Saturday, April 18, 2009

Singapore - Crêperie des Arts


My apologies for being tardy in my posts but I did cap my French-themed week in Singapore with a taste of Brittany at Creperie des Arts. The quaint little creperie tucked at the end of the shophouses inside the Prinsep Street enclave could be easily missed if not for the relatively healthy clientele on a Sunday night, seated al fresco and enjoying the trademark humidity of Singapore. For lighting and climate reasons, we chose a table inside.

The casual joint was decorated in a seafront theme, in line with the origins of crepes/galettes and the owner-chef ie. Brittany. It was a Sunday night and we did not spot the hired help, only his folks and a couple who seemed to be relatives or at least close friends of the family stepping up to help. Needless to say, they gave it a very authentic and friendly feel to the place.

It was therefore easy to take all their suggestions in tow, and made for a very pleasant casual dinner. We started off with traditional French apple cider. Personally I preferred the 2% over the 5% alcohol version. The 2% was sweet apple juice but with a little zing from the alcohol (ok, the secret's out - I can't hold my alcohol). But really, the 5% was a little too flat in taste for me. And by the way, the trick is the later in the evening you go, the more likely you get a free top-up until the bottle dries out, reason being that cider cannot keep overnight since it loses its fizz pretty quickly. Pops was kind enough to give us a bowl of nuts with the Cider, perhaps to stop me from keeling..
To keep us engaged, our friendly Pops also recommended we start with a salad - the simple green salad looked blah - but the dressing was very well done, with just the right degree of tartness from the vinaigrette. It was good so we finished it quite quickly. Thank goodness for the nuts - kept hunger pangs in check since my only complaint was our galettes took a while to get to us.
Thankfully, all worth the wait.
The galettes were of a nice chewy texture and crisp at the ends. Folded into a square with a peeping hole in the middle gives you a glimpse of what you will be biting into.
My choice of the potatoes, raclette cheese and parma ham was brilliant! I love raclette so this was home for me. The salt content from the ham was just a tad high but otherwise this combination will keep me coming back for more.
B's Saint Caradec was also very good - with the fresh scallops wading in the light leek fondue cream sauce. Not heavy at all, and tasty so that you will like it even if you are not a cream fan.
To finish, our choice of the salted caramel crepe was in my opinion the piece de resistance. The salty caramel tasted very home-made and the salt against the ordinarily cloying caramel was excellent in its combination, bringing home and accentuating the flavours from both sides to deliver a dessert you can eat forever.

A great place to hang and have yummy casual food without any guilt! I am told it gets crowded at lunch so remember to call ahead, especially if you don't fancy lunching in the afternoon sun.

44 Prinsep Street
Singapore 188673
Tel: 6333 5330

No comments:

Post a Comment