élan - modern French cuisine

justinteo

New French restaurant under the Les Amis Group, and I love it!
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There are two dishes that I really love, the first is the Carabinero Prawns ($42). This premium red prawn from Spain is grilled over binchotan, and came with a pasta in sauce made from uni and kombu. It's rich with crème fraiche, but lifted by subtle notes of yuzu. The pasta's texture was good too, cooked al dente, but I love how soft and eggy it was, just like housemade pastas.
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The second dish I really love is the Aqina “Pineapple” Chicken ($110, for 2), which uses organic kampong chicken from Malaysia fed with pineapples so they are naturally sweet. It is then served with jasmine rice fragrantly seasoned with lemongrass, ginger, coriander, pandan leaves and chicken fats, reminiscent of chicken rice but it's a more "al dente" version. A brilliant French interpretation of our local dish.
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We tried other dishes that were very good too - Foie Gras Bon Bon ($38) with foie gras encased in dark chocolate but lifted by kumquat; Tilefish ($65) using the Japanese Amadai with very crispy scales; and Pyrenees Lamb ($68) with little to no gameyness, and I love it for the parsley & breadcrumbs coatings.
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For desserts, we had Lemon ($20), with a “frozen lemon” and kaffir lime cream; and a light and airy Lychee Souffle ($25) with a floral rum ice cream on a macadamia tuile base.
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Menu prices aren't cheap, but you get quality produce and good cooking.