Odette :: Singapore

The man was eager to dine at Odette. I'm not so hot about this genre of food. Also not a fan of Jaan when it was under Chef Julien Royer, and am certainly less keen on Odette. But a contemporary take on French cuisine interests me more than its traditional fare which is too heavy and way too rich. Importantly, I've always preferred giving sushi restaurants priority when it comes to 'fine-dining' in Singapore. There, I said it.

The man went for the full eight courses with meat. There was Japanese clam à la Française with smoked bone marrow, grenobloise (browned butter, parsley, lemon and capers) and meunière. The white meat of Kushiro flounder was gorgeous. Done in two ways with red kuri squash and Thai velouté, I stole many bites. He liked the medium-rare barbecued Plounéour-Ménez pigeon. Also, he merrily ate all the sweets and petit fours, including mine.

I opted for the eight-course vegetarian menu. Half of the menu was good. Unfortunately the use of velouté is heavy, and I dislike velouté because it's kinda nauseating. So whenever the sauces appeared, I left it aside. Like how in my first course of edamame velouté, I picked out edamame from the foam. The le Puy lentils Retour d'Orient with cumin caramel, yoghurt and hummus was a total winner. Those flavors were exactly what I love in my food.

The chef's signature pine smoked organic egg was firmly on the menu, of course. Nobody could fault its presentation. The humble egg when treated right, is delicious. It was broken over root vegetables, Patrick Duler pancetta and mushroom ketchup. That was awesome. Mine didn't hold the pancetta of course. I love eggs, and this was a fantastic dish. It's probably the only dish I really fancied at Jaan and now Odette.

My palate leans heavily towards lighter flavors. If there could be a bit more Pacific Northwest and Nordic influences in the food, I'd be more in love with Odette. :p To be fair, Chef Julien Royer already does his sauces way light than the usual. It was an excellent dinner. The man and I enjoyed it very much. A quiet evening. I'll return for its service, expected quality of food, and quiet time with friends. Service was attentive and excellent. The staff are so well-trained. Impressive. In fact, it's one of the few restaurants in Singapore that's so well-staffed both on the floor and in the kitchen.

Tried very hard not to roll my eyes when asked if I wanted wine. NO NO NO. Don't people drink other things besides wine at the table? ARRRRGH. Whisky and beer make me happier, and at supposedly fine-dining restaurants, I'm much more willing to spend on beer than bottles of wine that I don't care for. Odette's beer list is uninspiring. The whisky selections fared better.

The servers quickly caught on that we were more into whisky than wine. Appreciated them showing us the whisky available; even bringing us samples. That definitely encouraged us to drink more. Heh. Began with The Auld Alliance's independent bottling of a Caol Ila. Then we moved on to more. Very impressed by The Auld Alliance's single cask bottlings. The 1988 Irish single malt was so fruity on the palate. I was enchanted. The aged small-batch American rye from Willett in its XCF Exploratory Cask Finish Version 1.0 was rich and full-bodied. Loved them.