La Cantine by Bruno Menard @ Asia Square

Located at Level 1 of Asia Square Tower 1. Some of us went on foot, so alighted at Raffles Place MRT and headed towards Lau Pa Sat's direction. Then, cross to the opposite side of SGX and then head straight to Asia Square.

First time trying a Michellin starred chef's restaurant, and coincidentally, our end-of-the-year dinner venue for our small cosy group of friends. Cheers to our friendship and thank you peeps for all the Friday night revelries~ =)

Since we made reservations, we were seated at the nice long table at the back of the room, suitable for ten pax.

menu, all stacked up

interior

Had wanted to try the burger, but there was no burger in the dinner menu. Oh well. Since there were eight of us, we practically ordered all the non-beefy mains plus a beef flank and a veal. Our service staff of the night also advised us to order starters as she said that the serving size of the mains tend to be smallish. Ordered a bottle of white wine as well.

still water

For starters, seemed like we're having pork terrine and escargots.

pork terrine, with lettuce and mustard

escargots

garlicky tender meat, with super crunchy crouton

terrine, with lettuce

But where was the bread? Terrine, should be eaten with bread, non? Alas, the complimentary bread basket only arrived some eight minutes later...

baguette

butter

Liked the bread. Kind of chewy but nice to satiate some of the hunger. Terrine on bread, with butter and some of the garlic sauce from the escargot equates to yums.

However, our wine still hasn't arrive. Could it be, because we didn't order French wine, hence the Australian ones, tend to be forgotten? Apparently, the lady who took our wine order did forget. So, the wine made it appearance somewhat later.

The mains arrived, and our long table was empty no more. Some mains had side dishes, so we had like 12-16 plates/dishes on our table. WoOOhooOO!

The long table of food

The mains:

lamb

cod fish

salmon

The cod fish itself tasted pretty light but the sauce was rather creamy. It has potato slices in the base as well. The fish roe gave those tiny burst of salty umami. This was one nicely cooked dish.

cod fish with ikura

salmon

The salmon tasted Asian, with its light soy base. The meat was very pink and soft in the middle, very tataki like. However, didn't care much for the shredded vege as it was kind of bitter!

More mains:

young yellow chicken

beef

pork belly

pan roasted bass

The beef and veal were chewy. Had a piece of flank that I gave up on chewing. Tough. Chicken was quite dry, so it needed a gulp of wine to wash it down (or lots of sauce if you're not drinking). Pork belly was tasty and tender but nothing outstanding.

The lamb, on the other hand, had looked pretty raw when sliced but tasted, very very nice. Fatty kind of nice. With a tiny hint of sweetness, and without much gameyness. Liked this best!

 The side dishes that accompanied the beef and the veal:

mashed potato

truffle fries

ravioli

not sure what vege this was, but it sure was bitter!

The tiny ravioli tasted quite nice, especially with the crisp top. Usually ravioli tasted all doughy but because the version here was small, cheesy and crispy.

After all the food, we didn't have any room for desserts. A pity.

The meal costs around $500 for the eight of us.