i've finally had the chance to try out Cocotte! (: this is actually a really overdue post haha :p this visit was part of SMU Restaurant Week by Gourmet Club sometime in august! part of my 'last year in SMU, must try out everything!!!' motto. hehe :p yeah, i can't believe i'm heading into my last semester soon already :'(
anyway i shall stop digressing. my experience at Cocotte was somewhat of a hit-and-miss situation. we started off with appetizers that were alright, the mains were terribly disappointing (when they should typically be the highlight of a meal!), but thankfully they were redeemed by their desserts :)
for the SMU Restaurant Week menu, it was a three-course set with a number of items for us to choose from. to get the best variety, we selected a different dish from each category. naturally, i went for the herb green salad as my appetizer, which was a no-frills item with leafy greens dressed in herbs and a sherry mustard vinaigrette. one thing to note is that in lots of dishes we ordered (i think like at least half the savoury items), they had a taste of this herb, which was a little strange haha. i can't figure out what it is, although it tasted kinda familiar!
sam got the soup du jour, which was a deliciously creamy mushroom soup which i absolutely loved! :) it was luscious and super tasty, but also quite heavy. i don't think i could have finished it myself, even though i loved it's full-bodied flavour.
my main dish, which was the pan seared seabass, actually wasn't too bad. but it wasn't outstanding either. it was a lovely slab of fish that was cooked to perfection and sat atop a bed of grilled vegetables - eggplant, peppers, courgettes and provencal tomatoes. the eggplant was REALLY strange though :p it was pretty uncooked i think, which was why it tasted a little odd.
the shredded pork confit sandwich sounded really promising, but turned out to be the strangest of the lot :/ i imagined shredded pork to be something like pulled pork, or at least real meat? but it turned out to be something that looked like it came out of a tin. and there was again the strange-tasting herb that i found in my salad.
the good thing was that their desserts were really yummy! (: i loved my chocolate mousse, which was 72% valrhona chocolate! ^^ it was actually quite different from the ones i had in europe, i think i tried a couple of really good ones here and here. while those i had previously were more mousse-like, being fluffier in texture in a sense, this was a denser, more like a chocolate cream, perhaps. but no less delicious (: i especially liked the whipped cream on top, which took a huge dollop of self-restraint not to gobble up, because i thought the pot of chocolate was sinful enough. VERY good ;)
and while i'm not a huge fan of creme brulee, i have to say that Cocotte's version was quite palatable :) it was rich and creamy, as this dessert always is, but it was easier to digest.
overall, i would say that the unsatisfying mains probably wouldn't have me coming back anytime soon, but i might just come back if i crave some chocolate mousse ;)
Cocotte
2 Dickson Road, Wanderlust Hotel
Tel.: +65 6298 1188
Sun-Thurs 12pm-2.30pm, 6pm-10pm
Fri & Sat 12pm-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Closed on Tuesday
lastly, here is a shoutout for OpenRice! An online dining guide featuring over 23,000 dining establishments curated with reviews by locals, you can check it out for reviews and photos of restaurants in not just Singapore, but also Hong Kong and other countries in the region! OpenRice has kindly sponsored 30 calendars to be given away, and they're filled with scrumptious foodie photos! definitely not to be missed for all Singaporeans since food is so close to our heart ;) all you have to do is to leave a comment with your name, email, and answer this question:
What countries is does OpenRice have a presence in?
(hint: the answer can be found here!)
sneak peak of some of the yummilicious photos you can find in the calendar! it's time to prepare for 2014!!! ^^ and MERRY XMAS IN ADVANCE TO ALL! (:
