Classic French cooking done with supreme elegance and class. I had almost forgotten this level of dining existed but fortunately, a long-planned visit to “Les Amis” with my foodie friends Tim, Zee and Loo Lin, reminded me of how sublime it can be.
Our table of 4 opted for the six-course “Le Menu Automne” by Chef Sébastien Lepinoy as it had dishes we wanted to taste. Furthermore, how could we not splurge having waited for ages for this night to celebrate a milestone in Tim’s life.
Bookending our meal were two trolleys – one of bread, the other, cheese (the latter was an add-on, not part of the menu). They ranked up there as some of the most impressive I’ve seen.
To accompany the four kinds of breads displayed on the former, only Le Ponclet, a French butter so exclusive it’s supplied to twenty restaurants worldwide would do. We were told Chef Lepinoy had to submit his resume for the company to evaluate if Les Amis is worthy of it.
Equally jaw-dropping was the spread of cheese wheeled over for us to choose after our last course. We ended up going overboard with 15 kinds, savouring them plain, some with extra virgin olive oil and others, butter.
Here are what we feasted on between the breads and cheese:
1. Slow roasted Erquy scallop with a creamy sauce seasoned with autumn herbs & aromates: The sauce was incredibly delicious and the scallop, simply superb.
2. Langoustine with caviar, courgette & emulsion of extra virgin olive oil from Provence: Loo Lin’s friends had raved about this dish and rightly so. It was flawless in every single way. It was with a heavy heart that I ate my last bite of it.
3. “La Truffe Blanche d’Alba” or white truffle from Alba with seared potato gnocchi: The potato dumplings were pleasantly chewy but trust the truffle to steal my “oohs” and “aahs”.
4. Line-caught sea bass served on glazed baby leeks, grapes & verjus sauce: Fish with grapes was a combination I‘d not encountered till that point. And what a killer pairing they made. It helped that the fruit was a one-of-a-kind certified varietal.
5. Japanese Omi beef with pomme soufflé & Chef’s interpretation of a béarnaise sauce: Exquisite and playful at the same time.
6. Williams pear poached in an infusion of star anise with caramel cream: A render-the-table-speechless dessert was required. This did the job and then some.

Shoutout to Zee for arranging Tim’s surprise cake and his “special power” to make free champagne flow 😆.