Les Amis
Celebrating the height of French Haute Cuisine in Singapore
Heading to Singapore next, we decided to do a head-to-head challenge. There are two hard-hitting culinary giants in Singapore doing French cuisine: Les Amis, which specializes in classic French Haute cuisine, and Odette, which specializes in an contemporary approach to French cooking. Both have been awarded three Michelin stars and have held on to them for many years. Both consistently battle for number one spot at the top of every Singaporean fine dining list, so we chose to try both, one after another, and decide for ourselves which we liked better.
We decided to visit Les Amis first, trying the classic and then being able to compare the contemporary to the traditional. Les Amis represents the height of French haute cuisine, preparing French ingredients using French techniques, following the French seasons. They completely remake the menu four times a year and small substitutions as produce comes into and out of season. The signature dishes are modified slightly with the changing produce - swapping summer turnip for fall celeriac in the main vegetable dish, for instance.
Les Amis is French for “The Friends”, and it was opened on March 15, 1994, by a group of four foodie friends with a passion for French dining. At that time, every fine dining establishment was inside or associated with a hotel, and Les Amis was the first standalone haute cuisine restaurant in Singapore. Situated on a quiet road, just off the glamour and lights of the main shopping district, Les Amis sits regally, nondescript as the flagship of the Les Amis group. If you weren’t looking for it, you could easily walk past it, just another restaurant along a line of assorted restaurants in a quiet plaza.
The current head chef, Sebastien Lepin joined in 2013. A protege of chef Joel Rubouchon, they worked together for 16 years, cumulating with Sebastien running the kitchen at the Joel Rubouchon restaurant in Hong Kong when they won their second Michelin star. Chef Sebastien moved over to Cepage in Hong Kong where he earned a single Michelin star, before moving to Singapore and joining the flagship of the group, Les Amis, in 2013.
Back then, Les Amis was a sleepy restaurant, battling both financial pressures and stiff competition from new celebrity chefs coming to town. Chef Sebastian took massive risks with a cheap set menu, filled the admittedly-tiny dining room, attracted rave reviews and managed to turn a profit all in 2013. The restaurant remained profitable through 2014, and underwent a massive renovation in 2015, finishing just in time to prepare for the first Singaporean Michelin guide, where Les Amis earned two Michelin stars. Unsatisfied, Chef Sebastian continued to push his team, and soon afterward, Les Amis earned its third star in 2019.
There were two choices of menus - a four course choose your own adventure, and the 15 course tasting menu. We went with the tasting menu, but my companion had some dietary restrictions. Their were certain dishes that they found difficult to accommodate, and made a few suggestions. After some back and forth, we decided to go with just whatever they recommended, and we were both able to have an amazing meal.
They mentioned that it was the last week they were serving the summer menu, and they would be switching to the fall menu next week. In fact, some of the substitutions we would receive were dishes that would be coming in the fall menu.
The Canapes were served on branded toadstool shaped plate and a dark rectangular slab. A bell pepper foam, served on a parmesan crisp and a silky chicken and leek skewer, cut exactly to size, accompanied with a sweet curry sauce. We were presented with some single-bite sized croissants, and they were some of the lightest, fluffiest, almost hollow on the inside and crispy outside croissants I’ve ever had.
One thing I severely underestimated during this meal is the amount and variety of baked goods that would be coming our way.
As we started the meal, the manager, Manoj, who we later found out was also the cheese master, was explaining each dish and the provenance of the ingredients, any substitutions, taking apart each dish and explaining how they think about the dish, and checking in to make sure we enjoyed every course.
Next a dish of 3 layered jelly, with lobster jelly at the bottom, a layer of uni (sea urchin) and topped with a layer velvety cauliflower cream and parsley oil drops. The lobster jelly was a hit of concentrated shellfish flavour, with some rich brininess from the uni, offset by the nuttiness of the smooth cauliflower cream.
For dietary reasons, my companion had a substitute, which were sauteed Cepe mushrooms with salt, pepper and parsley. Apparently, these were the very first batch of Cepe of the very short fall season and would appear on the menu briefly over the next few weeks.
Next came one of Les Amis signature dishes - their caviar and potato. Pink Roseval potatoes from Brittany, a varietal with minimal starch, cut into small cylinders and topped with creme fraiche and some smoked fish, along with a giant scoop of Kristal golden caviar. Absolutely delicious.
My companion had an angel hair pasta with a sherry vinaigrette topped with shaved olives, truffle oil and chives. Normally, this would be served with caviar on top, but due her dietary restrictions, the caviar was served on a small dish on the side. Fortunately, I was not subject to the same restrictions, and I was able to try the pasta with a healthy scoop of caviar. Amazing!
Next came one of the highlights of the night, a foie gras egg custard topped with a watercress velouté and some summer mushrooms and toasted croutons. The parts of the dish worked really well together: the foie gras adding richness, the velouté herbaceousness, the mushrooms some acidity and pungency to cut through the fat and the croutons some texture.
We were offered a fried cheese ball topped with a basil leaf. By this point, We still hadn’t realize how much bread would be offered as part of the meal. We had already dug into a mini-croissant and a slice of sourdough already, and the cheese ball seemed pretty neat, so we dug in. Reminded me of an extremely luxurious version of the take out pizza joint cheesy breadsticks.
To our surprise, they brought over a bread cart next. Fresh brioche, a rye and raisin bread, multigrain loaves, delicate buckwheat loaf, sharpened to a point, classic French baguettes, as well as a gluten-free blob. We picked a few of the breads, and they took them away for toasting before presentation.
Next, another signature dish and another highlight. The single largest scallop I’ve ever seen, sourced from Erquy in Brittany, slow-roasted until it’s fall apart in mouth tender, double-sauced with a seaweed herb sauce in the center, and a parsley mussel jus around the edges. A delicate squid ink biscuit added a bit of texture. There was no hint of the toughness that you would normally get when the outside of a large scallop overcooks while you’re trying to finish the center. Along with the watercress velouté, this was one of my favourite dishes of the night.
As an intermission between courses, they brought out some olive oils for tasting. We were a bit confused at first, but decided to trust their judgement. They had brought out a Salonenque olive oil to serve with our bread, but they wanted us to taste the Picholine olive oil, which was more a more vibrant yellow, tasting grassy, peppery and almost pungent. The sauce that they were preparing for the next dish used the Picoline oil and they wanted us to taste the difference.
Both oils were produced in France, and bottled specifically for Les Amis and hold AOC designations which control what specific regions were allowed to call their product “Salonenque” or “Picholine”. The Salonenque was made from olives primarily from Provence, while the Picholine was primarily from Gard.
My next dish was a line-caught sea bass, immediately “Ike jime”-ed to instantly destroy the brain and spinal cord and prevent the fish from producing a lot of lactic acid and ruining the flesh when resisting the line. This was topped with a thick layer of Imperial caviar from a single sturgeon and a sorrel champagne reduction.
The substitute for my companion was the largest langoustine I’ve ever seen, sourced from Loctudy in Brittany. It was wrapped with thin slices of zucchini to protect the meat from direct heat while cooking, and topped with an olive oil sauce made from the forementioned Picholine olive oil. Again, normally served with caviar on top, but served on the side due to dietary restrictions.
By now, my companion was getting stuffed, and I had to finish her longoustine topped with her healthy portion of caviar.
As a palate cleanser between courses, a flash-frozen herbal granita made with coriander, basil, parsley, mint, tarragon and lemon. Normally, I expect granitas to be light and icy, but this one was hard, dense and herbaceous.
Next was another signature, but deceptively simple dish - slow cooked celeriac slices glazed with a black truffle and butter sauce and decorated with green onion. They had just switch from turnip on the summer menu to celeriac on the fall menu, but a variation of this dish is always on the menu. The dish is meant to highlight the vegetable of the season and it was deceptively rich and flavourful for how simple it was.
The last dish before the desserts, two mains. I had a medallion of duck breast and foie gras, served with some turnip medallions and tart cherries. My companion was served a medallion of Wagyu beef tenderloin, with a crunchy aromatic topping made from capers, pepper, onion, olives and garlic and a few puffed potatoes on the side.
At this point in the meal, we were both completely full, and I ended up finishing both the duck and the tenderloin.
In the brief recess before cheese and dessert, I decided to check out their port selection, selecting a relatively young LBV Graham’s, which was served in an extremely long stemmed glass. Red, sweet, sticky, viscous - everything you’d want from a ruby port.
We were presented a selection of cheeses from a beautifully-prepared cheese cart, all sourced from French cheesemongers and flown in weekly. We were both completely full by this point, so we just went with “omakase”, and told the cheese master to decide for us. He came back with a selection of five cheeses, all with French AOC designations with interesting stories behind them:
Couer du Berger, a raw goat milk cheese from Provence, pressed into heart molds with a dense center
Comte, a hard cow’s milk cheese aged 36 months with some salt coming out of solution and forming crystals adding some crunch to the cheese.
Pont-l'Évêque, a soft, pungent cow’s milk cheese from Normandy. One of the oldest cheeses made in Normandy.
Soumaintrain, a soft cheese made with raw cow’s milk with a brine-washed rind from the Burgundy region.
Roquefort, a moldy blue cheese made from sheep’s milk with kick of salt. Another AOC label applied only to the cheeses aged in the caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.
The Pre-dessert was a chocolate tart made with unsweetened 72% dark chocolate. I was expecting this to be solid and to crack under my fork, as a piece of dark chocolate would. Instead, this was soft, almost liquid, more spreadable than butter and incredibly light. A welcome warm up for the dessert to come.
Dessert for me was an apple souffle, prepared with some Calvados (an apple brandy that can only be produced in Normandy) matched with some cider ice cream. The single best souffle I’ve ever had - the top was browned to perfection, and almost crispy, while the center was soft, fluffy and so light it felt like it’d collapse in on itself if you breathed on it.
My companion had some Sollies figs from the Provence region, encapsulated in a sugar sphere with some honey ice cream. Sweet, sour and tangy flavours, combined with some crunch from the sugar sphere.
Finally, the Petits Fours, traditional Canele and Palmiers, but we were so full that the only thing we could manage was a picture.
Overall, absolutely top notch and an absolutely amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience. The manager and cheese master, Manoj, went out of the way to answer all our questions, to help substitute menu items to meet dietary restrictions, to explain subtle nuances of preparation and weave a story through the food they prepared. We also had a conversation about other restaurants in Singapore and got his recommendations on must-try places as well. A bit later on, the pastry chef, chef Cheryl Koh, came out to speak with each table and talk a bit about her history and the history of the restaurant. Odette has a very high bar to meet this week.
Total Damage: 1500 SGD/2 people