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A French Christmas NO turkey here. Instead, chef de cuisine François Mermilliod of Club Street's Duo Restaurant and Bar has concocted a Christmas menu that intermingles traditional Southern French Christmas ingredients with his own new-fangled cooking style. The chef who hails from Perpignan in the South of France (near the border with Spain), explained: "Back home in France, for Christmas dinner, we normally eat seafood such as lobsters, oysters and caviar or foie gras prepared in a terrine-style." For Duo's menu this year, he decided to instill his own twist to dishes, such as the lobster with wakame salad. According to him, during the festive season in France, lobster dishes are traditionally prepared, but here, he spikes the rock lobster meat with some wasabe mayonnaise and tops the delicious ensemble with crunchy watercress and wakame salad. "In France, for the main course we usually eat chapon (a young castrated and fattened rooster that supposedly has been bred in the dark), instead of turkey. "In fact, I’m not really a big fan of turkeys, so I decided to include imported chapon in the Christmas menu." The roulade of French farmed chapon with cepe and shimeji mushroom stuffing is wrapped in pancetta and served with a robust reduction of red wine combined with brown sauce and a drizzling of cognac. To lend a woodsy taste to the sauce, Mermilliod noted that he also infused some cepe into it. Presentation-wise, the neat slices of roulade are attractively assembled on a potato galette - a pancake - and topped with glazed baby carrots. Other dishes on the six-course Christmas Eve dinner set menu include the luxurious appetiser of freshly shucked (and very plump) Kumamoto oysters, speckled with pearls of Iranian caviar, and a velouté of Jerusalem artichokes, which exhibited a nice warming effect. The smooth dish is fragrant thanks to the fresh black truffle shavings, sprinkling of chives and drop of truffle oil. Another Christmas specialty is the pan-fried foie gras accompanied by bites of warm chestnuts and tangy Nobu pear salsa. The pleasing sourness of aged balsamico dressing tempered the rich foie gras slices well.
The delicate, tangy mandarin cream in this rich chocolate dessert gave a cool sensation and melted pleasantly in the mouth. If you fancy a more intimate and chic Christmas Eve dinner, away from huge hotel celebrations, then Duo is the place for you. The dishes are simply prepared without much fanfare, but are definitely seductive and satisfying. The set menu is well worth its $98+++ price tag. Finally, don't forget to order the special Champagne Duo for a spirited celebration with your loved one. Duo Restaurant and Bar is at 38 Club Street. Tel: 6224-4428. OPENING HOURS: Lunch - Noon to 2.30 pm (Monday to Friday); Dinner - 6.30pm to 10.30pm (Monday to Saturday). Closed on Sundays and certain public holidays. |
The
last course is the luscious Manjari chocolate mousse Christmas log
cake with strawberries.