New Year's Eve @ Le Papillon

New Year's Eve was really nice and simple this year. June told us that Anderson Ho was having a special menu for the evening and asked if we would like to support him for dinner. The thought of a quiet evening ushering in the New Year with loved ones and great food sounded absolutely appealing. No crowds, no cover, no 1-hour-long queues out of carparks after countdown...sounds good.

Dinner was an unabashed interesting seven-course meal. Each course reading off unique and demanding of attention. I was looking forward to the evening. During our last visit to Le Papillon Chef Anderson left only beautiful memories with his Rigatoni Pasta, Foie gras with apple reduction, escargot and dessert to name just a few. I was excited to see more and after the first course, it was clearly the case I would be.

Our amuse bouche was a warm smoked salmon with cucumber-yogurt cream. Unlike the usual smoked salmon out of the packet, his was a generous chunky slice of salmon, lightly smoked to provide the smoky flavour but not too much to shield how fresh the fish was. The yogurt and cucumber provided the right light balance to the rich oiliness.

Next was our seafood appetiser. I was abit iffy about it initially because I couldn't take prawns and I really didn't want to have to miss out on something that has pumpkin! Well I allowed myself half a prawn till I felt the allergy creep in to hubby's benefit. The scallop center piece was fresh and juicy with a crisp prosciutto ham to add a little more dept to flavour. The butternut squash puree was yummy, sweet and smooth as expected. Quite enjoyed though I couldn't eat much.

Soup was next on the menu. A duck consomme with a foie gras salad. The foie gras was served before the light broth was poured to skirt and complete the dish. The soup was tasty yet light to neutralize the greasy duck liver. Seared lightly, a light tease and the crisp skin would give way easily to a smooth fatty bite of goodness.

On a personal note, the meal just got better. I was pretty stuffed before the hearty main course arrived. But a look at the black Angus beef tenderloin and it was heck it all! The meat was unbelievably soft. The knife cut through the medium rare meat like hot butter. And the tenderloin was done well - medium rare, and tasted every bit like sheer beefy goodness. And I thought only Wagyu could achieve such soft juiciness. The truffle infused bed of mash potato was also invitingly good to a full stomach.

Next, was probably my favourite dish (and hence self-permission to post 2 pictures of!) from the whole dinner.

Actually I honestly don't know why it's my favourite. The ingredients are simple and its definitely not one of the main courses. No cooking was needed to evaluate based on cooking expertise. But I fell in love with this cheese mid-dinner snack and find myself reminiscing about this yummy combination every now and then so often. Chef Ho stacked three wafer biscuits artistically on top of each other, using just enough a dollop of truffle-mascarphone cheese to hold the structure together at each wafer intersection. He finishes off with truffle oil drizzling and toasted hazelnuts. Deceptive...how a simple pairing of the basic crispy wafer and creamy cheese oozing with truffle flavour could be so utterly enjoyable.

And for dessert, the decadence kills us all...before the new year starts!!
Its a peanut parfait on a rice crisp crunch accompained by Varlhona chocolate ice cream.
A little too rich for me, although everything was good.

Finally, the last of the sweets came and left, selection of coffee or tea made and mid-night was still another sleepy hour and half to go. The pub next door played good old retro music loud enough to provide some for us at the comforts of our tables. Rounds of wine later, we ushered in the 2008 with family and loved ones.

Happy New Year everyone! May 2008 be better for some of us, Great for the rest!!