Parmigiani - The HourGlass Singapore Dinner

Jun 06, 2012,15:45 PM
 

Les Amis  -- Parmigiani & The Hour Glass Singapore Dinner

 

The original horology report by hororgasm is here: click link  home.watchprosite.com  


As is the usual practice on PuristSPro, this will not be a wine and food epicurean review because I only review meals eaten anonymously and paid privately.



 




 

Still, I can describe the experience as being consistent with previous visits to Les Amis.....always good.  
 



The first offering confused my fellow diners for a few minutes. Having read the menu, they were expecting white asparagus and uni (sea anemone eggs). Some thought the asparagus had been pureed into a white creamy foam that surrounded the diced pickled beetroot and the uni was stealthily hidden. Actually, this was an unpublished amuse bouche. It certainly kept the conversation and amusement level up.



Marinated White Asparagus and Uni
Here was the real deal appetiser.  The asparagus is lightly pre-cooked, then cooled and marinated. It is served chilled with a soupçon of uni. The asparagus was soft but not mush and the umami from uni was a counterpoint to the sligtly tart pickled earthy asparagus. The diner next to me was unsure about the match of earth and sea but I quite liked it. Personally, I prefer a proper dollop of uni.


Pasta with japanese shrimp and black truffle infused stock
I think there is something special about freshly made pasta especially if cooked el dente. The sakura ebi (dried japanese shrimp) is a particularly potent source of umami-ness. Buying this specialty protein is fraught with controversy as it is not obvious to the layman why the price for 100g ranges from a few to hundreds of dollars!?!   My fellow diner commented that he prefers a full meal sized portion of this pasta rather than the taster size of degustation menu. Until the next dish came along, I was inclined to agree...
 

 

Char-grilled Black Angus beef tenderloin
I usually never order tenderloin for various culinary and personal reasons (fat content, size restriction, tenderness) but this plate surprised me. It was eponymously tender and yet, not short of flavour, that is the usual failing of this cut. The skill of a good saucier is under-rated by most diners drawn to the theatrics of the kitchen documentaries. This saucier "knew his onions"!



 

Chocolate delice; rhubarb and elderflower ice cream
Regular WFEDders (Wine Food and other Epicurean Delights forum on ThePuristS website) will recall that I am not a dessert person.
The rhubarb and elderflower however, are familiar old friends for every British boarding-school inmate so nostalgia is the best sauce. Quite pleasant.

 

Wines
The experts can check out the menu photo for the accompanying wiines. All I will say is that they were great pairings and to misquote an old Roll Royce marketing response:  "adequate".

Thanks to the hosts.

MTF


This message has been edited by MTF on 2012-06-06 15:58:29 This message has been edited by DRMW on 2012-06-06 17:50:32

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?

 
 By: BDLJ : June 6th, 2012-16:53
"As is the usual practice on PuristSPro, this will not be a wine and food epicurean review because I only review meals eaten anonymously and paid privately." And yet....

+1 and...

 
 By: DRMW : June 6th, 2012-18:48
This is an odd post, as stated it isn't a review (yet it is) it should go with the rest of the original report. Plus that steak doesn't look char-grilled, it looks like it's been cooked sous vide. MTF? -MW

If you read MTF's food reviews ...

 
 By: AndrewD : June 6th, 2012-19:06
... on WFED you will appreciate that these are but cursory observations and certainly not an epicurean review! ;-) A

The Grazing list

 
 By: MTF : June 7th, 2012-09:42
As a final hurrah in 2010, I compiled a 'Grazing' list of my past wine and food reviews on the WFED forum. Click the link below: www.network54.com Regards, MTF

i prefer Iggys version with fresh sakura ebi

 
 By: Hororgasm : June 6th, 2012-21:13
guess even after all these years...the shadow of Ignitius Chan still hangs... - i also nitpicked that there was just a tinge too much "truffleness"!! to be frank, this dish has become quite commonplace, even second tier restaurants have their own versions... 

Iggy's is rightfully famous

 
 By: AndrewD : June 6th, 2012-21:59
Here is Iggy's rightfully famous capellini with sakura ebi ... Click Here for the rest of the meal ......  

actually..its great that you posted this. key differences between Les Amis and Iggys are..

 
 By: Hororgasm : June 6th, 2012-22:18
whilst we focus on sukura ebi(naturally), the key differences between the two restaurants in preparing this dish are 1) Les Amis' pasta is stock infused and "wet" whilst Iggy's is more al dente and tossed with scampi oil 2) Les Amis use of truffles versus... 

How about sky on 57? yet to visit.

 
 By: patrickmaniac : June 7th, 2012-02:41
cheers PAt

Breakfast at Sky on 57 ...

 
 By: AndrewD : June 7th, 2012-17:52
Hi Patrick, I had a very ordinary breakfast at Sky on 57. The lunch and dinner menu looks good, but I can't comment. The best thing about it was the view, but when there are better restaurants downstairs where the food takes centre stage, that's where you...  

At least you used bread to mop

 
 By: MTF : June 7th, 2012-08:49
your sauce. I confess to just sticking out my tongue and licking the sauce off the plate Like you, I also battle the bulge and left the chocolate delice after one bite. The rhubarb ice cream was a different issue. Regards, MTF