Clos Pasoh, Bukit Pasoh

We've seen a lot of pictures of the food from Clos Pasoh (48A Bukit Pasoh Road, Level 2, tel : +65 6980 0672) and it looked good. That has in part set expectations.

The restaurant described themselves as "a chic reimagining of the French brasserie for today’s urbane food and wine lover". I find that noncommittal-ly vague. A simpler and more accurate description would be just Asian influenced French.

We were wrapping our heads around the Asian influenced French brasserie vibe. From the French-y setup amidst lush tropical plants to a sequence of music we noticed that included some rap tune I didn't identify, followed by some stereotypically Frenchie music and then 'Baby I'm Yours' by Breakbot & Irfane. Eclectic much?

Personally, I preferred the French aspect of their food.

Sourdough was charcoal grilled. Great smokey flavour.

Accompanied by some tangy Cervelle de canut.

And salted butter.

One of the pictures that comes up often on social media is their bisque coco-homard. Coconut lobster bisque with lobster dumpling. I tasted lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Was unpleasantly surprised by julienned ginger. The broth was nice. One could describe it as lobster-y and reminiscent of laksa. 

Did not enjoy the dumplings. When it's described as lobster dumplings, expectations tend to be raised. I couldn't identify what I ate.

Can you believe this is tartare de beouf? Did not think sliced red chilli add to the experience but maybe that's just me. Loads of texture which I expected from bits of herbs, roughly chopped meat, onions and capers were not present. It's inside mantou instead of on bread. Texturally it's nothing like beef tatare.

There's also green curry in it. In my not so humble opinion, they tried too hard with those Asian elements.

The glass bowl contained cashew butter. With the garnish, I thought it was more of the beef tartare. 😂  The cashew butter was nice though.

Ris de veau was good. Like I mentioned earlier, the French stuff was nice. Chunks of well caramelized foie gras in it were nice also. Mopped the Vin Jaune sauce clean with additional bread we asked for.

That the additional bread. Sourdough but not charcoal toasted.

The lamb we had was part of the butcher's cut of the day. Shoulder braised in what the server described as Madras curry and drizzled with Greek honey. The latter was totally lost. That huge smudge of harissa was actually nice but unfortunately I like lamb tasting like lamb mostly and used that for my bread. Did not understand the obsession with capsicum here. 

The lamb itself was fantastic. Slip off the bone tender. If they were to tell me this was an African/Middle Eastern dish, I'd buy it. Don't see the French part in this.

Pistachio souffle was...not great. Could not taste the pistachio so calling it 'not great' was a kindness. Raspberry sorbet was delicious and robust.

Some Irish coffee with Jameson whiskey to end.