Brunch at Au Jardin

We've been wanting to come to Au Jardin (EJH Corner House, Singapore Botanic Garden Visitors Centre, Cluny Rd, tel : +65 6466 8812) for a while. A really long while. This was a first visit and also a brunch which they serve only on Sundays. Everything before the soup was pretty much a la carte buffet styled which was prepared in curated batches for freshness.

duck rillette

We liked the duck rillette here. Enough duck fat to grease the shredded meat, sufficient salt to enhance the mildly gamey flavour and little else to distract. We had seconds with extra orders of bread.

Tempura of fish and prawn beignet

The tempura and beignet were fried very shortly before service. Both were served hot and fresh tasting with a crisp skin and tender meat. Each of the latter was also wrapped in a shiso leaf. We had thirds since each portion was really small. 

vine cherry tomato with mozzarella 

This was one of my favourites from the brunch.  Chilled and luscious sweet tomatoes (all skinned, no less) with EVOO, a pinch of course salt scattered and drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar. And little sliced balls of mozzarella. This was good in a refreshing manner. We had thirds. Uhm.....I had thirds.

foie gras terrine, rock melon with Serrano ham, smoked salmon

No complains on the foie gras, ham & melon and the salmon. The food was not super fancy, but it was all very decently done with quality ingredients. Strangely, we didn't have seconds for this.

mesclun salad with honey mustard dressing

Unfortunately for the boring old salad, everything else that came with was better. This was pretty much left untouched except for a leave or two.

cream of mushroom soup with truffles 

A finely blended rendition of a luxuriant mushroom soup with accents of truffle. Again nothing very fancy, just nicely done.

scrambled egg, smoked salmon, truffle reduction

I would love to have this scrambled eggs for breakfast often. 

roasted rabbit saddle, seasonal mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, truffle reduction 

One of my favourites of the brunch as well. The rabbit was well flavoured and highlighted with an excellent black truffle reduction. The Brussels sprouts tasted fresh and the assorted mushrooms were exceptional. One could certainly sense the care in the preparation of each component.

lobster pasta with sweet basil 

The pasta was unfortunately not impressive. Noodles could have done better with a shorter blanch and the meat wasn't as sweet nor firm as I was hoping for. This was probably just the only dark spot here.

apple tart with vanilla sauce and ice cream 

This was not bad at all. I couldn't figure out what the ice cream was. Refreshingly tart it was.

Manjari 64% chocolate Ganache tart with chocolate “soil”, milk pudding, crème de cacao jelly and burnt butter ice cream 

Hmmm...not big on this but it was really an okay ganache.

I think one's salted caramel saffron and the other is some berry......? I'm just guessing