The Butterfly in my Stomach

The initial reviews on this cosy little place located in the trendy red dot Traffic Building were mixed and I was honestly hesitant to try it even though it's really close to office. But when a couple of reliable food bloggers started to give Chef Anderson Ho redeeming outstanding "wow" reviews, the hubby and I decided maybe we should give this place a try. So instead of the originally planned third visit to Sage, we convinced B and L to switch our reservation. (Partly also because I checked out Sage's menu and they took out my craved pumpkin soup with chocolate foie gras and my favor for them started to severely wane.)


From the top: : Amuse Buse, Fresh Green Crab Salad with Tomato FondueGazpacho Espuma and Basil Oil, Escargot with Herb-Garlic Butter Crust on Button Mushroom GratinéePistou Dressing and Arugula Salad, Sauté Foie Gras de Canard with Granny Smith Apple MousseCassis-Balsamic Reduction, Seafood Nage with White Miso Paste

I don't know how to describe my penchant for oven-warm Italian breads and rolls. Its a tad embarrassing how I restaurant and bistro-hop looking for ovens that churn out the freshest, heavenly-smelling warm bread rolls. Something about them carbs that are just so simple and comforting.

Le Papillon (French for 'the butterfly') had only a simple selection of either white of multi-grain. But they were appropriately warm, crusty on the outside, warm and pillow soft on the inside. Dead hungry and of course greedy, I wolfed down three rolls even before the amuse buse was served.

B and G both went for the Menu Prestige, an 8-course degustation menu for $80+++.

Fresh Green Crab Salad with Tomato FondueGazpacho Espuma and Basil Oil
Escargot with Herb-Garlic Butter Crust on Button Mushroom GratinéePistou Dressing and Arugula Salad
Sauté Foie Gras de Canard with Granny Smith Apple MousseCassis-Balsamic Reduction
Seafood Nage with White Miso Paste
Sorbet of the Day
Braised Beef Shin on Wilted Spinach and Toasted Pine NutsHorseradish Mashed Potato
Mixed Seasonal Berries and Stone Fruits with Rum SabayonRose Water Scented Orange Jelly

The sis and I ordered from the ala carte because we just had to try some of Ho's signatures.

Grilled Thinly Sliced Beef Oyster Blade in Onion Broth

Rigatoni Pasta Tossed in Crustacean Oil, Shaved Bottarga, Tiger Prawns, Seaweed and Arugula Salad

Strawberry Fantasy

His degustation and prestige menus change regularly with new exciting creations but the yummy "wow" features, have been reassured by the chef to be main-stays.

From the Menu Prestige:

G loved the crab salad, commending on its freshness. The sister of course raved about the foie gras. For me, it had to be the escargot. The butter garlic crust was really yummy, complementing the escargot and mushrooms well. The flavours were rich but not overly empowering.

From our ala carte selection:

There was a momentous silence as we each took our turn with the Rigatoni. It was such a beautiful dish. So simple, so interesting a mix of seafood flavours, sooo... addictive. It was a rare moment where the decision was unanimous around the table - we were definitely coming back here again if only just for this!

Dessert proved to be a sweet ending - a very very sweet ending to our meal. The fantasy comprised of a overly emphasized strawberry theme (not that I minded, the berry fan that I am) in a strawberry shortcake sandwich with strawberry ice cream and Vodka Strawberry Sauce and Strawberry Macaroons.

If told that the chef makes everything from scratch daily and only at the moment of order, I will truly believe that for two obvious reasons:

1) Oddly, we were the only diners for the entire Wednesday night!
(A tourist couple strolled in at 9pm, clearly an accidental jackpot find for them.)
But we had personalized service the entire night and hence the entire kitchen dedicated to serving our every whim and fancy.

2) Our dessert took twenty minutes to make. I mean, does it take that long to scoop some ice-cream and pour out some sauce? The only explanation, made and plated only when ordered.
The shortcake sandwich was also very light and had a nice crunch of a shortcake, only achievable when made fresh.

At the end of our night, Anderson came out from the kitchen to add the sweet cherry on the top of our fine dinning experience. It was such a personal touch and most definitely a clever move because service and atmosphere are important factors in differentiating oneself from being average.

Our dinner set us back by $420 including drinks. A tad expensive and perhaps a little more than I would have expected. Still, I do believe we would all be coming back, but I presume this time we would probably be sticking to ala carte.

Le Papillon
Red Dot Traffic Building
28 Maxwell Road#01-02
Tel: 6327-4177
www.le-papillon.com.sg