La Petite Cuisine – last post for a while

C says:

I think we’re going to hold off coming here for a while, at least till the recent hype dies down. It’s been getting good press of late, and as a result it’s been seeing a steady stream of customers, but after it was lauded as having the best Confit de Canard in Singapore (according to Lifestyle’s 100 Best Dishes – a list that I find slightly dubious, considering that the best nasi padang is allegedly at Rendezvous Hock Lock Kee??!!), the place has been packed to the gills. As a result, lately we’ve had to wait quite a long time for our food, and it doesn't have that nice, easygoing feel that it used to when we were just one of a handful of tables.

We wanted to try the Coq Au Vin on Sunday, another of their dishes that was recommended in the Lifestyle list, but to our surprise, it seems to have been taken off the menu. Very strange – it’s been on the menu for absolutely ages, and right after it gets a good review, they take it off??!! Anyway, we ordered the aglio olio spaghetti with cepes mushrooms, and a salmon fillet with poached vegetables.



The pasta was okay, but it’s definitely too much for one person to finish – not really in terms of quantity, but it gets quite boring after a while. The salmon fillet was good though. It was perfectly cooked so still a bit rare in the center, the cream sauce that accompanied it had a tart edge that prevented it from being too rich, and the butter rice rocked.

I’m also trying to figure out the head waiter. At first I got a bit cheesed off cos he was very brusque and dismissive when I asked if the coq au vin was still available; he muttered something about it no longer being on the menu, and it may only come back in 2009… Later on though, overhearing his interactions with other customers, I realize that this is just the way he is, and he just has a weird sense of humour. I guess he comes from the Comics Mart school of customer service, where ribbing customers/friends is all part of the fun.

He was very polite when we left, so I won’t put this as a black mark against them. My main issue now is just the crowd and the waiting time. We’re at Serene Centre all the time anyway, so we’ll just monitor the crowd situation, and start going back once it calms down a little.

A says:

Out of stock. Call back in two weeks. (Sorry, this is an in-joke for Comics Martians only)