La Belle Époque Singapore

I seldom write negative reviews. If I do not enjoy my food, I would rather not post anything about it. I cook too and understand that taste is subjective but this was quite unusual. It was not about taste preference but the use of spoiled ingredients, undercooking and not getting the basic right. There were few hits and many misses. Some basic quality checks, knowledge and skill was clearly absent from the restaurant kitchen.

We started the dinner fairly impressed with the service and the simple but warm deco on the 2nd floor of the shophouse restaurant. My boy enjoyed their foie gras creme brûlée. Duck liver custard was topped with a layer of hardened golden caramelized sugar, just like the classic French cream dessert. It was served with Avruga caviar, white truffle chantilly and tomato focaccia tuile.Sadly things just went south after that.

Skins is a platter of crispy salmon, chicken, pork skin and seasonal vegetable deep fried and served with salad greens and black garlic aioli. It is a good idea and a perfect finger-food dish to go with beer and wines. It was a pity that the deep-fried pork skin had a strong rancid taste. If not, this would be my favourite dish of the evening.

The kids love homemade pasta and the handmade squid ink fettuccine was the first dish they wanted on the menu. Unfortunately, the pasta thickness was uneven and it turned out lumpy and pasty. Some of the noodle was not even cooked through and the flour lump just stuck to each other.

The cauliflower steak was beautifully assembled but the plating along with the accompanying purple potato puree was the only good thing that I could say about the dish. The main ingredient, the cauliflower was undercooked, had a bitter aftertaste and a firm waxy texture which I believe was due to the pan-searing method.

What was supposed to be the star of the evening turned out to be the biggest disappointment. The 28-day dry aged Angus ribeye had a rotten taste! We could smell and taste the horrific and unmistakable foul ammonia odour on the very first bite. To be fair, they were apologetic when we returned the item and served us a replacement which tasted okay.

After all these, I was not in any mood for dessert but the family wanted something sweet to end the meal and so the disappointment continued.

I thought nothing could go wrong with Tiramisu. After all, the classic dessert is assembled and not really “cooked” but I was wrong. Some of the ladyfingers were hard and not moist at all. Clearly it was not well rested to take in the coffee mixture and moisture before it was served.

To make things worst, the ventilating fan mounted in the toilet beside our table dislodged and fell from the ceiling, making a loud sound. Can you imagine my shock or relief as I had just used the toilet a few minutes before that.

If there is any proof needed or any scientific basis for a belief in Murphy's Law, this was it.

I certainly hope that standard will improve for the 3-week old establishment and my unpleasant experience was a result of the usual teething problems related to staff, suppliers and kitchen operations for new restaurants.

Good luck!