Les Amis Revisited @ Shaw Centre

Sorry for the radio silence, I have been eating up a storm since Covid-19 but priorities somehow shifted and I end up more active on IG than this space. I'll try to update as much as I can but for real time food adventures, do follow @thefoodchapter!

So February, my favourite month because of all the feasting that comes with every February. Hubba brought me to a number of places and Les Amis is one of them. Think classic french and Les Amis comes up. The prior visits were mainly lunch so I was curious how dinner would pan out, considering the difference in prices charged too. 

Les Amis began the night with a round of appetizers and we were definitely off to a good start! 

Comte cheese done two ways, first a choux pastry and cured beef wrapped with comte cheese. Loved both versions and the truth is, I'm a comte fan. 

 

The most delicate truffle and onion tart put together, I honestly thought I'd snap this enroute from the plate to my mouth. Everything fell in place so well, flavours and textures and bam, it was gone too too fast. 

 

The swansong of the trio had to be a stellar one too, lobster and celeriac bisque with mini croissant. 

 

Excellent on all accounts, except, they should really offer seconds or better still, a bigger portion of bisque. Creamy, briney, umami all in a soup. YUM! 

Their legendary bread trolley made an appearance (and more than once) and we had one of each just so you know. To date, the best bread trolley in my opinion goes to Joel Robuchon. 

 

My favourites that got reordered 4 more times were cheese bun and brioche. 

 

Le Crabe “Kegani” En Frivolité Au Caviar 

kegani crab prepared au court-bouillon served in a roll of feuille de brick with caviar 

 

Crab presented two ways, in a cigar pastry roll topped with caviar and neat. Faultless course - I mean what can go wrong with crabmeat and caviar? Almost nothing. 

 

La Noix De Saint-Jacques D’Erquy À L'Étouffée 

slow roasted scallop from the coast of erquy with winter herbs & seaweed sauce 

The story goes, these divers take an hour to harvest these larger than usual scallops. Plump, cooked almost rare to retain its texture and flavour, perfected with seaweed sauce and herbs. It was good, just lacking in some oomph. 

 

La Truffe Noire Du Périgord, Sur Un Petit Zéphyr Au Fromage 

veil of périgord black truffle on a silky cheese soufflé with sauce supreme 

 

More truffles with the next course which honestly, tasted like a very luxed up version of Yong Tau Foo. Yes I love my truffles and cheese, the texture of this was a surprise. I prefer something fluffier. 

Le Cœur De Saumon De L’Adour, Cuit Doucement Entourer De Sa Peau, Sauce «Charles Barrier» 

wild salmon from adour river gently cooked in its skin & served with charles barrier sauce 

Another tale comes with this and I clearly forgot which prized part of the salmon this came from but I'd applaud the team for putting salmon on the menu and making it more delicious than it sounds. Sauces, is the key and it was done so fine. Judging from the amount of sauce that accompanied this dish, no guesses why it wasn't just a drizzle. Downright tasty and very punchy, I loved it!  

 

 Le Filet De Boeuf 

beef tenderloin, classic & timeless, with sauce béarnaise & pommes souffées 

 

Can never fault a french establishment on the doneness of the beef, pretty on point except what really got me paying extra attention to this course had to be the cream of celeriac. 

Strangely. The creaminess, nuttiness, the way it was extraordinary in an unexpected manner was unforgettable. Like would you even think a vegetable can trump beef? Well, it certainly did and also the way the dishes were arranged, it did get a tad heavy and celeriac actually eased the heaviness. 

 

Chocolate tart ala Les amis style, and an absolutely divine version. I love my Tarte by Cheryl Koh tarts and this was just a universe better. I wish I had better words for this smooth velvety treat, the magic was clearly in the chocolate and the tart, as simple as it actually sounds, takes more than a genius to perfect. 

La Clémentine Givrée variations of clementine in a crisp sugar sphere with earl grey mousse 

This reminded me of an edible pinata, one that can be cracked open and revealed surprises within. Theirs was a fruity sorbet and mandarins at the bottom. So ingenious. 

And I was beyond stuffed at this point, we decided to dog pack the birthday cake (thank goodness!) because petit fours appeared. By now, chocolate is Les Amis' forte. 

A pampered birthday and it was a feast all right. Thank you Hubba for indulging me over and over again, I would return for their pocket friendlier lunches!