French Jap Fusion

Choice between strawberry tart with coconut sorbet and this. Strawberry seemed abit too basic to me so I got this instead

Left is Comte probably? Not too sure but all these semi-hard cheese taste the same to me

Second from left is reblochon fermier. As with reblochons the texture is very creamy, and this one is incredibly mild which is great for most ppl

The third one there wasn't the packaging so I couldn't tell what it was, however it was very creamy and more flatly savoury.

And there was supposed to be another cheese, my favourite mont dor but they ran out. That's very painful. What's more painful is that there's only 1 last piece of the third cheese, which means the following guy who chooses cheese only gets 2 pathetic pieces. The chef was telling the disciple that this shouldn't happen again or sth

Of the condiments, the blackcurrant jam was wonderful. Yuzu pepper and mustard were standard, rusk was quite hard and pretty good.

Tbh if you're not french generally you're probably more used to a sweet ending rather than cheese. And it's harder to go wrong with desserts, although he did elaborate in this case that there's no blue cheese nor goat cheese

Overall this place, even tho it's alr priced friendlier than before, still doesn't seem very worth it to me. Fish was stunning, beef was solid, beef curry was well executed, cauliflower puree was savoury; the rest didn't really leave an impression, some were quite average. Plus the dining atmosphere due to the chef and the mistakes as well as the lack of water, all factored into this place not being one I would recommend strongly

PSA you're supposed to order this from the start, but I don't think I was prompted. Either ways I thought it's pretty weird that you decide on the add on course in the beginning, as if you know whether you're going to be able to finish it

An add on course, for those who can still eat. It's as you expect, a red wine sauce executed well made into a Japanese curry sauce, w tender bits of wagyu beef. I say bits because that's really what it is, I was surprised by the size of the wagyu pieces. But for 15++ and a quality product, there's nothing to complain about.

Served alongside quality Japanese pearls with crumbled walnut and fried shallots?

Pretty good, definitely crushes your average Japanese curry, but not mindblowing

Tbh I was still hungry before this course, but this course filled me up. The yolk is quite jelat that's why, but rich in flavour and worth the jelatness

Cured yolk, watercress? sauce, red wine sauce, A4 tenderloin.

Red wine sauce was full bodied, as expected of a self-respecting french establishment. The cured yolk on its own is not very pleasant, but magic happens when you mix everything (as they advise you to do). It's a gorgeous interpretation of sukiyaki, you really have the essence of the yolk taste in sukiyaki.

There's one more component that sticks out like a sore thumb, the chevril root puree. It's really sweet so it doesn't pair well but it's interesting on its own, it's sticky and the texture is very different from other purees, it's almost like pureed marshmallow to me. I enjoyed taking little nibbles of the liquid marshmallow

Wagyu tenderloin was great too. When you bite into it the signature flavour of wagyu fat comes thru, but seeing as tenderloin is a lean cut, this wasnt overly fatty and is a proper steak, just very tender muscle.

Signature for a reason, this was really good, definitely worth the topup

PSA one perk of watching chefs work is that you can see exactly what they're doing, in this case they're touching all the meat with their bare hands. Not sure if everyone would be bothered by it but I thought an upscale dining place would be more hygienic

Parmesan crusted fish was great. Sorry I couldn't recall the name of the fish, but it's a seabass-type fish and somewhat common, not some atas fish. The flavour was good though, and the parmesan crust was crunchy.

Shirako meuniere was slightly crusted from the "grilling"(it's placed in a pan in the oven), smooth creamy texture and no offending smell

The uni oil(orange blob at top left) was incredible, the complexity is superb. It's a pity the blob is tiny

Sake butter sauce was smooth and there's abit of seafood umami

Things didn't necessarily work tgt but each component was great, overall this dish impressed

PSA they're very strict on timing. They don't allow the earlier slot to come more than 15mins early, and my entire meal was completed in a little over and hour. They also highly discourage guests from coming more than 15mins late(you literally lose out the previous courses) for the same reason, cos the meal has to end in time for the next 1hr slot

Tbh this tasted quite like spam, flavour wise. It's more firm but there's nothing amazing about it. The pickled cauliflower and cinnamon boiled apple were fine but didn't work particularly well, truffle paste is unpleasant to me and very normal.

Not a good dish

PSA the restaurant is on the outside of orchard plaza, so don't go hunting inside. It's basically on the diagonal opposite side of the nearest corner to Somerset mrt, if you're coming from that direction

There's some veggie cubes for texture, quite small so hard to tell but sth like bamboo shoots?

Anyway, despite the sweet sounding combination, this was intensely savoury. There's still an underlying sweetness but the complexity and unbridled savouriness impressed.

Really good, must try if not for the fact that it only comes in an omakase set

PSA This place doesn't serve tap water, only bottled still or sparkling so it's pretty annoying

Idk if expectations were too high but this didn't impress. Sesame focaccia was very light, there's a little bit of sesame oil coming through. Soft and pliable, and there's good crunch on top.

Brioche was good but not wow, it's buttery but not as heavy as your normal brioche. Very crunchy and crumbly

Today's flavoured butter was white miso and uni butter. It's really interesting, it's all sweet notes. I got notes of white chocolate, zest, and hazelnut. Tbh I barely would have guessed any savoury flavours even though it's overall savoury

Hoba leaf w shredded duck, chili paste, mustard seeds tasted alright, the duck umami was good but the chili paste and mustard seed didn't enhance the flavour

Apple and turnip salad w orange sauce is pretty normal

I'm sure people have heard about the chef's temper. Well he tries his best to smile now, and he doesn't scold his student, so that's certainly an improvement. I still felt abit of pressure though and it's not easy to strike up a conversation. Best to come w someone and talk to them instead throughout the meal

The choc souffle was not bad, top was crusted and inside was fluffy and slightly wet

The Hokkaido milk gelato was superb. If it were a tad less icy it would have been perfect but as it was, the flavour was bomb already and worked very well

Deserving of the rave, partner said it's significantly better than hoshino's

Yes, the onion flavour was strong in the clean tasting pork. The rice was not mindblowing like I rmbed, it's less sticky as well. I had it previously taken away so I guess when it's cold the flavour might be better?

Overall not too bad but not super impressed anyway. Dining partner still thought that the rice was flavourful tho

The pork chop was alright, it's quite lean so this tenderness was somewhat impressive alr. Their teriyaki sauce is pretty good tho not an authentic one

Tomato was firm, the risotto was interesting cos it's bright tasting despite the mushroom base. Tomato sauce was bright too

Overall they have other more impressive stuff, this was above average only

Squid ink pasta was fine, well cooked but didn't taste like too much. The miso glaze was good but it's just a glaze, it was kind of washed off the squid when you mix everything together, at least the smokiness still stayed. Texture was quite fine, that's some skill in grilling the squid. Cream sauce was good too

However a well executed plate and innovative too but somehow didn't feel like it deserved it's price tag