[Food Delivery] Odette - Unleashing Your Inner Chef by Plating Your Own 3 Michelin Star Fine French Meal, Singapore

In the latest COVID-19 advisory, dining-in can resume for fully vaccinated people in groups of five from August 10, 2021 (Source: Channel NewsAsia).

Before that, let's enjoy a three Michelin-starred restaurant, Odette at the comfort of your homes. Odette was awarded two stars in 2016-2018 and three stars in 2019 respectively. It has receive numerous accolades since the restaurant was founded about six years ago.

"I owe everything that I am to my family, especially my grandmother, Odette. She showed me how the most remarkable dishes can come from the purest ingredients and taught me the importance of adding that 'little something' to create dishes that excite the palate and fill the heart.

Her devotion to people and ability to demonstrate love through food continue to inspire the Odette experience." - Chef Julien Rayer

Chef Rayner introduced home delivery - ODETTE AT HOME for the first time. ODETTE AT HOME is a curated home-dining experience with a rotating selection of comforting dishes and inspiring classics, designed to be finished off and enjoyed in the comfort of your home together with loved ones. He inadvertently found a new audience - peripheral diners curious about Odette but unwilling / shy /unable to get a reservation to try the cuisine. ODETTE AT HOME was a non-intimidating way to have three-star cooking and all the Bring-Your-Own you want.

What makes ODETTE AT HOME unique is that it unleashes your inner chef by plating your own fine French meal. Each dish arrives in boxes with ingredients packaged neatly in vacuum-sealed bags, complete with garnishes. Along with the image of the dish are easy to follow instructions on how to heat and plate it. That experience makes you feel as if you are in Chef Julien's kitchen preparing and plating each dish. Experience = priceless. 

GRIGNOTAGES et ENTREES

The Bafun Uni Capellini, priced at $88, comes with three servings of pasta topped with rich, sweet uni (sea urchin). Similar to the angel hair pasta, the capellini pasta is slightly thicker and is cooked in perfection with the excellent texture. This dish does not require re-heating and it eaten as appetiser. The instructions indicated to drizzle the smoked egg yolk over the pasta. There was a very nice black truffle aroma and the chives were not overwhelming. The uni was creamy and sweet at the same time. Overall, I liked it.

Fun fact: Do you know that there are four most common species of uni found here? They are Aka Uni, Bafun Uni, Muraskai Uni and Ensui Uni. The Bafun Uni is most commonly served in higher-end sushi-yas; the taste is strong but less so that Aka Uni and they are much sweeter than Aka Uni. They taste great with just about anything, but especially when savoured on its own. Aka uni is most commonly served in casual sushi-yas; the taste is much stronger, and very unami with hints of bitterness. They are a little less refined than the rest of the other uni.

Difficulty level: 🥊

The Normandy Crab 'Dumpling', $78, came with a vacuum bag of Pork and Ginger broth, crab meat dumplings, yuzu, and Shitake mushrooms.

First, reheat the crab dumplings for a couple of minutes. Remove the dumplings and rest them in a bow. Next, re-heat the soup broth and pour it gently into the bowl. Finish the soup dish with shitake mushrooms, yuzu and garnish.

Despite its price, the soup broth is light and has a ctirus aftertaste. The nice yuzu and rich shitake mushroom gave it its boost, making it absolutely enjoyable. The crab meat dumplings were sweet and the dumpling skin was perfect. The skin was thin but has a perfect texture. Combined, the dumplings and broth became an formidable duo, a perfect dish.

Difficulty level: 🥊

   

The La Truffade is one of the childhood memories of Chef Julien's' hometown. The La Truffade is a rural traditional dish which is a sort of thick pancake made of thinly sliced potatoes that are slowly cooked in goose fat until tender, then mixed with thin strips of cheese. This mixture is stirred until it sticks together into a sort of thick pastry, which is sometimes garnished with fresh parsley and served with a simple green salad. 

In this set of finishing instructions, the sealed bag of truffade is placed into a medium pot of boiled water. Turn off the heat immediately and leave the truffade for six minutes. When ready, place the truffade in the plate of choice. Sprinkle chopped parsley and black pepper on top. Season the salad with walnut dressing. Unfortunately, the truffade was overboiled and I got a layer of oil around the potatoes. But this La Truffade, $38, is still gooey cheesy and satisfying. 

 

Difficulty level: 🥊🥊

The Truffle Brioche, $8, is a very 'rich' bread. It has high fat and protein contents but also filled with black truffle jam. The brioche was crispy on the outside and tender and creamy on the inside with fragrant and luxurious black truffle jam. Extremely luxurious. 

LES PLATES DE RESISTANCE

  Bouillabaisse is a classic French dish from southern France. A true bouillabaisse must be made with Mediterranean fish. There are plenty of variations of bouillabaisse that you'll find strong debates over the proper way to make it. The distinctive flavours of a bouillabaisse broth include saffron, which also gives it its orange colour, orange zest and fennel. It is best to serve with bread. Place a thick slice of crusty French bread in each bowl and ladle the soup broth over the bread.

The Blue Lobster Bouillabaisse, $98, came in a vacuum bag of soup broth and seafood with saffron, cognac, potatoes, confit tomatoes and fennel. We re-heated the bag of soup broth for a good six minutes, then pour cognac into the pot and reduce for 30 seconds. Serve the bouillabaisse into bowl and garnish with the fennel salad, croutons and confit tomatoes. Finally, drizzle with dill oil and squeeze lemon to taste. 

Viola! We served the Blue Lobster Bouillabaisse. The seafood was fresh and the soup broth was sweet and thick. It has a rich lobster aroma and very similar to lobster bisque. What is the difference between a bisque and a bouillabaisse? A bisque is a thick creamy soup made from rfish, shellfish, meat or vegetables while bouillabaisse is a type of French fish soup.

Difficulty level: 🥊

The Milk-fed Auxria Lamb 'Farci aux Herbes' is lamb with garlic and herbs stuffing. This dish, $168, serves for 2. 

Bring water to a boil in a medium pot and place the sealed bag of lab into the water. Switch to low heat and leave the lamb for 15 minutes. When ready, remove the lamb and cut into two pieces. Keep the sauce from the bag and serve on side to finish. Warm the olive crushed potatoes in a pot and some olive oil and serve warm. For the salad, place the Sucrine lettuce into the bowl and mix with lemon dressing. Add the confit tomatoes to finish.

As you can see in the photos, I blew it and did not follow the instructions very closely. But, this dish is still delicious. The lamb was tender and went well with the herb stuffing. The olive crushed potatoes were beautiful and the nice olive aroma was rich. 

Difficulty level: 🥊🥊🥊

LES GOURMANDISES

Finally, one cannot end a meal without desserts. The Trio of Tartlets, $48, as what its name says, comes with three flavours - the Jivara Chocolate and Tonka Bean, Yuzu Blanc-Manger & Lemon, and Rasberry & Iranian Pistachio. 

My personal favourite, the Yuzu Blanc Manger & Lemon was an absolute delight to indulge after a nice meal. The clouds of wispy Yuzu whipped meringue atop citrusy custard in a super thin brittle cookie shell. The meringue was light and the citrusy lemon custard gave a surprise twist. Then, the cookie shell gave a nice crunchy texture to end it all. ~ Perfect. 

The Raspberry and Iranian Pistachios tart came with fresh raspberry with jam filling on top of pistachio-flavoured custard in a super thin brittle cookie shall. The raspberries had a soury taste that piqued your appetite and the nutty pistachios soothes the palate. The cookie shell gave that nice crunchy texture to complete the dessert. 

The Jivara Chocolate and Tonka Bean tart is generally a chocolate tart. The Jivara Chocolate is 40% milk chocolate with distinctive flavour, both mild and chocolatey. It unveils notes of caramel and vanilla with a touch of malt. The Tonka bean has a sweet aroma that is often likened to almond with undertones of tobacco for added aroma. 

 

Le P.B.S, or 'Paris-Brest', $58 per pair, is made of Piedmont Hazelnut, Praline, and Caramel. Chef Julien recreated a delicate choux pastry piped with luscious cream and Piedmount hazelnut. My first impression of this delicious dessert was having Ferrero Rocher. The rich hazelnut cream with melt-in-your-mouth choux pastry. It is sinful, yet heavenly. 

'Paris-Singapour' is made of Kaya cream, Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar) and coconut. Odette pays homage to the partnership between France and Singapore with flavours of gula melaka, coconut and a rich kaya cream based on a treasured family recipe passed down to sous chef Sheng Xiong Yeo. Odette's acclaimed Chef Julien has curated an unique pastry, Le Paris-Singapour, in honour of vOilah! 2020.

Address: 1 St Andrew's Road #01-04, National Art Gallery Singapore, Singapore 178957

Price: $$$$

Food rating: ★★★★

Recommendations: All of the above.