffee. And yes, my girlfriend and I chose to have our petits fours at the low table of the lounge area.

Would I recommend Scotts 27? Definitely! It was a unique experience for us to dine as though we were at home. We even got to play our own music. =) And even though their operating hours was stated to be till 10pm, we stayed till 11.30pm (The group in ‘The Wine Room’ was still around when we left). It was that comfortable. My girlfriend felt like we had come for a staycation instead, and we just needed our beds to complete the picture. Haha.

And when Edith was with us in the room, she filled us in on how Scotts 27 came about. It was in fact an idea they had since they were at The Fullerton Waterboat House. But to partition the space and block the view (back then) was a pity. Thus, they had been waiting for an ideal place. And the dream came to life when their client got them to manage (and run) the operations for the colonial house at 27 Scotts Road. In fact, there’re still ongoing changes to Scotts 27. The reception area will undergo renovation while there’re ongoing works at second storey which will allow for a conference room, etc.

Through Edith, my girlfriend and I learnt that almost every elements within ‘The Heritage Room’ was from them. From the mahjong set (which belonged to chef Julien’s great grandmother) to the cupboard (not pictured), lamp (which the husband and wife team bought from an antique shop in New York) and sofa! I guess one could also call the room ‘The Antique Room’. Or a room full of memories and sentiments through the belongings put together by chef Julien and Edith.

As of now, Scotts 27 is only open for dinner (reservation only) but with plans to have lunch service (reservation only) in March 2015. Although Edith did mention they are still keeping Scotts 27 a little exclusive with almost no publicity done.

For any who may be interested, there’s a minimum spending of $500 for dining within the room. So one may want to come in bigger groups although the smaller rooms could only house up to 5 people. With a bottle of alcohol, my girlfriend and I spent $300 (after GST and service charge) each which we felt was money well spent since we thoroughly enjoyed the dining experience. It felt as though we booked the entire place since we have the room all to ourselves.

But don’t be silly and try to do something funny as there’s a CCTV installed in the room for the staff to know when they should come in to serve the next course, etc.

Side tracking, Edith somehow found me familiar. It was amazing to think she could have somehow remembered me when my dinner at Le Saint Julien was 5 years back! She was the very lady who introduced me (when I was in my early twenties) to the world of truffle.

SCOTTS 27
27 Scotts road, Singapore
6737 0895, Website, Facebook
Overall: 8.5
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 8
Mon – Sat : 14:00 – 22:00
Ambience: 9
Value: 8
* Closed on Sun
Service: 9

Brunch @ Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar

July 18, 2012 in European (cafe)

Skyve is opened by the same team behind Table 66, and I must admit that even before I tried Skyve, I was a little skeptical of Skyve. There was a time when everyone was raving of how good Table 66 was, but after checking Table 66 out personally, I was greatly disappointed. Thus, I was not expecting much from Skyve.

My girlfriend and I came to Skyve on Labour Day (Tuesday) only to learn their air conditioning system was down. It was really stuffy inside, thus we left to come back on the same weekend because we loved the ambience and were interested to know how the food will fare.

However, although the air conditioning system was up and running that weekend, it was still stuffy inside. And because tiles and glass are used for the interior, together with the low ceiling, noises were bouncing off the walls making the places noisier than it should be. Thus, my girlfriend and I decided to go al fresco.

And from the menu, we ordered :-

1) Skyve sous vide egg benedict, $16 (above) – Be careful, there’s 2 egg benedicts on the menu. We ordered the one under ‘The Loafing Breakfast’ while the other is under ‘The Dilly Dally Appetizers’ at $18. And the egg benedict was disappointing. The whites were not covering / wrapping the yolk, which to me is a fail. The taste was forgettable while my friend felt the hollandaise sauce was a little sour too.

2) Croque madame, $14 (above) – Anything ham and melted cheese is almost dumb proof and hard to go wrong, but boy were we wrong to assume. Skyve failed to toast the bread long enough. Hence, the sliced cheddar cheese failed to be served, melted. I expected better (standard).

Seeing the other patrons ordering the pizza, which was interesting served in rectangular shape and placed on top of aluminium, my girlfriend and I were curious to try, despite the previous misses. However, we were disappointed to be told they have ran out of stock of the pizza slabs, which ranged from $14 to $20.

We tried ordering the 1 litre of ‘Ohh orange’ too which is a combination of orange, green apple, carrot and red apple juices. However, what shocked us was that while we were told it was unavailable, we were allowed to order it by the glass!!!

My conclusion? I certainly won’t be heading back, at all.

SKYVE ELEMENTARY BISTRO & BAR
10 Winstedt Road, Blk E, #01-17, Singapore
6225 6690, Website, Facebook
Overall: 6
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 5
Mon – Thur : 10:00 – 23:00
Ambience: 6
Fri – Sat : 10:00 – 01:00
Value: 6
Sun : 10:00 – 23:00
Service: 6