I love lunching spending quality time with my 3 favourite ladies in the world. And I love striking off a restaurant from my to-go list. So I made myself happy and did both by choosing Au Petit Salut for lunch, yay. Chi-chi location it may be, the set lunch is more than reasonably priced at $30++ with many choices for starter, main and dessert. Ultra value for money with coffee/tea thrown in too!
I felt slightly cheated disappointed that the complimentary baguette is outsourced from Delifrance instead of being freshly baked in-house. That said, it was served warm and crusty so no complaints there.
Pina colada smoothie didn’t have that thick and creamy milkshake-like texture I was craving for but I like the tropical combination of coconut cream and pineapple juice. Love the French rum La Mauny, especially when flavoured with passionfruit and mango! Current promotion: $9++ for 2 drinks.
Tuna tartare with basil and olive oil, rocket salad and crouton: A very safe and simple appetiser that served its purpose well enough.
Pork rillette served with mesclun salad and walnut dressing: I can’t attest to its saltiness personally but just to give you an idea of how high the sodium level was, we had 4 refills of the bread basket just to counter its saltiness!
Oven baked Norwegian mackerel with melted capsicum and onions, olives and basil: You know I’ll never say “no” to oily fish! Smooth and tender, this had no fishy scent at all. Nothing “wow” but good enough to satisfy.
Crispy filo pastry filled with ragout of braised duck, mushrooms purée and salad: Another salty dish…
Red wine braised beef cheeks, carrots, mushrooms and parsley potatoes: Portion was very generous! The poor cow must have been quite a whopping fellow to have such big cheeks. Anyway, the sauce was quite bland and wasn’t as flavourful as I thought a good stew should be.
Crème brulée infused with fresh Madagascar vanilla beans: This won the most votes for the best dessert out of the 4 we tried. Spotted lots of vanilla specks which got me excited! Smooth texture and not too eggy custard with a nicely burnt sugar top.
Profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream in warm chocolate sauce: Crisp choux buns and crunchy sliced almonds are always pleasing.
2 buns gone in a flash.
Passionfruit “Blanc-Manger”: a.k.a. French version of panna cotta. This got a bit too milky after awhile so the tangy passionfruit came in really handy.
Cake “Financier” served with mixed berry compote and vanilla whipped cream: Though moist and soft, this was yawn-inducing compared to the others.
Overall, a pleasant lunch with good service and lush surroundings. Food was not fantastic as nothing particularly outstanding stood out. I’d probably describe the lunch experience as “nice” but sometimes, “nice” can just be so boring.
Yup you are so right. Nice can be very boring.
totally agree that APS’ food is either too salty or bland…the onglet beef was too salty, braised beef cheeks too bland…overhyped for me.
the creme brulee looks amazing! Will definitely try out their set lunch someday
PY: -nod vigorously-
phoebe: Heh, I read your review on it so was mentally prepared for the bland food! =) The salty part caught me by surprise though.
Angeline: Yup, the creme brulee is one of the better ones I’ve tried recently. And the portion was huge haha. Definitely good for sharing!