Saveur, now in Purvis Street as a restaurant!

Saveur...a little French stall in a coffee shop in Joo Chiat makes it big...after a while (I am not sure how long) in the coffee shop, the owners decided they wanted a restaurant. Reopened at Purvis Street, at the premises formerly occupied by Restaurant Ten, long queues form just before opening.

We arrived at about 11:40am, opening time was noon, and we were already second in the queue. The line grew to more than 20 pax by the time the restaurant was opened...and as it was barely 2 weeks old then, we observed the staff across the road at Gunter's curiously peeking out to look at the queue.

Much has been said about the food...once opened, the service was brisk and quite nice. Orders taken, and very soon...what seemed like perhaps a minute or so, the first course arrived.

As we were in the vicinity of Gunter's...and the menu offered it...we had to have the angelhair pasta. Served with prawns and caviar:

But the boys at Gunter's can rest easy. Other than the size of the serving was probably 3 times larger at Saveur and the price a quarter of theirs, Gunter's still hold my best experience with chilled angel hair pasta with caviar.

The Saveur's version was served room temperature. I guess it must have been prepared earlier, and perhaps even plated earlier. The angelhair was dry, and almost tasteless. I had to ask for a little more olive oil to add some flavour. All the flavour was in the prawns, which was a tad over-seasoned. I think the dish would be better if some of the flavours from the prawns had somehow migrated to the pasta giving some life to the otherwise dead tasting angelhair. Not my favourite dish.

I ordered the duck confit...a must eat dish according to many in the blogosphere

This was also pre-prepared...I expect the confit to be prepared before...afterall it takes a long time to confit a duck, but I expected it to be nicely crisped in the pan before service. The duck was crisped, but not nearly enough. The meat was mild flavoured...which I quite liked. Overall, not a bad confit...especially considering that it was $8.90...even cheaper than at La Petite Cuisine.

Lionel had the beef burgogne.

I took a slice to taste...it was a tad heavy in seasoning...but only a tad. But was nice, tender, melt in your mouth beef cheeks. For me, perhaps this was the best dish, though I am reasonably happy with my duck confit.

The mains are served with some vegetables, mushrooms and sat on top of a dollop of mashed potatoes. We suspected this was not made in-situ, but prepared from the instant powdered style. It was smooth, creamy, and tasted mildly of potato. Not the same as the superbly flavoured one served by Damien D'Silva at the now defunct Big D Grill.

Overall, considering the price, I enjoyed the meal. Cheap. But if you are intending to saveur (pun intended) the delights of French cuisine, you will be disappointed...especially if you are well versed with the French culinary capabilities found elsewhere in Singapore and of course France.

Saveur
5 Purvis Street #01-04
6333 3121
12-3pm, 6-9.30pm
Walk in customers only