Sunday, January 01, 2023

Joséphine, Amoy Street

Joséphine, Amoy Street

Mixed feelings about Joséphine (97 Amoy Street, tel : +65 9642 4901). Great service crew with food that were hits and misses. Got the sensing that the balance of their setup leaned a little bit more towards style over substance. 

Not that the food was bad but I had this feeling that they're were trying to impress rather than feed you.

Joséphine, bread

Bread - first round's on the house and any extras are chargeable. I'll understand if a place like Belon charges for bread. Even Claudine or perhaps Gaston. Because they have bread that's above the run of the mill or even exceptional. But this?

Joséphine, sea bass ceviche

Portion of the sea bass ceviche was small. Not bad tasting but not getting much for $24. Fish was so cured that it looked cooked.

Joséphine, pan seared foie gras

Pan fried foie gras on toasted sourdough was delicious. Menu mentioned honey sauce but that sauce tasted like caramel. Nice.

Joséphine, knife

Here's when they brought out the more serious knives. Joséphine knives.

Joséphine, le mignon de porc

We had pork tenderloin with what was described as foie gras and morel sauce. Said sauce was not bad tasting but not outstanding or memorable. For something that was described to be made with foie gras and morel, I tasted neither the liver nor mushroom in it. Otherwise, it's a not bad tasting dish which I will never order again.

Joséphine, monkfish blanquette

I liked how the flavour of the fish was in the sauce of the monkfish blanquette. Love the buttered bread that came with it. But for $36, that was pretty much all the monkfish there was.

Joséphine, lamb rack gratin dauphinois blue cheese sauce

Lamb was marinated and processed to subdue the natural flavour of the meat so I'm sinning it. Kinda defeated the reason why I ordered it. There was a caramelized sweetness on the meat which I didn't expect. 

The only silver lining that came out of how they treated the meat was that I could use the blue cheese sauce without feeling guilty about drowning out the natural lamb-y flavour because there was little to drown in the first place.

Joséphine, riz au lait josephine

Dessert was riz au lait. Nicely done with a creamy vanilla richness in the rice and crispy caramelized fragrance from the sliced almonds. Pleasantly surprised.

Joséphine, Amoy Street

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