We went for dinner during the guest tenure of Angel Palacios, executive chef of La Broche in Madrid and protege of the legendary Farran Adria of El Bulli.

The maitre d' greeted us with confident charm, and remembered the name of my colleague who had made the reservation. Refreshing. The view from the top floor of the Swissotel was, as to be expected, magnificent, and the restaurant had a calm ambience, although the artwork is mediocre and the vast twisted glass lighting getup on the ceiling screams a little too loudly for attention.

Our Veuve Cliquot aperetif was perfectly chilled, and the business of handling the bottle, uncorking the champagne and serving it was impeccably handled by the sommelier. Despite attempting to force some expensive white Burgundy on the hosts, he easily demurred on the choice of Cloudy Bay, and again the temperature and the handling were first rate.

We all opted for the six course menu decouverte, which was a revelation of molecularly manipulated flavour, elegant presentation and jaunty, witty texture.

The wild porcini mushrooms with orange jelly were intriguing and a cheeky combination of the woody and the tart, with the cubes of jelly and granular heap of mushrooms resembling something from a science fiction movie. Food from the 23rd century.

A dainty tumbler of foie gras flan followed, which was a magnificent combination of smooth puddingy texture and complex concentrated foie gras flavour.

Perhaps the salt black cod omelette was less successful, centered as it was by what seemed to be a cold egg yold emulsion, which gave the impression - falsely as it turned out, since all of us had the same experience - that the dish had been undercooked.

The white peach and phylo mille-feuille was topped with a wonderful langoustine foam, the bubbles of which miraculously failed to burst despite sitting there for a prolonged period while we discussed the global financial crisis.Dinners such as this might yet turn out to be an unaffordable luxury,as deep recession looms, so the atmosphere was occasionally that of a last supper.

Magret duck followed, garnished with campari-filled strawberries, a molecular piece de resistance, the campari frozen with liquid CO2 and presented in the most subtle manner, sculpted simply and not crying out for attention.

The chocolate pudding teased the palate firmly back to sweetness from the tart colouring of the strawberries and finished the entire ensemble magnificently.

Apart from some minor quibbles with the decor my only other criticism would be the restaurant allowing young children in to dine, although these were admirably well behaved. Anything else would have ruined the evening and the proprietors should be wary of allowing the "family circus" of screaming undisciplined children and their unconcerned parents that is so often on display in Singapore restaurants.

This restaurant is fabulous. Service is great - which can often be a let down in high end Singapore restaurants. The food was delicious, beautifully presented. The Sommelier really knew her wine list and recommended out of the usual but exceptional and well priced wines to accompany our food. I want to go back for the degustatin menu.

A friend was in town so we decided to lunch at Jann, reasons being they have a New Chef on board - Andre Chiang

We had the set lunch which is priced at 58++ per person, and a bottle of Cloudy Bar SB.

To start,i had the Salmon Confit. Excellent combination with succulent salmon and refreshing cucumber sobert.

Following which i had the River Prawn w ravioli. Prawns are fresh and juicy, i like the lettuce on the side that is cooked with bacon bits.

To end, i tried the Rubard. Its a jelly with blueberries and some other fruit (which after eating i still cant make out) i dont like the ice cream that came with the rubard thou, its a little to buttery for my liking.

Overall, food is good, and i will definitely be back form more.

To sum it all..Wonderful cityviews, food, ambience.

Upon making our orders for the dinner, we were served with the Complimentary from the Chef. We had raw salmon, a very small piece one (I ate it man!) The texture was smooth and didnt had the fishy taste instead of light fragrant.


The Pita bread sticks on the other hand were displayed in a flower-vase like manner. Each of them is one long crunchy stick that goes well with the sauce and rich butter.

Bacon And Potato Ballotine, Hazelnut-Goat Cheese Croquette
Parsley Gnocchi Coulant



It took us some time to realise which part is exactly the Snail.. No. It's not the big black ball of Bacon and Potato Ballotine which was awesome. You wont get sick of it. Slightly moist and pieces of bacon stuffed in it. What I love most about this dish, unfortunately, is not the snails but the Hazelnut-Goat Cheese Croquette..which I claim to be amazing. The crispy crust outside, only to reveal a pinkish white inside which is totally different from the common potato croquette! I really love that!


As for the snails, it's tucked below the bacon and potato ballotine mix with mushrooms. With both the mushrooms and snails being black..its kinda difficult to distinguish which is which at first. It then all boils down to tasting and differentiating by the texture of the two.

Confit Of Swiss Chard, Rhubarb Chutney, Jus Au Cacao


The signature dish under ''The Earth".



Like the way it is being described, the Pigeon De Bresse found under 'The Earth' is whipped up using herbs, some sauce that resulted in a salty taste. It comes with Apricot Sauce and garnished with crispy cinnamon sticks. I took a bite from the cinnamon sticks and its quite yummy.



While Cheeky initially wanted to get some duck dishes..since french ducks are so nice..the Pigeon, i believed, scored better than what he had expected. To be more tender, and to smell more than a bird and most importantly not really taste like a chicken. And cheeky likes it better without the sauce...which is...this way most of the time. hahas.

My pick? Another signature dish but under 'The Sea'. The Maine Lobster 2 ways.. I preferred the Cannelloni of Lobster claws which is wrapped in crepe-like layer..It's much softer and easier to nibble compared to the Galantine of Lobster Tail and Chicken Mousse which is wrapped in, i think its own skin. It makes it so hard for me to cut. Then again, it fufilled the cutting crave well.



And, the sweet sauce is aptly done to my liking as sauce is always important to me ;p. It's not too sweet, not puking sweet maybe coz it's mixed well with the Bitter Endive..(my guess).
All in all, nice. sweet and non-troublesome lobster..! :) Probably one of those nicest lobster i've eaten before, especially in such a different style

Milk Chocolate Cremeux, Mandarin Espuma, Grapefruit Vanilla Sorbet



It took us some time to decide whether or not we should have desserts.. But since we are there and I wont forsee us to be back there any sooner...we should just try. Like any other posh places, the chocolate sphere costs 22 bucks. And in my opinion? It didnt bring out the magical amazement like the Morton's Hot Choc Cake or Top of the M's Seven Sins, sadly.



Nevetheless, the chocolate sphere did came in a really round sphere with a golden stripe, facing me, on it. With the pouring of the chocolate fudge onto the sphere, the sphere began to melt and dent in and became the deformed sphere above.. Blended sweetness and bitterness and refreshing with the grapefruit vanilla sorbet, with a hard chocolate layer outside.


Complete review and pictures at:
http://ddoodles.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/jaan/

This is THE place to go if you want a romantic night out (and has the budget for it)

At Jaan, the first time you will notice is the breath-taking night scenery of the Singapore Marina area. Suntec and Marina square looks like little lego toy from up there. You will also get to see the Singapore Flyer blinking away and it just looks beautiful.

The place itself is also very well decorated. I am in love with the mega big mirror and the lovely celling~ Seats are also suited a little distance from each other, giving you privacy.

Was there twice and both times the food standards were awesome. The chef takes great pride in preparation and everything is like little pieces of art.

The staff there are very attentive and knowledgeable about the food. To them, dinning is not about putting the food in your mouth, but an overall experience that will leave you feeling much more relaxed and satisfied than ever before~

One good reason to get a Feed@Raffles card~ haha~