The Place Located along Duxton Road few doors down from Yellow Pot, Restaurant Jag is a shophouse restaurant helmed by Michelin star chef Jeremy Gillon, dishing out classic French fares. The contemporary setting of the main dining space is intimate with just seven tables, followed by an open kitchen where I could smell the aroma of the dishes prepared. The lighting is pretty dim as well, which makes it ideal if you are looking for a slightly more romantic and intimate dining ambience. Moving to level two, it is a lounge bar area if you fancy some pre-dinner drinks or to chill after dinner.

The Food 40 indigenous herbs are selected from Savoie, France and flown into Singapore, where each dish here is created with the intention to highlight the trait of each herb. The menu is a mix of set menus and ala carte dishes, with 5-Expressions from S$108++ to 10-Expressions at S$218++. I had the 7 Expressions at S$168++. The great part is that if you have any food preferences do let the staff know and they are able to work around something for you.

The meal started with bite size portions of Canapé, seaweed biscuit filled with cauliflower mousse, and the potato confit and mash.

Complimentary bread was then served where there were two selections of warm and freshly milk broiche and classic sourdough baguette by chef Jeremy, served with three types of homemade butter – a citrusy lime and orange butter, French herb infused butter and lastly, a vanilla and nutty-ish flavoured butter.

The meal started proper with an Amuse-bouche, a mix of pumpkin topped with milk espuma, pumpkin seeds and coriander oil.

The first course I had was the Fava bean with Thym Citron. This dish is relatively light in flavour, expect for the citrusy hints.

The second course turned out to be my favourite course. There are four types of Mushroom on the plate done in four different ways – pickled, lightly torched, an ice cream version and raw. Beneath the delicately plated mushrooms is Castaing foie gras, and the presentation was finished off by the staff shaving some mushroom meringue on the plate. Individually, the mushroom has not much flavour but the umami came when I had all of the components together. My favourite element here is the mushroom ice cream which added an interesting contrast.

Up next was the Morel with Sweetbread. I am neutral about this course as I am not a big fan of sweetbread and hence unmemorable for me.

Next course was the Icelandic Langoustine with Green Pea, a dish with strong and fresh seafood flavours. The texture of the langoustine was just right.

The last starter before the mains was the Grenoble Trout with Asparagus. The flavour of this dish is quite mild, which is probably so to bring out the freshness of the trout.

For my mains, I had the French Challans Duck with chickpeas purée. Needless to say, the duck was tender and very flavourful, just as I expected it to be. Interestingly, there are also bits of bread crumbs scattered on the duck, where there crumbs was soaked in apricot jus which added that extra bit of crunchiness to the dish. Mushroom polenta is also served as a side here.

For pre-dessert, I had a refreshing Kiwi sorbet. You can also opt for the wide range of cheese from the elaborate cheese trolley, at S$4 per cut of cheese.

My dessert proper was the Dark Chocolate with Rice & Goat Milk Ice Cream. I was half expecting the goat milk ice cream to be pungent, but fortunately it wasn’t. It was a nice contrast of intense dark chocolate and the lightly flavoured milk ice cream.

Rants The service was good, except that the wait staff has to execute their usual fine-dining service and do the additional round of introducing the herbs behind each dish. This include allowing the guests to sniff on each of the herbs, which are bottled up and lined above the kitchen. It might overwhelm the diners with too much insights, and a tad too much interaction.

Will I Return Again? The service at Restaurant Jag is polished and the dishes are largely competent. Some of the dishes have lighter flavours than the rest, which provides an interesting contrast and tempo for the experience. It is one restaurant to head to if you are looking for somewhere more intimate to splurge for a celebratory occasion.

This was an invited tasting, though all opinions expressed are our own.

Make your reservation instantly at Restaurant Jag here.

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 4/5
Hole in the pocket: 4.5/5
Ambience: 4/5
Overall Experience: 4/5

 

 

Restaurant Jag
76 Duxton Road
Singapore 089 535
Tel: +65 3138 8477

Opening Hours
Lunch: Tuesday to Friday: 12pm to 2pm
Dinner: Tuesday to Saturday: 6pm to 10pm

The Lounge Bar
Tuesday to Saturday: 6pm to 11:30pm
Closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays except for those that fall on Fridays and Saturdays, the following Monday will be closed.

Ranted by The Ranter