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Business Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Times
Casual French cooking in a garden setting at La Terrace
NEW RESTAURANT La Terrace by Claudine 39C Harding Road Singapore 249451 Tel: 8031 9935 Open daily: 5 pm to 12 am MAYBE we've been binge-watching TV, but we can't help thinking that if there were a restaurant version of a chaebol, Odette could well be the patriarch of one. Firstly, it's the all-powerful flagship – a three Michelin-starred name ceaselessly uttered with a sense of awe and worship. Then you have its firstborn, Claudine, complete with eldest child syndrome – working hard to continue the legacy while asserting its own identity. And now there's the youngest, La Terrace – playful, maybe a little lazy, riding on the family name because, really, it doesn't have anything to prove. As its name suggests, La Terrace literally sits in the backyard of Claudine – which already occupies a sweet spot amid the lush greenery of Dempsey Hill. A bright-red Claudine food truck is parked on the grass like it took a wrong turn after a hotdog delivery. Outdoor seating makes this great for dogs – just remember it's not your garden, so don't yell at any owners to scoop if their pets poop. It feels like a great place for breakfast or brunch but La Terrace only opens in the evenings, when you can enjoy the transition to dusk from the comfort of a conservatory dining room dressed in French country chic. The food plays second fiddle to the view – a window to nature with no man-made distractions. It's entry-level casual French fare, a practice run before you graduate to the 'real' food next door in Claudine's main dining room, and then – maybe – the hallowed halls of Odette. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up Don't expect anything exciting. It's properly executed if pedestrian, and there isn't a lot of choice beyond a handful of hot and cold starters and just one main dish: French-style chicken rice. There's sourdough bread (S$8) but it's the butter, flavoured with iberico ham and topped with crispy salty sprinkles, that elevates it. If you're in the mood for oysters, they offer Normandy ones at S$8 a pop, topped with a sharp and salty shio kombu dressing. Service is slow or leisurely, depending on your interpretation. Just when we decide on 'slow', everything suddenly comes at once, like latecomers to a party who arrive all at the same time. We only have so much time before the fried stuff starts to soften, so we have to eat fast. Deep-fried zucchini flowers with cottage cheese dip. PHOTO: LA TERRACE Battered and deep-fried zucchini flowers (S$24) are heavy, but the crunch is worth it. They're fine on their own, or with a tangy cottage cheese dip. We'll pass on the shrimp toast (S$24) next time – chopped shrimp smothered in a 'curry' mayonnaise that's such a garish yellow, it must have a serial number rather than real turmeric. It doesn't help that the bun that it's stuffed into is toasted hard and dry. Shrimp in curry mayo dressing on toast. PHOTO: LA TERRACE A curl of octopus leg (S$32) is dependably resilient to cut, and comes in a romesco sauce that's pretty garden variety. And S$18 is what it costs for them to hand cut potatoes into thick sticks and deep-fry them – best if you can polish them off within five to 10 minutes, tops. Grilled octopus in romesco sauce. PHOTO: LA TERRACE Hand-cut French fries. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT Most of the kitchen's effort goes into the solitary main course – half a roasted chicken (S$58), beautifully browned and tender on a bed of Japanese rice cooked in broth, served in a cast iron pot with some decent socarrat at the bottom. A rich chicken jus is poured over the rice, which is garnished with crispy bits of skin and soft roasted cloves of garlic. Squeeze out the garlic, mix with the rice and chicken, add a touch of extra sauce and you've justified your visit. Half a roasted chicken served with rice. PHOTO: LA TERRACE Stay for dessert, too. Its self-named 'pariterole' (S$14) is said to be a marriage of profiterole and Paris-Brest. It's like eating a giant Ferrero Rocher, with its crumbly nutty praline, filled with vanilla ice cream and studded with candied pecans. Madeleines (S$16) are fluffy little cake nuggets, served warm and dusted with powdered sugar. Pariteroles are a hybrid of profiterole and paris brest. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT Baby madeleines dusted with powdered sugar. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT If you want serious food, go next door. La Terrace isn't the most satisfying, but it serves its purpose well. It makes good use of a very nice space, and caters to a crowd that wants a bit of the Odette shine without a major investment. Call it a nepo baby if you like, but La Terrace succeeds without really trying. Rating: 6.5
Time Out
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Five exciting new restaurants in Singapore to check out this May 2025
May is looking to be a thrilling month, peppered with public holidays, GE2025, tons of things to do, and of course, plenty to eat. That's right, Singapore's dining scene is heating up, with a surge of openings bringing fresh energy to our F&B scene. Whether you're making plans to dine out during the anticipated long weekends or thinking of where to take Mum to this Mother's Day, there's certainly no shortage of options. We've narrowed down the most promising restaurant openings to keep an eye on this May, from new expressions of Singaporean cuisine to the city's currently most talked-about brunch spot. Here are five places worth booking a table at this month. Find out which are our favourite restaurants of 2025 so far. 1. Belimbing Cult-favourite nasi lemak joint The Coconut Club now has a sister restaurant called Belimbing, located right above its Beach Road premises. If the name sounds familiar, it's because it's a throwback to Belimbing Superstar, an economic rice concept – also by The Coconut Club – which shuttered in 2020. The refreshed Belimbing, however, brings something entirely different to the table – 'new-gen' Singaporean cuisine. Head Chef Marcus Leow (formerly from Naked Finn and Magic Square) tells diners to expect dishes that are 'comforting and unmistakably Singaporean', albeit not necessarily 'how our grandparents would remember it'. The restaurant offers a two-course menu ($58) and an à la carte selection for lunch, as well as a four-course menu ($88) for dinner – not too steep compared to the exorbitant prices at some fine-dining establishments. Look forward to ingenious recreations of rojak, rice-based main courses like nasi ulam, kueh for dessert, and hyperlocal cocktails crafted by Side Door 's Bannie Kang. 2. La Terrace Shrouded by Dempsey 's lush greenery and parked right behind the old chapel that houses Claudine, La Terrace is the latest French dining concept by chef Julien Royer. While the two restaurants share a kitchen, the latter is an unfussy, laidback alternative to the dressier Claudine, and more suitable for everyday meals. Its semi-open design lets in plenty of breeze and natural light, while tasteful earth-toned decor like bamboo shades and paper lamps add to its cosy-chic vibe. The restaurant whips up home-style sharing plates that complement its environment – think half-roasted chicken ($58) that feeds up to three; hearty potato galettes ($18) with pepper, garlic cheese, and wild mushrooms; and tempura zucchini flowers ($24). Oh, and have we mentioned? Claudine's famed sourdough with Iberico ham butter ($8) is on the menu as well. G&T fans are also in for a treat with La Terrace's curated line-up of 25 gins – floral, citrusy, spiced, and even non-alcoholic. 3. Bonjour Ma Cuisine You might have seen this new brunch spot plastered all over social media. From the proprietors of Michelin-starred French wine bistro Ma Cuisine comes Bonjour Ma Cuisine, a breakfast concept with a completely different menu, but sharing the same shophouse space as the restaurant. Here's where to indulge in a bougie – and boozy – weekday brunch, the true Parisian way. From 8am to 2.30pm, find yourself lounging outside at the pet-friendly terrace, or snapping pictures of the charming interiors furnished with red leather banquettes. Must-orders on the menu are the croque monsieur truffle ($25.50), or the croque madame truffle ($28.80), where a perfect sunny-side-up egg crowns the sandwich. Other savouries include the fish quenelle drenched in a rich crustacean sauce ($20.80); the parmesan linguine ($14.80); and the Jambon Persille ($13.50). Meanwhile, sweet tooths can go for a remake of the classic French toast with kaya ($14.50). And those who don't mind a little bubbly can check out the wine list, where glasses start at $20. 4. Firebird by Suetomi Mondrian Singapore Duxton welcomes another woodfire-focused restaurant to its F&B line-up, after bidding goodbye to mod-Asian grill Tribal which had a much-celebrated one-year run. The new Firebird by Suetomi is a partnership between Ebb & Flow Group and Tokyo-based chef-restaurateur Makoto Suetomi, whose yakitori joint Makitori Shinkobe in Japan sees a one-year waiting list. As suggested by its name, Firebird zooms in on two things: open-flame cooking, and chicken or 'tori'. Its debut menu is a 13-course omakase experience (from $188), where guests will get to savour different parts of the chicken, from momo (thigh) and furisode (shoulder), to rarer cuts like seseri (neck) and harami (abdomnal wall muscle). Each dish is fired up at a custom-made grill modelled after the one at Makitori Shinkobe, and techniques range from grilling and roasting, to sautéing and smoking – all done over Japanese cedarwood. An unmissable highlight on the menu is the Soboro donabe, where sautéed minced chicken sits atop Japanese rice in a claypot. And to go down with your food, choose from a handpicked selection of sake, shochu, beer, and highballs on the drinks menu. 5. Vincenzo Capuano Opening on May 17 at Robertson Quay, Vincenzo Capuano is the namesake restaurant of Italian chef Vincenzo, who currently boasts 30 outlets worldwide. His pizzas are known for using 'Nuvola Super' flour – a proprietary flour developed with a manufacturer. The dough is then long-leavened and highly hydrated to achieve a fluffy, light texture. To test the quality of the crust and base, guests are invited to cut apart the pizza dough with a pair of golden scissors placed on each table – a highlight of the dining experience. In Singapore, you can look forward to signatures like the Abbraccio e Mamma, which comes with a ricotta-stuffed crust and handmade meatballs; Tetti Illuminati, with a fior di latte base and toppings of mortadella, pistachio, and Pecorino Romano; and the Napolitudine, where crushed tomatoes, meatballs, and basil take the centre stage. There's also Come Una Capricciosa, which sees cooked ham, champignon mushrooms, and artichokes as main ingredients.
