I’ve been to Antoinette for tea when they just debuted but I’m back today for dinner!
In all honesty, the food and service during tea did not really impress me. It was the ambience that was enjoyable but the tea, pastries and ice cream was not anything unique. However, I heard that their dinner food was not bad so I was anticipating this.
For pictures of the interior, view my previous post.
It has only been about 6 months but there were obvious signs of wear and tear. From scratches on the furniture, peeling wall paper, stains on the wall to the toilet paper holder being completely detached from the wall. I guess a restaurant with fancy furnishing rather than those with practical sturdy usage requires high maintenance, literally.
But for now, let’s talk about their food.
Gnocchi Carbonara – $18.50++
Parisan Gnocchi sautéed with caramelized bacon, white wine cream sauce, served with poached egg and aged parmasen cheese
The price for this has gone up by $2 since the last visit. The sauce was well infused with the taste of bacon which is a basic requirement of carbonara, I feel. I had a bad rendition at Pasta Manna in Old Airport Road, where the cream was not infused with any flavour and all ingredients tasted individual rather than complimenting each other.
The gnocchi is a fresh change from the usual pasta so lovers of pasta do note that this is gnocchi, not pasta. The gnocchi here is quite good, better than Salt Grill I feel. It’s chewy and starchy. It absorbs the sauce well so it’s not tasteless. However, too much of it can make you sick of it.
Overall, I feel that this carbonara is the 2nd best I’ve had. The best is still from La Strada.
Gnocchi Floristeire – $18.50++
Parisan Gnocchi sautéed with onions and an assortment of field mushrooms in a pink tomato sauce with Italian parsley and aged parmasen cheese
This was mine. I was expecting a tomato cream sauce as they mentioned pink sauce, but it looks like regular tomato sauce to me. Nevertheless, the tomato sauce was flavourful and strong in flavour. I like that they included a crispy piece of ham. Again, the gnocchi absorbed the flavours of the sauce well and it was pleasant to eat.
I don’t have a lot of experience in having gnocchi and this is only my 3rd time so I can’t be for sure whether the gnocchi here is the best, but at very least, this is very decent and something I won’t mind having again.
Wild Mushroom Risotto – $24.00++
Creamy Arborio rice simmer with exotic field mushroom & white wine, garnished with crispy Serrano ham
The old price used to be $20.00++ so it has gone up by $4. I’m not sure how this fared as I only tasted a bit of the sauce.
Royale (savoury crepe) – $20.50++
Roast Beef, sauce bérnaise, mustard and emmental cheese
I wanted to order savoury cheese initially but I guess I’ll do that next time. My dining partner said that this was very filling so don’t belittle a crepe!
We ordered 3 pastries to share among 5. The pastries looked more interesting than the desserts on the menu, though I would love to try some sweet crepe if the chance comes.
Tahiti – $9.00++
Amongst the 3 pastries we selected I liked this least. It is essentially a chocolate cake but with a tinge of sourness.
Antoinette – $9.00++
Milk chocolate mousse infused with earl grey tea, chocolate biscuit, raspberry coulis, dark chocolate earl grey tea cremeux, earl grey tea crumble
In my opinion, this cake is much better than the other. The flavours complimented one another very well, and I like how there are many textures in a bite. The ball on top contains the raspberry coulis which you can release if you burst the bubble. However, this is not one where you could go on forever. After a few bites, I got kind of sick of the taste.
This could be one of the best cakes I’ve had in Singapore. The other contenders are the Strawberry Shortcake from 1-caramel, Hazelnut Chocolate from Galbiati Gourmet, and anything from The Pattisier.
Mont Blanc – $8.50++
Almond tart, vanilla cream Chantilly, marrons glaces and chestnut cream
I was never a fan of chestnut until I had an amazing dessert at La Strada, which was also chestnut based. From then, I had a craving for mont blanc which is the more common chestnut dessert. This looked cute, was alright, but wasn’t anywhere close to the amazing dessert. To be fair, the amazing dessert isn’t even mont blanc per se so there shouldn’t be comparison of any sort.
For more about this restaurant, view my previous post.
Hungry Bird 