Fleur De Sel Le Restaurant (Singapore) by Alexandre Lozachmeur

5 years after cutting his teeth with Alain Ducasse’s Spoon Paris and Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee, Alexandre Lozachmeur sought greener pastures in Singapore, spending 7.5 years in various restaurants including the now defunct Harbour Grill, Au Petit Salut and Brasserie Le Saveurs.

His debutant role as chef-owner of Fleur De Sel Le Restaurant (“Fleur De Sel”), which opened at Tras Street in early September 2013, culminates years of hard work for the ambitious French native who grew up in Southern France.

Sited next to the gloriously Paris-esque Brasserie Gavroche (and directly opposite Café Gavroche) by fellow French chef, Frederic Collin, the 35-seat Fleur De Sel’s setting is decidedly low-key – save for a beautiful bar and a handful of dark brown-toned wall-hugging cupboards, the white-and-brown space is relatively unadorned. Still, it packs-in a variety of seating options: a 5-seat bar counter, a 6-seat kitchen counter if you want to watch the chefs cook, the main dining room and a chandeliered private dining room for 12.

Perusing Lozachmeur’s concise menu of contemporarily plated French classics is a breeze, everything – from starters, fish, meats, cheese course to desserts – is distilled snugly into an A4-size page.

While you may most certainly work the a la carte menu, we much prefer to trek the tasting menu route. Depending on how hungry you are, pick from the 8-course de gustation menu (S$168++ including), the 5-course set dinner (S$108++) or the 4-course set dinner (S$88++ ), all of which offer glimpses of the a la carte menu but in petite portions.

Boston lobsters are served all chopped up as tartare and lavished with an aromatic shell-rendered bisque decorated with crisp croutons.

Plump and succulent, the scallops are perfectly seared on the plancha grill and served with a drizzle of delicious brown garlic butter sauce.

Equally accomplished is the lobe of seared duck liver resting on a sliver of subtly sweet apple tatin, the puddle of savoury duck jus vinaigrette is an immaculate accompaniment to the part crispy, part-wobbly foie.

Lozachmeur’s savoire faire continues with the mains. A Mediterranean-inspired braised monkfish crowned with fennel salad lounging in garlic infused bouillabaisse jus is a crowd pleaser, as are the slices of sliced duck breast that are first cooked via sous vide, then seared and served with cherry jus on mashed potato alongside braised figs.

But it’s not all milk and honey, the crumbed frog leg – first deboned then steeped in butter parsley before it’s battered and fried – comes across a tad dry and is probably not the best use of fresh produce even if the accompanying watercress puree is flawless.

Desserts are memorable but given the steep prices (S$15 to S$18 each), these are best experienced via the tasting menus. Our favourite: le baba, liquor baba and vanilla bean whipped cream with chocolate sauce poured personally by the chef at your tableside.

No French dinner is complete without good wines and breads – Lozachmeur has these covered via a 100 label-strong wine list (90% French) and freshly baked sour dough courtesy of Christophe Grilo from B.A.O (Bakery Artisan Original).

With the chef’s pedigree, Fleur De Sel’s cuisine could fly if Lozachmeur pushes the envelope a little more. We can’t wait to check out the restaurant again when he does.

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© Evelyn Chen 2013

Please note that the reviews published in this blog are sometimes hosted. I am under no obligation to review every restaurant I’ve visited. If I do, the reviews are 100% my own.