Perle Noir Oyster & Grill Bar, Siglap

Perhaps it was because of the timing of the visit. The name of this place just reminded me of Barbossa and Jack Sparrow. Did I mention having caught the latest installment of Pirates and that you might want to stay till the end of the credits for something extra? I digress....Perle Noire (687 East Coast Road) located just beside Cheesecake Cafe is a western restaurant that does excellent pork. Their talked about Yorkshire Pork Rack was simply exceptional. I'm not too sure of the cuisine direction of the restaurant but the mood tries to be Spanish? Didn't see any paella on menu though.


The meat served in this restaurant are mostly from Australia from what I can recall. It's Australian beef, lamb, pork. And then there was a foie gras and a grilled French duck breast. And Japanese sweet potato mash. Ok, I'll really not go into that. Very pleasantly surprising start to the dinner we were served piping hot hot cross buns. Seriously, I haven't seen these around much. My last recollection of these things were.....nursery rhymes. Lol. But the ones which the Black Pearl provided were fragrant with onion bits in the bun and piping hot. With the option of olive oil and butter. It was so good we asked for extras.


The shared starter of foie gras and oysters were far from impressive. So these are a couple of things that I'll be avoiding if I come back. The foie gras with rice honey and soy was sliced and pan fried. Being sliced meant that the timing of the sear must be impeccable or it gets overcooked. I hear that it's goose liver that was used, but I couldn't tell the same. It wasn't something I would recall fondly upon. I very much prefer what I had at Ember. The Perle Noir Deluxe Oven Baked Oysters sounded pretty good on the menu with spinach, crab meat, topped with Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese. The oysters sealed in cheese didn't have enough crab meat to be even noticeable while the shellfish didn't taste fresh and was a little watery.

Moving on, I do have something good to say about the mains which were really the highlights.

Yorkshire pork rack

This pork, I reiterate, was excellent. It came slightly under cooked which the chef was rather apologetic about, explaining that it was due to having have to do a thick slice of meat. And that the pork which was a grain fed white hog is actually very edible at medium doneness. It was brought back to be redone and the result came out to be one of the best tasting pork I've ever had. Honestly, I do not remember having better. The fat was along the edges of the meat with the rest was pretty lean yet very juicy. The seasoning was but salt and pepper. Along with a very nice cream sauce. This dish is highly recommended.

braised lamb shank

This lamb shank didn't have a nice sauce, but the meat was was good. The flavour was almost subtle and the meat tender. A friend of mine who doesn't normally eat them thinks this is good stuff. My gripe was that I wished it had a bit more meat. The Japanese sweet potato that served as the bedding didn't taste as fragrant as I remember of them. Again, I compare this to Ember with their sweet potato mash that came with their rack of lamb which was presented in a way where you could just taste the potatoes, neat. Yeap, I said neat.

roasted honey pork knuckle

The pork knuckles were very ordinary. The meat was a little too dry. The only honey that was detected was the honey mustard that came on the side. The positive part to this dish was the crispy skin which by far is the best I've ever had.

Would I come back again? Maybe. Perhaps just for the pork rack.