Restaurant Ember

After I discovered my love for foie gras, Lynn said I HAVE to try out Ember's. Their's was the best she ever had. So we arranged for a dinner there last Friday.

I must say the service here was impeccable. I arrived earlier than Lynn, and upon being seated, was asked politely what drink I want - sparkling, still or regular. Considering many lower end places don't serve regular water, I was kind of surprise at the option at a expensive place like that. Their regular water comes with slices of apple skin - I believe leftovers from skinning their apples for the apple pie or something. It did add a touch of freshness to the water, though I would have preferred lemon slices. What the waitress did next completely surprised me. She brought me a magazine to flip while waiting for my friend! How many times have I sat in restaurants waiting for friends, flipping aimlessly through the menu and getting incredibly hungry in the process. I was touched!

Lynn arrived soon after I flipped through a couple of pages. We proceeded to pour over the menu. There was a 4-course set dinner option available. Two appetizers (from two lists of 5 options), one main course, and a dessert for $85++. No sharing of set meal allowed (that's what it said on the menu). We thought it sounded ok, but weren't sure if we could handle 4 appetizers. I did a quick calculation for ordering 2 appetizers and 2 main course off the ala carte menu and found it costs less. The waitress subsequently told us its ok to order just one set meal, provided we order an additional appetizer and main course. I did another quick calculation and found that this will cost the same as 2 appetizers, 2 main course and 1 dessert off the ala carte menu, but we'll get one appetizer more. Sounded ok, and the waitress assured us the French cuisine has very small servings so 3 appetizers between the two of us isn't too much.

So our final decisions were: Pan-roasted foie gras with poached egg and truffle, crab cakes, scallop with Parma ham, 36 hours cooked Duck Confit, Tenderloin with Merlot reduce, and Valrhona chocolate cake with French vanilla ice cream. We munched on two servings delicious crunchy bread while we waited. I was famished cos I had skipped lunch, though not for the dinner, just that I wasn't hungry at lunchtime.

The crab cakes and scallops arrived together. The waitress weren't joking about small servings. The crab cakes were great, full of shreds of crab meat, soft and very yummy. I think one crab cake each was a good idea. More would have been too rich on the palate. The scallop looked undercooked but tastes perfectly fine. Although we both weren't big on Parma ham, and both felt that bacon would have been better. It was still very good though, and the salad that came with them was good too. The foie gras came next. We were instructed to break the poached egg, mixed thoroughly, and eat it with the crispy Parma ham served on the side. We did break the egg, found that it went fantastically with the truffle, but did not mash up the foie gras. Instead, we enjoyed the foie gras bit by bit. Lynn was right about the foie gras here, it was slightly crispy on the outside, but blissfully soft inside, melting in the mouth immediately to release all its goodness. The truffle added a new dimension to it, and the whole experience was simply mind blowing. Pity the serving was quite small. She felt that it was bigger the previous time she came, and I suspected that you get smaller servings with the set meal. The Parma ham, well, let's just say the foie gras stole the limelight.

Our mains come up next. The duck confit was incredible! The 36 hour cooking process had resulted in incredibly tender meat, and I don't know what the last part of the process was, but the skin was crispy and oh-so-yummy! The fats under the skin was soft, and melts in the mouth. I never knew that duck fats can taste so good, the same way the fats in a ribeye steak does! I definitely do not enjoy the fats of regular kopitiam roasted duck... haha... The potatoes served under it was soft and delicious. The tenderloin was quite small, served with mashed sweet potato and surprise surprise - truffle salt. The salt turned out to be the highlight of the evening. We were rationing it out so as to have enough for the two mains. The tenderloin was so-so. I mean, if you compare it to the chain steakhouses, it was a good piece of meat. Yet, if you compare it to the steakhouses boasting high quality cuts such as The Steakhouse or Morton's or Les Bouschons, it paled miserably in comparison. The reduced Merlot it was served in somehow reminded me of chicken essence. Too much of it and I found it quite sickening... Thankfully the steak wasn't too big. First time we went for a steak dinner and found the non-steak main much better. Oh well, of all the choices we made, this was the only one the waitress actually didn't make a recommendation. I guess high class French cuisine's focus is not on the steaks. The truffle salt however, was heavenly. I think I'm gonna hunt down where to buy some, and maybe throw a dash of it in whatever I cook in future. It was sooooo aromatic and flavorful! The mashed sweet potato tasted like yam paste, much to our amusement. Lol...

We were served coffee/tea as part of the set dinner. We assumed that since we only ordered one set, we were entitled to only one. I was actually given a good selection of teas, not just the usual English breakfast. I chose Earl Grey, but was somehow given Chamomile, which was also okay with me. Tea was served in a tea pot, with a strainer at the side, warm milk and a cute little dish of sugar. I thought it was weird to have chamomile with milk but I gave it a chance and tried a little tea with milk on a spoon. Tasted really weird. So no milk in my cup. The pot had enough for more than a cup. So Lynn had the second cup. Good thing we only ordered one. We were then served hibiscus juice, two cute bottles of them. I was again surprised, since we only had one set meal, it was nice of them to give us two servings of that. Finally came our chocolate cake. Hot molten chocolate oozed out of it when we sink our forks into it. Thankfully not salty like Brawn's. The small single serving was good for both of us to enjoy but not overly cloying.

Crusty bread with butter

Scallop with Parma ham

Crab cakes

Zoom in of the crab cake. That piece at the side is a piece of bread.

Foie gras with the Parma ham served on the side

Soft foie gras, runny poached egg and heavenly truffles.

36 hours cooked duck confit served on potatoes and mushrooms

Tenderloin with truffle salt (that little hill on the left) and mashed sweet potato (the mustard-like thing on the right)

Prettily served Chamomile tea

Hibiscus juice

Valrhona chocolate cake

This was also the first time we actually did not overeat. The portions were comfortable and we weren't stuffed to the brim when we're done. Guess for French cuisine the focus is not on the portion but on the work that goes into each dish. The sauces were rich and well prepared, and we could appreciate how each dish is the result of a lot of effort. However, I would definitely love to have a bigger portion of foie gras. That was too little for 2 persons! (ok, it was meant for one... we're being stingy here...) And we actually like eating our appetizers alongside our mains, so the French style of serving a course at the time was a little slow for us... haha...

We will come back some day, I'm sure, when the craving for good foie gras and truffle-goodness hits us. We learn not to order the steak though. This meal was great for the truffle overload - we both found a new favorite, on top of our already long list of favorites. It did fail, however, to satisfy both our steak cravings...