Saint Pierre, Singapore – more please
Please note this restaurant has moved to 1 Fullerton Road.
Saint Pierre, helmed by Belgian chef Emmanuel Stroobant, has been around for a fair while. Indeed, the cached description for the restaurant’s old website proclaims it to have won Singapore’s ‘restaurant of the year’ in 2007.
The establishment took a sea change, literally, at the end of May 2013 when it relocated to Sentosa’s Quayside Isle. This is pretty much as isolated as it gets in bustling Singapore – low rise townhouses, a few luxury hotels, lots of boats and very few taxis – but more on that later. It’s on the first floor of the restaurant strip, near the W Hotel and has a very pleasant aspect over the marina.
Greedy Girl, long a fan of Melbourne-based food writer Rita Erlich, a former editor of The Age Good Food Guide, came across one of her old reviews that noted Saint Pierre to be one of her ‘must dos’ in Singapore. A table for two was immediately secured for a quiet Sunday night. The development is very modern and the restaurant likewise.
A light and bright room (well, until the sun went down) with reasonably comfortable blonde bentwood chairs and some little quirks. Our table decoration was an orchid. To our right was a vase full of baby carrots. Behind us, a lone pineapple stood guard. Settling in, we ordered a bottle of a favourite – Jacquesson Cuvee 736 and looked over the menu.
There was a slight hiccup. The champagne was popped and a taste offered to Greedy Girl. The bouquet was decidedly, er, different but she took a sip. Ewww. Corked. The sommelier looked at her in astonishment. She handed the glass to gluttonous husband who didn’t even need to take a taste – the nose was just that bad. No dramas – the bottle went to the sideboard and another one provided.
The sommelier commented how unusual it was to get a corked bottle of champagne. We chatted with him about our experiences in Switzerland recently where not one, but two bottles of cognac we bought as a farewell gift to friends were also corked. Something in the air, perhaps.
Anyway, to the food. We took a slice of a warmed sourdough, presented at the table in a burlap sack, with a turret of homemade butter. The butter was initially very cold but soon warmed a fraction to be soft and spreadable. Before we knew it, we were also presented with a little amuse bouche of hiramasa kingfish tataki with a herb emulsion.
Warmed sourdough
Hiramasa kingfish tataki
A special (which could be taken as a starter or main) was risotto with Australian winter black truffle. Sign me up, said Greedy Girl, while gluttonous husband took the foie gras classique. The risotto was a pretty dish. The rice itself was cooked perfectly, with just the right amount of resistance to the bite. Dotted with some edible flowers it was topped with a slice of truffle, which delicately pulled apart to impart its extraordinary flavour to the rest of the dish.
Risotto, Australian winter black truffle
Gluttonous husband’s foie gras was to die for. Pan seared slices of the softest liver were combined with a port sauce, caramelised apples and a delicious pastry ‘sandwich’. The port sauce was almost frothy and got soaked up by the pastry which still managed to remain a bit crunchy. The foie gras was utter buttery perfection. Half way through, as we prepared to swap plates, gluttonous husband was definitely reluctant. ‘It must be love,’ he murmured as Greedy Girl started drooling over ‘her’ half.
Foie gras doesn’t get much better
Next up was veal for Greedy Girl. A very attractive plate, this was tenderloin of veal with turned new potatoes, crisp vegetables, morel mushrooms and some delightful asparagus spears. Again, Greedy Girl was well pleased with the dish – until she tasted gluttonous husband’s choice.
Tenderloin of veal
Tossing up between a pork dish and a braised Angus beef short rib, our friendly waiter recommended the latter (pictured at the top of this blog). Greedy Girl is generally not a fan of braised dishes, not enjoying the softer meat texture. This was almost as extraordinary a dish as the foie gras. The flavour of the beef, braised for 72 hours, was sublime. Even the presence of beetroot couldn’t make a dent in the lusciousness of the combination. Dotted with cherry tomatoes and turnips for crunch, the imperial soy, merlot reduction and truffle brunoise all combined to make the best sauce ever. Absolutely delicious.
On a roll and enjoying a chat with our Parisian waiter Jean-Christophe who had spent four-and-a-half years working in Sydney, we decided to depart from our usual, waistline-saving practice of ordering one dessert to share. Greedy Girl had ‘Grandma Stroobant’s’ flourless Belgian chocolate cake.
Grandma Stroobant’s flourless Belgian chocolate cake
This was served with an ‘Iranian’ pistachio custard, candied grapefruit powder and raspberries. As you can see from the plate, the treatment of the raspberry was quite unique – the fruit’s little ‘bumps’ were torn into tiny specks. The power of their flavour, however, remained intact. It was an excellent dessert but, and Greedy Girl is sounding like a broken record, it paled alongside gluttonous husband’s choice, also another tip from our waiter.
This was a chilli chocolate ganache, chocolate biscuit crumbs, Kir Royale sorbet topped with balls of a melon from the south of France. It was unbelievably good. The Kir Royale sorbet was a triumph and its luscious cassis flavour paired brilliantly with the chocolate, particularly the little bit of heat generated from the chilli. Absolutely delightful.
Chilli chocolate ganache
Given it was a Sunday night and the surrounding areas were starting to look a little deserted, we asked for the bill and for a taxi to be called. This is one of the issues about dining on Sentosa – or, at least this part of the island. It is not serviced by the Sentosa Express train, there are few buses (especially on a Sunday night) and taxis are reluctant to come across from Singapore proper because they’re slugged with a surcharge. Facing the prospect of bribing a local to ferry us up to the train station in a golf buggy, the Maitre D eventually came back to tell us paying the surcharge was our only option. So what sort of penalty were we in for? Eight dollars. Yup. We told our Maitre D we thought we could handle that.
This was another great Singapore food experience although it could be said Saint Pierre and the very personable Emmanuel Stroobant (who came out to ensure all was well earlier in the evening) have taken a bit of a risk to move their establishment to this area of Sentosa. It’s definitely off the radar for visitors – our concierge had never heard of it – and will rely on the burgeoning local population (mainly young expat families it seemed) for patronage. Greedy Girl hopes it thrives – she definitely wants to go back.
Saint Pierre
1 Fullerton Road, Singapore
saintpierre.com.sg
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