Andre

For full writeup and pics please go to www.thenewadventuresofoldelis.blogspot.com.

When you spend $1k on a meal, you kind of hope that it’s going to be THE meal of the year. Trust me. I wanted to rave about Andre here. I wanted to say it was worth every penny and that you should hurry up and go check it out. Unfortunately, I can’t.

The food at Andre was mediocre. The price tag was not worth it. For all the hype, all it came across was trying too hard. The whole octaphilosophy thing felt gimmicky and no, I don’t buy the whole “we only serve bio-dynamic wines” c*** either.

The only redeeming factor that night was the service. And the excellent company I had, of course – B, the birthday (hardly) boy.

Ok let’s talk about the food. It’s a set dinner at $288++ per pax, comprising 8 courses (9 including dessert). From the website, each course is supposed to

“ attempt to discover through cuisine; the nature and significance of ordinary and scientific beliefs while investigating the simplicity of concepts by means of rational argument concerning their presumptions, implications, and interrelationships. The pure and unique hues of nature’s gifts from the land together with scientific research are juxtaposed alongside with the intuitions of the South, where primal aromas and texture evoke the endless trail of memories”

……. Erm.

Anyway, a quick run-down and some OMHO (only my humble opinion – new abbreviation I learnt!) comments

1. Pure - Gaspacho of Zucchini. This tasted like grass, very raw and no, I didn’t like it.

2. Salt - Oyster with Granny Smith Apple Foam. I liked how the apple gave a fresh sweetness to the oyster but the overall dish was not very unexciting. Cute plating of tiny (2mm?) chopped apple cubes all over the plate – pity the poor kitchen hand tasked with this.

3. Artisan - Charcoal Grilled Baby Sweet Corn. The corn was very fresh, sweet and nicely grilled. But no wow factor. Really? Grilled corn?

4. South - Salad of Fruit Tomato, Persimon, Cured Hirame, Chilled Risotto with Palamos Prawn, Mackerel, Red Snapper, Sea Bass. I am a big fan of seafood so this dish I liked.

5. Texture - Squid Risotto with Cauliflower Puree. The wait staff put up a big show here, asking us to guess which component was the squid and which was the rice. The answer – there was no rice – the risotto was made of squid. Hmm ok, I’ll give it to Andre, that’s clever. But the dish just tastes normal, OMHO!

6. Unique - French Artichoke, Japanese Baby Barracuda Fish. Again, I love fish.

7. Memory - Warm Foie Gras Jelly, black Trufle Coulis. Now THIS was probably the only dish that impressed me that night. As you may know, I don’t like eating foie gras. Ethical issues aside, I am not too big a fan of liver in general. But this dish rocked. It tasted was foie gras infused custard – texture was lovely, loved the scent of truffle – superb. I wanted more.

8. Terroir - Wild Duck, Tarragon and Onion Puree. This last dish wiped out all the goodwill from the foie gras jelly. Eeiks – the duck was a tad dry and tough, come on, this is unacceptable! I didn’t finish this.

Dessert was chocolate degustation. I like chocolate. This was ok.

As mentioned, the bill for 2 came to about $1k, including a bottle off wine - Kastelberg Riesling Grand Cru 2007 Marc Kreydenweiss. We asked the sommelier for something that could go with the entire degustation and indeed, this choice was spot on. The Riesling went well with the predominantly seafood based dishes, whilst having enough structure to cut through the meats. Hmmm the $280++ bottle of wine could well be the most “value for money” item we had.

Most disappointing meal of the year! Liberty Private Works beats Andre hands down. For that matter, Buko Nero, Ember and so many other restaurants too.

First of all, let me make some qualification before I begin my review. 

My buddy and I dined at Andre last week. The final bill came to about S$990++ say SS1,000. Between us, we have dining experience in say a dozen or so Michelin Star restaurants all over the world and we are quite good with our food. 

We went to Andre with a neutral emotion - NOT 'depressed' (hence a negative view of the place) or even in an exuberant mood (after signing a billion dollar contract where even fried lizard from Andre is perceived as excellent). 

We were attended by one sommelier, the Japanese guy; served by a Czech and local Chinese (maybe Singaporean or Malaysian - she spoil it for Andre, poor communication skills). 

There is a gimmick at the beginning of the dining - an antique looking book handed out, a 'travelogue' of some kind, authored by Andre and the Japanese, on their 'wine' story and experience. They serve ONLY "Biodynamic wine", which I doubt majority of Singaporeans know what that is all about. Having said that they only service "biodynamic" wines mean they can charge a bomb. What is this biodynamic? Google it up, in short, wine produced from rather perplexing and somewhat 'hocus pocus' method e.g. the grapes are planted during full moon with cow manure buried in the cow horn and buried in the soil, bla bla. As for me, it's just plain nonsense, I have NOTHING against those who believe and willing to pay for such wine. It's just me, yes, it's just me. 

In terms of the food, the same Menu as most of the review here. I don't think the taste is orgasmic, really. However I do find the food artistic- artistically prepared, some design goes into it. A point in case; a dish containing 'risotto' and squid; the squid is chopped up and made to taste like risotto yet the black crispy cracker which is thought to contain squid is actually made from the risotto. Fun indeed, artistic definitely but taste? Nice, but still squid dish. 

Some of the fish dishes were nothing to shout about, in fact I was very disappointed with one of the dish - the remaining 7, nice, delicious but NO standing ovation. 

Beware with the biodynamic wine thingy - I asked for wine in glasses, two glasses for the entire course because I was driving. The wine is poured slightly more than 1 third of the usual wine glass volume. For a 'glass' of white and sweet wine, I was charged S$60++. Did the biodynamic wine made me moo? Nah, nothing at all. 

Seriously, money was no issue to us that night. We were going for the taste. During dinner we asked a reliable and senior member of the restaurant - Andre is Taiwanese and his wife is not Singaporean; why open a restaurant in Singapore and not in Hong Kong or Tokyo? Without batting an eyelid the person replied saying that 'Singapore's food business  is much better than HK or Japan'. BEEP wrong answer! Come on, go and count how many Michelin Star restaurants in Hong Kong alone! 

(Speaking about 'vibrant, oh glorious' local food scene, a couple with a kid around 9 year turned up at the restaurant. Both mom and daddy ordered the set and mommy asked if the restaurant have 'ala carte menu'. Yeah, ala carte in a fine dining restaurant. I hope Singaporeans are not turning into people who know the price of everything but the value of nothing!)

To be fair to us, we did the full monty at Andre that night; not just the 'set menu' - we ordered wines (my buddy had 6 glasses) and before the standard dessert, we ordered EXTRA, cheese platter each per person.  

Sure, I cannot put a value to art but well, this is culinary art, something which must come out the natural way after few hours so here's the thing; if the bill comes up to about S$600, we will be back again. At S$500 per person? Our first and last. 

In closing, as a friendly advice, can I ask those who have been there on company account to exercise some moderation because if you keep going back there on company credit card, your boss will find out; global recession seems to be making a  come back next year. 

Service was excellent and warm. Dishes were rushed out a little too much. This is a minor detail. Air con not as bad as Jaan but still too cold—by the end we were freezing and that’s after splitting a bottle and a half of champagne, four glasses of wine each, etc. This is stupid as it puts you off the last courses and your last memory is of fleeing the cold.

Amuse bouches were sensationally delicate. First course of scallop Carpaccio wrapped around Japanese chives in red cauliflower juice was unbelievable, I can still taste the individual flavours. Mid range courses not remarkable, although I remember the sea urchin risotto, which was fantastic. The cheese was poor, apart from the pont l’eveque. Desert I don't even remember. The wines, which we had by the glass and were selected by the sommelier to accompany the courses, were interesting and pleasant but not memorable. Very dry Riesling, a Sancerre that had a (very nice) vodka element to it. The desert wine was spot on. But nothing that took your breathe away.

What did take your breathe away was the foie gras brulée and the ‘main course’ (out of eight) of Pyrenean lamb chops. It’s impossible to overstate how good these were. Both were by some distance the best dishes I have ever had using those ingredients. The fois gras was just scrumptuous, utterly dazzling (I have eaten fois gras many times across the world including in la France). The texture of the lamb was indescribably soft and the flavour was superb. It was a dream-like dish—like tasting something you never have before so that, in hindsight, you aren’t sure that it was real or imagined. This made the night first class overall. We will go back.

For pictures please visit foodmakespeoplehappy.blogspot.com thanks!

Restaurant Andre has been on my "To-go" list for quite some time already and I'm really glad we managed to make it down to his restaurant last Saturday to try out his "Octaphilosophy" menu (basically an 8 course menu with 8 different themes based on what's the freshest ingredients available that day)

Below are pictures of Chef Andre's atelier. When we reached the restaurant, the staff came out to receive us and brought us to this lift, (yes we took the lift) up to the 3rd floor to where she called Chef Andre's atelier. Below are pictures of his atelier.

 White wine to start with! The sommelier's v friendly, jap guy I reckon

Vanilla Popcorn!

 

This was not bad! There were the crunchy bits and was a nice twist to popcorn I fell! Made it less sweet and slightly savory 4/5

 Onion and porcini mushroom tart

 

This wasnt a tart, we thought it would be, but in the end it was a wafer thin crispy cracker! Loved the onion taste to it, made us think of the sour cream and chives that KFC uses on its cheesefries! Haha. 4/5

 Tuna tartare

 

Loved the presentation of this! However, I felt that this was a rather normal dish? Just wrapped in a thin pancake like layer nothing much 3.2/5

Marsala Chicken Skin

 

I could taste the chicken skin definitely, though how thin this piece of skin was made it feel like it was a cracker infused with some chicken oil or something. Nonetheless, really yummy piece of cracker! 4/5

Deconstructed Fish & Chips with chocolate garlic soil 

 

I LOVED this the most out of all the snacks!!!! This was really interesting. Those are the ends of fish sticking out (ie the tail area) and the chefs fried the fish till it was really crispy and wrapped a layer of potato round the bottom of the fish tail (the brown part you see directly below the tail) and that's the "chips" part! We ate the whole thing because it was fried so crisply and went really well with the chocolate garlic soil! 

 

I COULDNT. STOP. EATING. THE. SOIL.! Okay though that sounds weird but really, it was amazingggg to me and my family! The garlic lent enough savouriness to the chocolate soil but definitely did not overpower the chocolate, they complemented each other REALLY well! I just ate scoops and scoops of it one after the other. YUMMYY 5/5

 

 

 

PURE

Purple cauliflower consomme, purple shallot, basil, shiso and scallop ravioli

 

Felt this dish was really clean tasting, no seasonings were added so that the individual ingredients could shine through and I felt that this dish was simple, good as a starter dish! Forgot to take a picture of this in my haste to eat it! Haha 4/5

 

Photo credit: NYTimes.com

 

SALT

French oysters, seaweed, sea water jelly and granny smith apple foam

 

The small pieces dotted around the bowl are small pieces of granny smith apples! Haha. Anyway, the seaweed was really salty! The oyster was a huge slice and you could really taste the saltiness of the sea and the freshness of the oyster! The seaweed and sea water jelly had to be eaten together with the oyster else they'd be too salty on its own. After eating those together, I ate the apple foam and felt that it was a really good counterbalance to the saltiness! Really does cleanse your palette after that 4/5

 

Bread

 

We loved the bread! It was warm and the outside crusty. Went really well with butter! My mom, who doesnt usually like bread, said that the bread was nice too! They gave us seconds and we gobbled it up (: I love restaurant with yummy bread! 5/5

Artisan

Deep fried burdock on a spread of macadamia nuts. Deep fried duck tongue on top of aubergine from Kyoto with smoked aubergine creme anglaise topped with free farmed caviar. Black sesame sea salt

 

Loved the burdock chips with the spread! But my mom preferred it alone because that way she felt, the taste of burdock could shine through while with the spread, the taste was slightly muted. I though, thought it went well with the spread! Felt the aubergine was really soft and went well with the creme anglaise and caviar. The duck tongue was a nice touch, crispy and gave a crispy texture to the otherwise soft aubergine. This plate was crafted by the Chef as well. 4.3/5

South

Part 1: Salad of white peaches, tomato and tomato sorbet

Part 2: Grilled abalone, mackerel, hirame, prawn and uni risotto with bluefin emulsion

 

South pays homage to the Chef's time in South of France. The staff told us Chef started learning how to cook in France since he was 15!

 

Part1: I'm really sorry I didnt take a picture of the dish! But basically, the sorbet was in the middle surrounded by alternating pieces of tomato and peaches. The peaches were SO SWEET and good!! Really loved the tomato sorbet as well!! Extremely palate cleansing cos it was slightly sour while a little sweet, never tried such a sorbet before and thoroughly fell in love with it (:

 

Part 2: The bluefin emulsion was really amazing! Potent ocean flavours I tell you! Shot of the ocean, that's what I'd describe it as! The prawn (red blob to the right) and the fish were all grilled nicely and the risotto was mixed with sweet uni, and the rice was cooked of course, perfectly. Every morsel was coated nicely in a light cream sauce (I think) and overall,  I loved this dish! 4.6/5

TEXTURE

Ariboro rice squid ink crackers with cauliflower puree

 

Now our waitress told us to guess what this dish was about but because we (Mom and I) already know the play of textures in this dish so we left it to the boys to guess and after a few chews, they realised that the risotto (white stuff) in between the crackers were actually pieces of squid! And the ariboro rice was encrusted in the crackers infused with squid ink! This was a nice play on the squid and the ariboro rice I felt! But taste wise, it was rather average only. Because we couldnt really taste the squid (though we could tell the texture) and the cracker just felt like a crispy piece, nothing really. What I liked were the cheese flakes weirdly! Haha. Look at the end of the first picture, that's the cheese! Really fragrant flakes of cheese which went well with the puree. But thumbs up for the creativity, chef! 3.5/5

 

UNIQUE

Char-grilled Baby Barracuda with French artichoke, olives, grilled vegetables, wine sauce

 

I loved the barracuda (fish) marinade! It was very fragrant because of the spices used, like a cross between Indian spices and French ones. Really great pieces of fish! The olives were great and I felt the grilled tomato especially, was yummy! 4.3/5 

 

MEMORY

Foie gras jelly with black truffle coulis

 

STAR. OF. THE. NIGHT.

 

Seriously!! The waitress told us this is the chef's signature dish and never removes it from the menu (lunch menus have this as well) and I can see why!! It was my FAVOURITE dish of the night and really wow, stuck in my memory!!!!! The fragrance of the truffle was like the best perfume to me and I relished smelling the dish over and over again!! Sorry I really love the smell of truffles!!! It went really well with the smooth foie gras jelly (a lil chawanmushi like but REALLY smooth!). I scrapped every last morsel I could from the bowl and really yearned for more!!! I'd definitely come back just for this. You have yourself a truly stunning dish, Chef Andre! MUST-TRY! 5/5

 TERRIOR

Rabbit loin wrapped with pancetta,charcoal powder and mustard seeds. Rabbit rib. Pea puree, onion puree, and milky potato

 

Rabbit loin - it was really soft (as you can see from the picture below) the meat was pink and cooked just nicely. I felt that mustard seeds surprisingly, was a good complement with the meat because it gave the dish a complex but well thought-out depth. The rabbit rib was good too, good fat to meat ratio and seared (I think) perfectly well! 4.6/5

 

Oh yes, and a red wine came with this dish which was really smooth!

 

Look at the cute oar-like "spoon"! Haha. We've completed the Chef's Octaphilosophy and the waitress asked if we want cheese or move straight to desserts. We politely declined the cheese course and so we had desserts!

 

Pre-dessert

Yoghurt, strawberry, marshmallow

 

This was a not bad pick me up after the dinner. Though I'd like a little more sour-ness to the dish to really cleanse the palette! And if the dish was slightly colder, it'd be better! Nonetheless, the simplicity of this dish was a crowd pleaser 4.3/5

Chocolate Degustation

Chocolate sphere on fromage blanc, chocolate sponge, chilli chocolate crisp with burnt butter ice cream on chocolate soil

 

Really loved the chocolate sphere with fromage blanc!!! Was REALLY surprised that chocolate and cheese can go so well together!! Really loved this pairing by the chef, opened my eyes to a new wonderful combination of chocolate and cheese!! Favourite part of the dessert that night! The chilli chocolate crisp didnt taste of chilli at all, the ice cream was good though! Chocolate soil this time round didnt have the garlic in it and I didnt like it that much because the added flavours that garlic brought to it was what made it stand out! Chocolate sponge was really nothing, thought prolly the dish could do without it? Couldnt really taste chocolate and it was just a really soft "cake". 4/5

 

Petit Fours

Burnt figs, white chocolate popcorn, passionfruit marshmallows, hazelnut madeleines

 

The figs were from France I think? Really nice figs! The popcorn this time was more dessert-like and the boy definitely relished that it was coated with white chocolate!! Tastes like the Japanese corn chocolate snack if you know which one I'm talking about haha. Passionfruit marshmallow was great!!!! Really tasted like passionfruit but in a different form! Madeleines were okay, never my favourite so, yup. 4.6/5

 

 

 

Coffee/tea

 

Can choose from white/black/flower/mint tea and I chose black tea! Which was served in this cup made by the Chef. Though I felt it was a little impractical because there was a handle and because of the material, it was hot to touch when the tea was in the cup so we could only hold the top part of the cup! 

 

 

 

Mr Goh Chok Tong (far left), Mr Lee Kwan Yew and Chef

 

 

 

PM Lee and his wife with Chef Andre

 

 

 

 

 

Accolades won by the Chef. We decided to walk down after dinner instead of taking the lift!

 

 

 

 

 

Chef Andre's "house". Really a wonderful experience!

 

 

 

Overall, I'd say the experience was definitely very artistic and we whole-heartedly agreed with our waitress when she said that Chef was a really artistic person who cares a lot about detail and is very meticulous about it! Chef is a Taiwanese btw. The serving staff were all really friendly, with ready smiles on their faces and would gladly answer any questions you have.

 

I'd suggest booking at least three weeks in advance to secure seats because the seats are really quite hard to get! I booked mine hmm, about a month beforehand? The restaurant only seats 30 people and according the our waitress, there are also 30 chefs working in the restaurant! They also allow interns! 

 

We felt that this meal reminded us of our meal at Tippling Club haha though my parents were more "for" this meal because it was less molecular gastronomy and definitely more filling. I love both for the difference in their emphasis. Tippling Club for the extremely innovative and unique ways of cooking + presenting dishes, and Chef Andre's meticulous pairing of food to showcase their natural flavours and how his platings are like works of art.

 

A wonderful experience that one must go through in order to understand (please, you have to try Memory)

 

Restaurant Andre

Bukit Pasoh Road

 

PS, because it was F1 weekend, so our menu was a "special" F1 menu which costs $350++. I put it in inverted commas because when most of the dishes in the menu we tried have already been tried by many others who've gone to Andre, though there are definitely some additions to the menu and some changes.

...from the moment we had the pre-meal snacks to the gorgeous chocolate sponge cake for dessert.

The concept of each course is well thought out and allows your tongue to be dazzled by a range of tastes often long forgotten. For me although it is expensive it is worthy treat for someone you love. However, you can see why the prices are as they are - especially as all of the ingredient are fresh.

Chef Andre should be congratulated in his success of building a whole concept that is delivered with excellent culinary skills, super staff - with the right mix of attentiveness and service and a lovely, cosy atmosphere.

I also went for the wine pairing and the wines chosen were superb.

My partner said on her facebook it was a once in a lifetime experience - I hope not but maybe not somewhere to go every week. At times really good treats need to sparingly given.

To cap the even off Chef Andre visited the table and was happy to oblige in having his photo taken with us. We chatted a little as well and he comes across  very charming and down-to-earth. I only wish I had a fraction of his culinary skills.

My standard reply to "Can you cook like this?" was "NO!" but Chef Andre is a genius.

Do yourself a favor and eschew the fine-dining “chain” establishments at MBS and RWS and try a place that is uniquely Singaporean and deservedly world-class.  We were treated to a wonderful roller coaster ride of flavors, textures, and ingredients predominantly from the South of France.  Most of the ingredients are air flown from France some 4 times a week and dishes are often conceptualized day of.

While the menu lists 8 courses, there are also a starter, cheese and dessert course that are as equally substantial.  Some favorites include the "pure" course, an entire dish made without cooking or seasoning, "memory" - a foie gras jelly with truffle coulis, and "unique" - a hot and cold version of dishes based on the same ingredients.

The service here leans more towards warm and casual, always present but never a distraction. Towards the end of the evening, Chef André makes the rounds, spending time chit chatting with the diners and happily answering questions.  Even though there were other diners around, the personal attention from chef and staff made us feel like we were the only guests that evening.

Dining at André is not a cheap proposition, but this is the first time that I have eaten a meal at this price point that I was more than glad to pay

(I spent almost 45 minutes writing a review and was just about to write the last sentence when my computer hung. I am re-writing this from scratch - such is my admiration for the food at Andre)

It is rumoured that there is a two-month waiting list for reservations. Though it is more like a two-week wait list, I am sure it would not remain so for long at Andre. The only menu offered at Andre is a eight-course degustation meal, based on eight characteristics - pure, salt, artisan, south, texture, unique, memory, and terrorir. This tasting menu excludes an amuse bouche starter, bread, and dessert, so it is more like a ten-course dinner.

The menu 'changes' very slightly every two weeks, according to Andre himself, who stopped by our table at the end of the meal (he does the same for all diners; such was the intimacy of the restaurant). He would change an ingredient here and there based on seasonal and fresh ingredients.

Andre creates dishes based on these words, mostly French-influence, some Mediterranean, seafood heavy, thoughtfully conceptualised and created, and very well executed and prepared, beautiful, dishes.

Pure - scallop gnocchi in purple cauliflower consomme. It was a very pretty, definitely pure, but perhaps it was because this first dish was served after the amuse bouche of tuna tartare (9/10), vanilla popcorn (5/10), onion cracker (10/10), it came across as being.. bland, though I did try to have every last drop of the lavender consomme. (6/10).

Salt - this dish - oyster wrapped in seaweed jelly - has apparently not a grain of salt, and yet it taste of fresh sea. (9/10)

Artisan - perhaps because it was an (stewed? baked?) aubergine, one of my favourite vegetable, topped with cock's comb (!) sauce, which was startlingly unusual and adventurous, I rate this rather.. average dish more highly than it should. (7/10)

South - a beautiful, colourful dish, strongly invoking southern France and the Mediterranean both visually and by taste. Tomato gelato/ice cream on the side, and on the main dish there was a razorclam, a juicy flavourful prawn, topped with blue crab foam, and seafood risotto - I never imagined describing risotto as 'clean-tasting' until I had this. A very memorable dish. (10/10).

Texture - our wait staff would only say this dish is made of squid and rice. The white porridge/risotto-like rice taste strongly of squid, salty, topped with delicate light black cracker - squid ink? No. My sister took great delight in 'solving' this dish. While it was conceptually fun and interesting, I thought it average. (6/10)

Unique - while our dishes were being served and set on the table, the waiter showed us a basket of much smaller than average chicken eggs - laid by black hens in Singapore. These type of eggs supposedly consist of 80% yolk, 20% egg white. The (poached, I presume) egg in our dish was served with truffles, morels (if I am not mistaken), caramelized onion. This was a delicious, rich, and perfect blend and medley of full flavours, intense, extremely memorable. My favourite dish of the night. (10/10).

Memory - is fois gras custard under a layer of black truffle 'sauce' served in a large brandy-type glass bowl, somewhat like how a chawamushi is served, but worlds apart. This is Andre's signature dish, one he has created and served for over 10 (I think?) years of his career. It has not been changed, and he has continued to serve it as it is, for good reason too. We thought it would be heavy-going (it was a very generous portion of fois gras), but as I scraped my spoon for the last morsels, I realise I could easily have more. My husband calls this 'the essence of essence'. (10/10)

Terroir - medallion of milk-fed veal, mint vegetable sauce. Very well executed, faultless. (9/10)

Dessert was chocolate sphere, somewhat like a chocolate lava cake, and while some may find it boring, traditional, unoriginal (it was like a chocolate lava cake after all!), it was delicious, not at all cloying, not overly sweet, balanced perfectly with its bitterness. It may be a 'traditional' dessert, but I do dislike avante garde desserts, e.g. the brie ice cream (of 53). A good end to a wonderful meal. (9/10)

Bread was fresh, dark brown, crispy crust on the outside, addictively soft in the inside. I had two, but wish I had the stomach space for a few more. (9/10)

Service was generally very good, except for one wait staff (she was slightly sloppy in refilling our sparkling water). They were all polite, warm, attentive.

The wines are quite special at Andre - they are 'unknowns', procured from very small vineyards in France, but all are apparently very good. The bottle we had was light, but delicious, seemingly no tanins.

Like the previous poster, I have had my fair share of good meals at restaurants, e.g. Ryugin (of Tokyo), a handful of top restaurants in Hong Kong, and in Singapore: Iggy's (several times too), and slightly lower rung the likes of Garibaldi, 53, Aoki, and the more pedestrian yet uppity restaurants like White Rabbit, Stellar at 1-Altitude -

and if I could turn back the time, I would skip all these meals in Singapore, and use the money for a second dinner at Andre. While Andre is not quite on par with Ryugin; they are quite different after all, in concept, cuisine, and ingredients, and I am too partial to Japanese cuisine - the dinner at Andre was very good, very memorable. I enjoyed my dinner tremendously, and I am sure the next time I return, Andre will and should be Michelin-starred.

This is my second review on HGW. The first was on Iggy's which was truly a disappointment and pales in comparison. The food at Andre is what i would describe as close to near perfection. There is only one-menu which is a fixed degustation - it basically comprises all the ingredients which Andre selects from the local markets and also imports - the diner is assured of freshness. The latter coupled with Chef Andre's creativity makes for a close to perfect meal. The best meal* i have had so far is at Nihonryori Ryugin in Roppongi, Tokyo. Second best is at Tatsuya in Sydney. Andre comes third (*I have however not had the opportunity yet to try El Bulli - which is now closed - nor Noma). 

The degustation menu at Andre is SGD280++(excluding drinks). I had a few glasses of wine (both white and red) recommended by Andre's Sommelier which were very decent. Total price for dinner for 2 at Andre's was SGD750, which i believe whilst expensive delivers on value.

I highly recommend Andre for a perfect evening out. Also understand that the restaurant managed to squeeze into San Pellegrino's World's Top 100 Restaurants - within its first year of opening. I'm also confident that Chef Andre will be recognised by the Michelin Man in the very near future.

Andre Chiang, former head chef of Jaan Par Andre, is Singapore's culinary whiz kid of the moment and his 8-course Octa menu shows it all : arty presentation, focus on artesanal ingredients and an emphasis on taste and texture.

But Chiang has kept the seating capacity at his boutique restaurant decidedly intimate - just 30 pax. With a wait list of almost 1 month, it's wise to make your reservation early.

Evelyn Chen

http://bibikgourmand.blogspot.com/2011/01/top-10-singapore-restaurant-openings-in_25.html

 

 

I am a big fan of Andre.  I think he is the one and only chef in Singapore who I found the genuinity of the artist and a real chef.  Sadly not a lot of people who called themselves 'foodies' understand what so call 'gastronomic cuisine'.  So unfortunate, many good chef will have to leave Singapore. 

Anyway, I had dinner at Andre with my fiance.  It was her birthday.  My table was next to the bay window.  My meal started with an introduction of Octaphylosophy, the 8 elements which Andre would like to introduce each dish to his guest.  Unique, pure, texture, memory, salt, south, artisan, terroir.  I and my fiancee had to admit that we enjoyed our journey especially attisan dish - the taiwanese baby corn grow from a small farm in Taiwan only for the restaurant.   It was so sweet and fresh.  Of course, memory dish was one of my favorite - the foie gras truffle collie was to die for...My meal was completed with a nice hot coffee from a special coffee cup design for the restaurant.   

Last, I want to say thank you Andre for my memorable meal, and thank you for being here in Singapore.