As you all know, I’m not the best writer around. My grammar can be problematic and my vocabulary is pretttty shallow. I use very simple sentences. Like this. I don’t write very fancily-schimancyly (this is as fancy as I go) and words don’t naturally come to me? I obviously am not able to articulate myself as well as say, Nat. Or Renjie. Or Adele. I write just like how I speak. So, if you have stuck with me all this while, allowing your IQ drop due to my skills in writing – more like lack thereof, actually – thanks man, I really appreciate it.

Nat and Renjie have both covered it already but here I am with the review of Au Petit Salut! It’s taken me forever to try APS for two reasons – 1) I am always broke, 2) It’s in frknnnn Dempsey and I can’t drive/have no car/am too lazy. But last week on skype, Renjie and I were surfing food porn(and reviews) and we got really tempted by APS. So.. a trip to Dempsey we will make!!!!! To make things worse, it was POURING on the day we went so I had to cab 😦

The verdict? APS’ SET LUNCH IS WORTH EVERY SINGLE OF THE $37.50 (GST/SERVICE CHARGE INCLUDED). SERIOUSLY. I was bursting at the seams after lunch. And mind you, it’s a really high quality lunch. You aren’t going to get better value than this. While many who have been visiting APS over the past few years will claim that APS’ standards have fallen, I still think that this set lunch is one of the more worth-it ones around. Especially in a land where the cost of living is constantly rising due to inflation (weekend movie tickets $11?? HELLO??????)

BTW photos taken by the super awesome Wong Renjie!!!!

Orange and pink peppercorn salmon tartare, baby spinach salad
A light and refreshing starter to the meal. The salmon tartare was done simply, the way it should be done so that the salmon flavour lingers on your tongue…. and the baby spinach salad with its balsic tones adds so much more flavour to a simple salmon tartare dish, making this a safe appetizer to begin with. I don’t think you’d find someone who will hate this dish. Unless of course, if they hate fish.

Half-baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter
I AM SCREAMING INSIDE OMG OMG OMG. If the salmon tartare was good, this is……….. GODLY. SAINTLIKE. Whatever works. Looking at it on my macbook screen makes me want to claw the damn snails out and eat them one by one…omg I can still remember how they taste like. They were piping hot, with a small roasted tomato on each snail, and I still remember soaping up as much garlic butter as possible and the first mouthful, BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!!!!!!!! Tastebuds exploding in delight…. sigh……. this is almost as epic as the first time I tried pan-seared foie gras. Or the foie gras steak in Paris SIGH OMG I’m going to be dreaming about this tonight.

From the Executive Set Lunch Menu: Tiger prawns and avocado with Avruga caviar, petit salad
I forgot how this tasted like. Please ask Eliseus here. (It’s his formspring)

From the Executive Set Lunch Menu: Lobster bisque with lobster ravioli, herbs and parsley coulis
THIS IS GOOD STUFF!!!! Lobster goodness everywhere but I don’t know how the ravioli tastes like. You can refer to wllywngka and ask him hehehe but I liked this heh!!!

Red wine braised beef cheeks, carrots, mushrooms and parsley potatoes
The beef was so tender, so well executed. And yes, it is a worthy dish to get. But I was expecting a lot more actually because the starters were just too good. I was happy with this, but not as ECSTATIC as I was about the snails!!!!!!!

Pork shoulder stewed in wholegrain mustard, creamy polenta
GUYS, THE PORK SHOULDER IS SO TENDER YOU CANNOT BELIEVE IT’S PORK. I always have this conception(or misconception) that pork is tough and chewy but this!!!!!!! This tears so easily and the wholegrain mustard sauce is heavenly even though I would have preferred more zing in the mustard. Dude, I am not even exaggerating here ok. It’s THAT good. On hindsight I actually preferred the pork shoulder to the red wine braised beef cheeks. But I don’t like polenta. It’s really starchy, but Molly said it was good, creamy polenta. She enjoyed it quite a bit.

From the Executive Set Lunch Menu: Crispy French duck leg confit, sautéed potatoes and bacon, mixed green salad and walnut dressing
Eli and Renjie both had this and couldn’t stop raving about it. ‘The best part’, they said, ‘is discovering the cubes of deep-fried bacon bits underneath the duck and eating it with the confit.’ And yes, the bacon bits chunks were such a surprise!!!! They really made the dish stand out. For me, I found the duck a bit gamey but Renjie says it’s the way in which it was cooked cos he doesn’t think they fully cook it. Well, if RJ says so, so it must be (he is a good cook. and never trust a skinny chef. so RJ can be trusted. just like me.) Anyway, the walnut dressing was something uh, nutty. I really liked the dressing!!! It doesn’t taste like the usual olive oil-balsic vinegar dressing which is good, it makes APS stand out from the rest.

Creme brulee infused with fresh Madagascar beans
I really like typing the word ‘Madagascar’. It’s so easy to misspell but such a cute word!! Sorry for the massive drop in picture quality k cos I realised RJ didn’t take a picture of the creme brulee but I did with my handy canon cam!!! Molly ordered this and she really, really liked it. I love how she tapped the top of the creme brulee, cracking the solidified top, and yes…. it was truly the best part of the brulee. Ok it wasn’t. The beans were. Anyone who knows me well enough know that I go ga-ga over vanilla beans! Heh and seeing the black little dots in the creme brulee made me a very happy person!!! .. Even though this was Molls’ dessert. HAHAHAAAAA but omg the beans… sigh~

Homemade pear tart tatin served with vanilla ice cream
Ok on hindsight maybe I should’ve listened to Rebecca and got the homemade choux buns with chocolate sauce and vanilla icecream (ie profiteroles). But this was still good!!!! And I REALLY WANTED TO EAT A TART. My only gripe was that the crust kept separating, wld be good if it were like the classic apple pie crust (omg i would have died of happiness then) and IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MEGATRON-LY AWESOME IF THE VANILLA ICECREAM WERE SPECKLED WITH VANILLA BEAN DOTS!!!!!!!! But still, I’m not gonna complain because the dessert was by all means, good. (I am just being nitpicky.)

From the Executive Set Lunch Menu: Sticky date pudding with caramel, vanilla ice cream
HEHEHEHE STICKY DATE PUDDING!!!! My favourite!!!!! This is a classic dessert to get. When most places market it as one of their fore-runners for dessert, you know they do it pretty well. (Marmalade Pantry, anybody?) And APS does not disappoint. However, I would prefer it if their pudding was more pudding like and their vanilla icecream was not so icy. Look at RJ’s picture (open picture in new tab if you need to), you’d know what I mean. But it was served warm and sighhhhh sticky date goodness~~~~

Please make a reservation before you down, just to be safe 🙂
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Au Petit Salut
40C Harding Road
Singapore 249548

Operation hours:
Monday – Saturday
Lunch : 1130hrs – 1430hrs (Last order)
Dinner : 1830hrs – 2230hrs (Last order)
Closed on Sunday

House rules:
Strictly no shorts or slippers