Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Cocotte, Dickson Road

Cocotte, Dickson Road

It was heartening to discover that another rustic bistro styled French restaurant (2 Dickson Road, Wanderlust Hotel, tel : +65 6298 1188) has opened, even more so that the food was actually enjoyably hearty. In line with the communal theme of the restaurant, we ordered a bunch of stuff for sharing so that we could taste a variety. Still, we were spoilt for choice because many things looked good.

Cocotte, bread

We started things off with some appetizers which included a very tasty slow cooked and subsequently deep fried tripe. I've had tripe in various forms but these breaded and deep fried ones were a first. Thought they were pretty good. We ordered pork rillettes were pretty decent. I discovered today that French mustard with butter on baguettes were delicious. The pissaladière as I have learnt is a sort of onion paste tart. The soft and flaky pastry was nicely done though I had expected more in the way of anchovies. It was described as an onion and anchovy tart after all.

Cocotte, pork rillettepork rillettes

Cocotte, pissaladierepissaladière

Cocotte, fried tripefried tripe

Moving on to the mains, both Cocotte's roasted pork collar and boeuf à la ficelle were outstanding in their own different ways. 

The former was a nicely done pork dish with delicious fatty bits slathered in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce. On the side, buttered Brussels sprouts that came with expertly toasted almonds which were impressively fragrant. 

At another end of the spectrum was their boeuf à la ficelle which was a simple beef broth poached tenderloin with baby vegetables on the side. Flavoured by some crystals of salt. So much of the natural sweetness remained. Oh yes, I liked the accompanying gruyère on toast too. 

The steak tartare didn't quite look as minced as I thought. It was all good after the condiments went it with a mix. I was thinking that this would benefit from some capers and more chopped onions.

Cocotte, pork collarroasted pork collar in creamy Dijon mustard sauce

Cocotte, boeuf à la ficelleboeuf à la ficelle

Cocotte, steak tartaresteak tartare

After meals were a citron tart and a small selection of cheeses. We finished the tart before moving on to the cheeses. On hindsight, I thought that the sourish and fruity lemon tart would have been good with the cheeses. It had a buttery base with fillings that packed a nice lemony punch. Lucky me got the section with the candied orange peel.

Cocotte, citron tartcitron tart

Cocotte, cheesefromage

3 comments:

CW said...

Is that raw minced meat with egg yoke on to and chopped onions and celery??? hhhmmm what could that be??? looks interesting..waiting for your write up :)

LiquidShaDow said...

Yeap Crystal, it's steak tartare.

huan said...

the roasted pork collar looks awesome!