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Saturday, December 3, 2011

LP+Tetsu

This restaurant has been on my radar ever since I knew Laurent Peugeot was collaborating with Food Junction (yes you read that right) to set up a restaurant replacing the old Tetsu at Tanglin Mall. The boy and I went to Tetsu last year for a wonderful pork katsu filled meal so we have good impressions of this place. And tonight, we were truly impressed and wowed by the excellent service, food and experience.



The entrance

The layout of the restaurant is a little weird though. We were seated at a table that was quite near the entrance? Its like when you walk in straight then suddenly on your left after the kitchen will be 2 two-seater tables, one in front of the other and we were seated at the 1st one. But dont worry, you still get your privacy! They are professional like that.

Chef Laurent Peugeot is a 1 Michelin star chef from France and has been in Singapore quite a few times already, most recently at il Cielo I believe?

There are a few menus to choose from at LP+Tetsu

1) Surprise menu $190 (6 dishes chosen by the chef, a cheese course and a dessert) Please note that the whole table must take the surprise menu should you decide on this
2) Simple LP+Tetsu menu (if I didnt rmb wrongly this is what its called! $98 - comes with blue fin tuna tartare, sushi, scampi, wagyu, chocolate pyramid dessert and I cant rmb if there's anything else sorry!)
3) Wander and Savour LP+Tetsu - $138 (comes with foie gras, grilled oyster, escargot tempura, sashimi, pigeon, quasi toblerone, cant rmb what else is there! But mainly these!)
4) Ala carte menu - mains are around 60-ish? If I'm not wrong... Haha. There was also white truffle risotto/with scrambled eggs on promotion today!
5) Lunch set menu (sorry didnt note down the price)

The boy and I decided on the surprise menu! I told them I didnt really like cheese so they changed it for me and I requested something to do with truffles and that was what I got in the end! (: They're really flexible with the menu so you can tell them what you like/dont like and they will change it for you!



Table setting that greeted us. And yes that is a real rock! See the brown slab beside the rock? That's where you jug of water will be placed. We ordered ice water, though they only offered still/sparkling haha.


This was the "decor" on our table, the red thing at the top right corner of the container is a fish.  


The menu! For now they have a promotion, if you pay with DBS/POSB credit card, you get a free glass of wine!


Matcha salt - from Japan (really salty! Cant really taste the green tea though) 



1st course: Foie gras terrine poached in O de lune with white wine jelly and biscuit

Biscuit: now initially I didnt know there was something between the layers of biscuit until I bit into it and wow tastes like chili sauce! Haha unique take I must say! And refreshing to find such tastes in a French restaurant!

Foie gras: Now this makes me rethink my love for pan-fried foie gras and gravitate towards pate. Okay maybe only towards LP+Tetsu's pate. Its just the right size, not too huge (unlike uh Les Amis) and the white wine jelly that accompanies it gives a good contrast to the smooth silky texture and taste of the pate. 4.6/5

Dinner started off on a wonderful note!



We were also served a special nori olive oil that the restaurant made themselves and it was specially concocted to go with their homemade bread! The bread is placed on a toothpick and placed in a small hole on the rock! The first is a brioche and the bottom one's a baguette. But I thought the top tasted more like a croissant! It was SO buttery and flakey. Best croissant I had to date! Each layer was substantial, unwraps beautifully, and crisps and cracks with a sound that makes your heart tingle and want to gobble the bread up quickly. Which was what I did, albeit a little embarrassingly and ended up with crumbs all over my side of the table :/ 4.7/5

 The boy said the baguette's hard so I didnt bother trying it!



2nd course: Scampi
Scampi wrapped with fried udon, scampi consomme with mangoes and onion
Pic credits soshiok.com


Sounds weird? But it works wonderfully. The waitress will tell you you can either eat the scampi with your baguette (so nicely thought out!) or push the scampi into the soup and eat it like that. Dont worry, the crisp udon does NOT soften in the soup! Still retains its crispy crunchy texture! I really liked how the mangoes brought a salty seafood-rich broth to newer heights by adding a twang of sourness and sweetness which made this dish more complex but not in a bad way. Excellent creativity points there, adding fruits to a seafood soup. Mmm~ The scampi was so succulent and cooked just right crunchy and bouncy if I may. Fresh, salty, sour, sweet, crispy, all in one dish. Potent and good. 4.6/5

This is what soshiok.com said of this dish "The novel idea to deep fry a single strand of udon before wrapping it around a skewer of scampi was risky: Fried too long, the udon would have been too crusty but undercook it and the typically gooey texture of the thick noodle would have distracted from the scampi's bouncy flesh.
But Peugeot's careful execution resulted in a crisp udon shell that can be considered a creative alternative to tempura."


3rd course: Sea bass tapenade 
Crunchy seabass with basil and aged balsamic vinegar

I felt this dish was the letdown of the night. I thought this was really average or slightly below average even. I could barely taste any fish, nor knew what I was eating actually. It was just eating something crispy/crunchy with a sour-ish taste to it and that's all? The seabass is the thing inside the ball and I guess surrounding it is fried basil? But sadly no taste. Wont recommend this. 2.5/5


Half way through eating the sea bass they served us this bread with no mention of what bread this is or anything about it, it was just placed on our table. As if its an afterthought. The bread was cold and hard, not really something I'd eat again.


4th dish: Chef's Selection of Sushi
Tuna and sea bream with soya foam


Yes you read that right, SOYA FOAM. Unbelievable? Does it taste like soya sauce? Yes it actually tastes 100% like Japanese shoyu! Love this form of soya sauce! SO INNOVATIVE!! We placed the wasabi into the foam and mixed it then used the really long and super skinny chopsticks pictured below to pick up the sushi (which had really well-rolled rice) and ate it with the foam and the wasabi. Dont worry its not super light bubbly foam like those you see in molecular gastronomy desserts but its a slightly more dense kind of foam.

Tuna: semi-melt-in-your-mouth, definitely a good cut and fat part of the tuna, not sure exactly which part though. Sea bream was rather normal I feel. 4/5




5th: Butter escargot tempura
Burgundy escargot tempura in a parsley butter emulsion


When this dish arrives, the wait staff will tell you that you're supposed to smell the smoke when they lift up the cover (honestly personally I felt that the smoke was uh quite smokey as in not in a good way? But maybe you'll feel differently so dont be afraid to smell it! Haha)

The butter smell should hit you after awhile. The broth that came was this is so sinfully indulgent. Think creamy smooth buttery rich sweet (in a seafood sweet way) light broth. It was studded with edamame and some kind of beans to balance the richness of the broth I suppose.

The escargots were covered with a very thin layer of tempura batter, it didnt feel greasy at all, but dont worry, it IS still crunchy! The boy and I both felt this was a wonderful twist to the French classic and one that we welcome with open arms happily because usually the butter taste isnt very strong and the dish not very fragrant. But this, appeals to all your senses! Sight, smell, taste, mmm~ 4.6/5


Prior to this, the wait staff held up a box with just the top of this knife sticking out and told me to pick out the knife myself, haha. I was quite bemused at first, but I thought hmm okay maybe there's something more to it. But no, it was just picking out the knife and placing it on your table. Maybe because the knife is really sharp or something?



6th: Pigeon
Pan-fried pigeon breast and smoked pigeon leg with beet and cucumber (the cucumber had a word in front of it but I cant remember exactly what! It starts with N though!)


The breast meat one is the one on top and smoked one at the bottom.

Breast: This was soooo yummy and soft!! Does NOT taste like breast meat at all. No gamey taste, a piece of meat well-done and I can only imagine how good their beef/other meat dishes will taste if they did such a wonderful job with this. Even though its breast meat, you feel as if there's some fatty parts to it because its so soft! I really liked this (:

Smoked leg: This had a really strong smoke-d taste and for me, someone who doesnt like smoked salmon (I know I'm probably the rare few who dont) thought this was quite yummy and took quite a number of bites until the smokiness got too heavy for me and I passed it to the boy, who, happily gobbled it down proclaiming how yummy it was (: 4.7/5



Cheese course: Green apple cheese wrapped in phyllo pastry with mascarpone and potatoes. Fig and green apple bread


This was served alongside the bread which was meant to accompany the cheese!


Look at THAT! Cheese, hot luscious oozing lava-like cheese, wrapped up in a cheery little packet and when dipped with the toasted crunchy bun, mmmm~ The boy was happy. The taste of this cheese is rather strong so I felt pairing it with the bread was a good choice. Every single drop of that indulgent cheese was mopped up by the boy, who licked his lips and smiled at the end 4.7/5



Mine: Scrambled eggs with truffle oil


In place of my cheese dish was this! The waitress took my truffle request into account and gave me this! I really loved the presentation (: So cute! The scrambled eggs were foam-like! So fluffy and light!! Truffle taste was quite light though! 4.2/5






Chocolate Pyramid 
With compliments from LP+Tetsu to celebrate me and the boy's 2nd year anniversary.


There was a sparkle lit up when they brought it to the table but by the time the wait staff finished saying the formalities and I took out my camera, the sparkle went off :( So only left with the dessert itself!

But this was goooooood. Chocolate mousse that was very close to K Ki's light airy mousse but this was slightly denser but not in a bad way because it went well together overall with the layer of genoise at the bottom and in the middle was nuts! As a whole - decadent, creamy, dark, sexy, yum comes to mind. 4.7/5

Actually, we werent planning on telling the restaurant it was our anniversary or anything but the waiter came to ask us if we were celebrating any special occasions, birthdays or anything so we told him its our anniversary and he said he will note it down and tell the chef.


Quasi Toblerone 
Lemon infused ice cream bar with liquorice and grapefruit puree with lemon foam, meringue and some liquor bubbles? Haha


I liked the ice cream bar, like eating a piece of really good yoghurt ice cream, cold creamy lemony! I like! But didnt really like the grapefruit at the bottom that added a bitter taste to this dessert. Oh yes this is to mimic the toblerone bar but with twists to it as you can already tell. 4/5


Petit 4 (or 3?)
L-R: Raspberry tart, chocolate genoise, mango cream


Raspberry tart - now this is a MUST-TRY okay, you have no say over your petit 4s but omg this is really so unique and I have never tried anything like it before!!! The red blob there? Think its mousse? Gelee? No, its filled with LIQUID! The bottom's like sort of a tart base but softer and chewier, almost like a macaron shell, and when you put it in your mouth, the top layer bursts and out flows liquid, that tingles your senses because it contains alcohol and flows into your mouth like lava. The boy had this first and his reaction was really quite big and insisted that I will enjoy this and kept it from me (the liquid thing)

Chocolate genoise - there was this crunchy layer in the middle, I cant really point out what kind of texture it is? But I thought this was one of the better chocolate cakes I've eaten!

Mango cream - quite normal tasting, light and airy though!

We ate the petit 4s from right to left actually, so dinner ended with a bang, both in our mouths and figuratively. We were so satisfied and so happy (:


Interior of the restaurant. Can you see on the bottom right corner a white stand and a chair? Yes thats the 2 seater table behind us.


8 seater private room and to the left is the kitchen already! This was taken from where I was seated. And beside the kitchen is the entrance!


Sign hanging outside the restaurant in Tanglin Mall

It says "What I want my guests to feel is awe when the dish is presented to them, and to be speechless when they first taste my creation" and I say, Mr Peugeot, you've certainly achieved that.

Service was really great! Very friendly wait staff, who will ask you about your dinner in a non-instrusive and non-annoying way and the female staff called Sarah I believe, genuinely cheerful, ready-to-serve and always wears a smile on her face! Just interacting with her makes you want to smile as well (: I believe she's from France because her accent certainly sounds like it! Great service really! And they dont just dust your table at the end of the meal, if its dirty, they dust it. And over the phone when I made the reservation, they asked about dietary requirements which was a first for me! Overall, really enjoyed the experience and we both felt the money was well-spent for this experience. The chef really did try to engage all our senses! Oh yes lighting is dark so if you want to take pictures, do take note!

LP+Tetsu
Level 3 Tanglin Mall
Lunch 11.30am-2.30pm
Dinner 6pm-10.30pm
Reservations recommended
68363112

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