Watch, Eat, Do and Tell...: Le Chasseur

19 August 2011

Le Chasseur

A not-so-little tze char restaurant right opposite Central. Good thing about it is that it's air-conditioned (which is really a blessing in tropical Singapore), no service charge/GST (hence 20cents for ice-water), and no MSG. Also, its chef/owner used to own a restaurant on top of a hill in Mauritius called Domaine del Chasseur, worked in China, and learnt from an Indian chef (all these information is from the friendly guy who came to talk to us as we were last table sitting after a weekday lunch crowd). Now that the etymology of the name has been settled, we come to the actual review. Friendly enough wait staff but definitely stretched too thin with the load from the lunch crowd. Large, exhaustive menu with everything claimed to be "you-order-then-we-cook" - this can be either a good thing or bad - and it did lead to a long waiting time. Not for those in a rush. The 2nd best dish was the eggplant braised with mince pork and salted fish. Excellent over a bowl of (white) rice. Speaking of rice, we had their supposedly-famous claypot rice. The chef uses a mixture of long-grained bismati rice and short/broken rice. Granted, the bismati gave a nice texture and absorbed the flavour well, but it is not the best claypot rice I had. Although for the price it is kinda worth it. The steamed fish (I ordered HK style and it came Teochew) and special beancurd was very disappointing. The stewed pig trotters was saved by the excellent Teochew condiment (which went very well with the fish too!), but otherwise was not stewed long enough to be very good. The best dish was the last. I can safely say: best damn tau suan ever! Sweet but not sickening, thick but not nauseating, and the you tiao (dough fritters) was nicely charcoal-grilled before serving to ensure crispness!

UPDATE (21 Aug 2011): Went back for an early dinner. The service there still needs to be improved...slightly nazi-ish. Thankfully, the food was still good and reasonably priced. Their chicken wings were very fried. Nice batter that went well with the accompanying sweet chilli. The stir-fried bittergourd and beef was nicely done, but the beef could be a bit more tender, though the bittergourd was soft and flavourful. The tomato omelette was nicely done in a scrambled egg sort of way, rather than flat omelette style. Tried the black fungus dessert too. Generous amount of black fungus in a sweet broth (not too sweet). But nothing beats the yummy tau suan...seriously, I can just come here and eat tau suan!

UPDATE (22 Aug 2011): This place must be doing something right, if I am back here...again. And that is...the damn Tau Suan!! Also the very reasonably priced, MSG-less food. The eggs and sprouts was a great combi, and the dry stif-fried beef hor fun was very well done. The latter had enough wok-hei and the beef was better than the last time I had it (no tenderiser!). Sadly the curry chicken was not to my liking. Too thick and curry paste-y. It tastes like something I get a prata store. Although the bread that we asked for was nicely charcoal-grilled to crispiness.