We checked out Marguerite for a birthday lunch on one fine Saturday after
reading and hearing the positive reviews about the up and coming restaurant
headed by Chef Michael Wilson who earned his first Michelin Star, 5 months
after opening Phénix in the Puli Hotel and Spa, Shanghai.
There's two menu during lunch, a 4-course lunch only tasting menu and
another full experience 7-course menu. I decided to go for the full 7-course ($248++) since I have never tried such an elaborate course before.
It wasn't too long before the first round of snacks were served. Was glad
that the team only swapped the raw items for mine while my partner could
still enjoy them. The snacks revolved between crunchy and creamy, starting
with the Kingfish & Caviar and Steak Frites for him while I had the Sand
Carrot Tart and Black Trumpet Cigar-- made from a celeriac puree with
activated charcoal stuffed with wild black trumpet mushrooms and caramelized
onions seasoned with a mushroom garum.
Both of us had the apricot & Comte cheese - apricot in the form of a
dehydrated fruit skin wrapped with cheese, as well as the Foie Gras
Cornetto. All were tasty except for the Sand Carrot Tart that didn't had any
surprise elements.
The course gets better with each dish. The next one was a tangy cold soup
that tasted like salsa - lettuce garpazcho with cucumber sorbet, paired with
a morsel of cucumber meringue, dungeness crab and herbs that packed a punch.
The morel mushroom custard is akin to a chawanmushi that's on the salty
side. I didn't fancy this dish and fortunately the next course-new blue
prawn tagliatelle pulled us back to the scene with the familiar taste of
Asia prawn noodles. The scampi caviar atop was a delight- crunchy and sour
like popping candies.
First time having passionfruit as a seafood sauce and it went surprisingly
well as a sabayon in the Patagonian toothfish served with fennel puree. But
the highlight was the duck that was given a dramatic entrance in a Le Creuset ware. But that was just for show. The plate we had was a slice of
perfect duck crackling, pork sausage stuffed with Foie Gras, blood plum
sauce and artichoke puree. Impeccable taste and texture.
Finally the last two courses were desserts. I enjoy the galangal green apple sorbet
more than the strawberry pain perdu as the icy sourishness perked me up.
It's paired with a walnut gorgonzola macaron that was ironically pungent yet
very likeable.
Don't skip the mignardises because those petit bites were excellent too, esp
the espresso chocolate and hawthorn berry chocolate bon bons. I haven't dine
at many such places in SG to do a fair comparison but the overall experience
was a positive one. It's a feast for the eyes, the mind and the tastebuds.
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