Odette (2020)
Odette is a 3-Michelin-starred restaurant with Chef Julien at the helm, and it’s named after his grandmother (how adorable)! Liner, Dennis and I paid them a visit for some food after months of lockdown.
I have to say, though, it was a long-ass walk from the car park to the restaurant. We practically trekked across the entire length of the museum to get to the other side because of the entry/exit control measures. Speaking of control measures, I like how Odette seemed to have rearranged their seating plan to accommodate less people with appropriate distancing (as opposed to empty tables and ugly stickers with X’s and other shit on them). Odette also provided a little paper bag for our masks.
The initial tables setting was fancy and we were given wet towels to (presumably) clean our hands. We were then presented with a trolley of champagnes to start! We each got a glass of Chartogne Taillet rose. It was sweet and subtle.
Each of us was given our own menu for what we’d be having. My special request as usual was no vegetables and no spice. Liner’s was no cilantro and no molluscs. Dennis likes to get the full experience as the chef intends, so he had no special preferences. As it turned out, Dennis and my menus were the same. Liner’s was tweaked a little. When the waiter double checked our preferences and if the menu was okay for us, I did point out some things like dill, wasabi, etc. Unfortunately these ingredients were apparently central to the taste of the dish so I left it alone.
Starters
We started the food with some Grignotages (loosely translated to ‘snacks’). We had these cheese sticks - which sounds ridiculously simple but it was ridiculously delicious. It’s not like mozzarella sticks or anything, but it was soft and buttery batter filled with warm cheese. Oh, man. That was a good start. The next was some kind of kombu tart thing. I was not a fan since it was basically a vegetable tart. The third was like a mini fish taco.
We were next greeted with Odette’s version of mushroom soup. It was presented in an adorable mushroom cup! The waiter then poured mushroom tea into it and we were supposed to mix it up and drink it. It was also served with some truffle danishes (or something like that). I love this kind of presentation and it’s further complimented by the amazing taste of the dish itself.
As you’d get with most fancy restaurants, we got a basket of breads. We had the typical baguette, but also truffle buns (like a cinnamon bun, but truffle) and sourdough which seemed infused with tea. I didn’t try the tea one but Liner liked it. We all agreed that the truffle bun was the best, though.
First course
Dennis and I had the Marukyo Uni - spot prawn tartare with mussel cloud and caviar. Oh my Lord, it was beautiful. This place should win medals for presentation. It came in an uni (sea urchin) shell! By the side, we had some bread with uni, too. That was yum as well. I loved this dish - it was fresh, light, and the right amount of salty.
Liner’s first course was ‘Promenade a Singapour’ being a salad of plants grown in Singapore. Like a garden of Singapore. He was also given a little card listing all the plantscontained in the dish. I did not expect the list to be so long.
Second course
The next course for Dennis and me was a Trondheim Bay scallop, with dill and sago & seaweed crackers. When the dish arrived, I realised what the waiter meant when he said dill was a significant part of the dish. That’s fine, since my main issue with vegetables is the texture. I really liked how cute this dish looked and it was like a garden growing. The dill was also the green sauce-like stuff. It was supposed to come with horseradish and I was rather worried about that. However, it turned out it was a horseradish ‘snow’, which I declined to be put on mine when offered. Dennis of course said yes and it was sprinkled on.
The sago and seaweed crackers were simple but delicious. We were supposed to have both together - a bite of the cracker and a bite of the scallop. The scallop was soft and smooth and the dill flavour was not overpowering. It was also went very well together with the cracker since the cracker added some crunch and some chew. I was pleased.
Liner’s next course was a (hella adorable) Normandy brown crab with Nashi pear, avocado and wasabi oil. Now, when they say crab they mean crab cos it looked like a crab. I can’t even. Cute af. It was like a Pokemon crab. The crab meat was the, well, meat body. The Nashi pear cubes made the ‘claws’ and Liner said the shell texture was like a jelly and it was unexpectedly cold in the middle.
By this time, we had finished our rose. Liner got himself a Sidecar and Dennis got himself Dalva white port. I tried the port and it was much better than I’d expected.
Third course
Up next was supposed to be an heirloom beetroot variation dish, but all three of us switched it out for the season special - Cevennes Onion (for a little more $). The Cevennes onion came with 40-month parmesan, amontillado, and black truffle. It was a grand affair, truly. A waiter brought over a little table of bowls where he dished out the ingredients into each of our bowls, and presented us with a bit box of whole black truffles. It was epic. He picked up one of the truffles and shaved it on our bowls right in front of us. I always appreciate a show!
The bowls that ended up before us just looked like a whole lot of black truffle. But once we spooned it into our mouths it was just… insane. Liner likened it to french onion soup. It was a soft and satisfying explosion of flavour and comfort. I felt momentarily delirious. I don’t even usually like onion!
Fourth course
Rosemary smoked organic egg! With smoked potato syphon (foam) and chorizo iberico cubes. The menu also said “meuniere” but I’m not sure if they meant the ingredient or method of cooking. This presentation started with an egg tray, with 3 eggs. The waiters moved too quickly so I didn’t get a shot of all 3 on the tray but I did get one with 1 empty shell. The waiters poured the soft eggs into our rosemary bowl. By this, I mean there was rosemary beneath our bowls, with smoke comin’ out of it. Once again, award-winning presentation. Once the egg was in our bowls we were supposed to mix it up just a little bit (not too much!) to marry the flavours.
It was glorious. I wished there had been more of it! The egg and potato syphon provided the lightness of fluff and foam, and the iberico provided that meaty chew. The texture was like beef jerky.
Fifth course
Dennis and I had foie gras, abalone, and shitake in pork consumme. Our bowls came with a cool holey lid. The waiter revealed our foie gras, abalone and shitake and proceeded to pour in the pork consomme. As far as dietary preferences go, I must say that I did notice my bowl still had leafy greens. I don’t think they were instrumental in the experience of this dish so I was disappointed they were still included. Other than avoiding the greens, I felt the ingredients’ individual tastes were drowned by the savoury consomme. Only the differing textures stood out.
Liner’s fifth course was seared foie gras instead, without the abalone but with Roussilon apricot, rosemary, and sake gel. Personally I’ve always felt foie gras goes really well with sweet fruits so this sounded yums. I didn’t try it but Liner enjoyed it. It was definitely a superior version this round.
Sixth course
BBQ Kinki! Kinki is a deep sea fish (if you thought ‘huge eyes’ you’re not wrong). I haven’t come across a dish that uses Kinki but apparently it’s buttery and fatty. The BBQ Kinki dish Dennis and I got was with squid, saffron, and sand carrot. Dennis and mine each came under a cloche. It was just the kinki, with squid, prawn, carrot and chili. Saffron sauce was then spooned onto our plates.
The kinki was smooth and the overall dish was delicious. Although, I had to notice that a whole chili was on my plate when my preference was “no spicy” so… there’s that.
Liner’s version of this dish was slightly tweaked. The BBQ kinki came with trombetta zucchini, bouchot mussel (a specific technique of how it was grown), and verbena nage (white wine sauce). Similar to my little gripe about my own dish, why was there a mussel when Liner’s preference specifically barred molluscs? They’re essentially the same family. It’s okay, Liner didn’t taste it in this dish.
Anyway, Liner’s dish didn’t get the same show with the cloche and the spooning of sauce. It came prepared. It was still pretty, though, with a little pile of greens. However! There was what seemed to be squid in his dish! Is this not also something Liner specified as a no-go? It is literally a mollusc. He gave me his squid and enjoyed his dish anyway so that works.
Seventh course
PIGEON! Before being served our actual dishes, we were shown the whole pigeon in a box. Kinda like in its element (nature). It was pretty cool.
Our pigeons were kampot pepper-crusted, with cherries, and almond and black garlic sauce. The main dish was a chunk of breast with the black garlic sauce, then the almond sauce was spooned on. It came with a side dish, which was the pigeon leg WITH A MESSAGE. I was so amused and I loved it. Pigeon messenger! There was also a fried offal ball.
This dish could have been great for me, if I liked pepper. I’m sorry but the pepper crust was so strong I was just about dying even after scraping it off. The doneness was deliciously beautiful, though, I have to say. So the meat itself was great. The leg was fun and had the same doneness. The offal ball for me was just… okay. I’m not into that but it wasn’t gross.
Each of our pigeons had different messages for us! We had a lot of fun with this one.
Pre-dessert
Now, for pre-desserts. We opted in for having “unpasteurised artisan cheese & condiments” which meant we were brought a trolley of cheeses to choose from. The cheese trolley was one of the coolest trolleys I’d ever seen. It rolled around as a compact box-type thing, and opened up into 3 surfaces. I just found it innovative and impressive. Where do I buy one?
Anyway. There were a whole lot of cheeses. We were asked if we wanted 3 separate plates or just one to share, so we decided on just one. The cheeses on our plate were placed in order of strength. We had a feta cheese coated in ash, (can’t remember 2nd one), Comte that Liner asked for, a camembert they made themselves with some kind of crust, and last but not least a really soft cheese washed in water and alcohol. It was so soft that it was served with the spoon and was very easily influenced by gravity. It was also very strong in alcohol. We were also given a choice of fruit bread or sourdough to have with our cheese.
We were given some salad at this point. Not sure why. The salad also had shaved black truffle on it. Again, why give me - the person who explicitly did not want anything green and leafy - a bowl of green leafy vegetables? I just took some truffle to have with my cheese.
This cheese platter was followed by a palate cleanser. It was just a generic icy and citric sorbet of sorts with some sour berry powder. Not very memorable.
Dessert - yuzu tart(s)
Since Dennis is chummy with big names in the food industry, he managed to get Chef Julien to make us an additional yuzu tart this dinner. It was the special one that Dennis had previously tried from their delivery menu and loved.
First, we had the yuzu tart from our menu. Oh man, it was adorable. It looked like some kind of Pokemon. The head was cold, icy, and citrus-y with shiso filling. The little horns were meringue. This rested on a bed of yuzu cream and sable. I don’t want to be nitpicky but the leaves, man. Why. They got in the way. Anyway, it was overall a good balance of sweet and sour, smooth and rough, soft and crunchy… With a yuzu tart like this I was wondering what was in store for us next if the special order was better!
Now, the special yuzu tart looked a lot less epic. Neat and pretty but not like a Pokemon. Nonetheless, it was epic in the mouth. It was the right amount of sweet and citric, and fluffy and crispy. The sable offered some solid texture and crunch, while the fluffy yuzu was like eating a cloud. I can’t even. A splendid combination of flavours and textures.
Dessert - douceurs
The sweets came in a stack! How cute. The stack was topped with what looked like cake pops. What a trick cos it definitely wasn’t cake pops. It was like a lychee ice ball with a mochi shell. The first level of the stack were warm, soft, fluffy caneles. The caneles came with a bundle of actual vanilla but I doubt included the precious beans.
The second level of the stack were some kind of tonka bean chocolate tarts. First, we were hit with the bitter crunch of the tonka beans but it quickly melded into the chocolate taste and texture and melted in our mouths in the most satisfying way. The last level of the stack was the undeniably delicious Japanese melon. How can one resist that? Soft, sweet and consistent. What a refreshing way to end the meal.
Overall, Odette was very impressive with its presentations and flavours. It was a real show and I greatly appreciate such things, along with excellent service.
Something I noticed was that the attention to detail regarding our preferences was really lacking, considering its 3 Michelin stars and the menus being customised per your preferences. Personally, this is in comparison to Jaan (also a Michelin-starred restaurant with customised menus), where they took extreme care in ensuring my food was even free of leafy herbs and garnishes. I guess I may have been spoiled by that experience so the bar is really high now. So, for me, Odette loses points here.
Liner felt that Jaan’s menu was more well-considered and the dishes were consistently good, while it felt like Odette was focusing on heavy hitters but messing around experimentally with other dishes.
The total bill came up to about $1.7k.
Food: 4/5
Ambiance: 5/5
Price: Half a grand per head
Service: 5/5
My experience: 4/5