Good wintery day to you. This post is part of our Layover Series with the focus this time on Singapore! Beautiful, pretentious, upmarket, expensive, delightful Singapore. If you happen to find yourself in this country for a day or two and want to catch up on the fine dining scene in Asia, we ask that you visit JAAN (derived from the Sanskrit word that means ‘bowl’).

You do have to dress up to be here. Look smart, no sneakers, be pretty, but most of all, enjoy yourselves and the view that sitting on the 70th floor of the Swissotel at the Stamford has to give.

As part of early birthday celebrations for Madam Mummy’s 70th birthday earlier this year, we took her on a whirlwind Layover trip that included Lunch at JAAN (3 course menu $68 with coffee).

Service was attentive and not full-on. Making a reservation at JAAN proved easier than other places and they sent several confirmation emails prior to us flying in for our visit (I like!).

As we were seated at our table, we were presented with some very lovely “Nibbles” including the signature amuse bouche encased in a glass jar containing the Lentil “Humus” made of lentils from Saint-Flour, Auvergne and Chestnut paste served together with sliver thin cereal crackers.

Along with the humus came the Black Sesame Sponge with Smoked Eel, Chicken Pastilla with Coriander and a Cantal (Cheese) and Walnut Cracker with a mini wooden peg as a holder. I love mini wooden pegs!

Thanks to Eiling, That Food Cray and Keropokman and their posts for the detailed notes (which I forgot to take down).

Jaan is one of those places that serves a basket full of choices for bread (okay, I exaggerate, there were only 4 choices, but hey) and all three of us chose the Brioche to go with more butter 🙂

Amuse Bouche: Cepes Sabayon and Mushroom Tea

The final amuse bouche brought to our table was our favourite of the lot. Rich and full of depth, a cepes sabayon and mushroom tea which foamed up like a cream of mushroom soup. Definitely gave Campbells’ a run for their money.

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Appetisers:

Winter Garden: Forgotten Vegetables, ‘Auvergne’ Ham, Hazelnuts

Beetroot Collection with Burratta Artigiana, Honeycombs

55′ Rosemary Smoked Organic Egg, Ratte Potato, Chorizo Iberico, Buckwheat

The three appetisers were definitely eye catching with the show stopper being the slow cooked egg (cooked for 55 minutes at 64 degrees Celsius). It came with a grand entrance and Madam Mummy and I were left feeling rather jealous of The Boy’s choice in food.

Having sampled all three, our hands down favourite dish from the Appetisers was the Winter Garden dish. My beetroot dish was an interesting mix of concept of a gazpacho and dessert and I can’t say that it worked quite as well as it sounded on paper.

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Main Courses:

Chestnut Ravioli, ‘Musquee’ Pumpkin, Black Truffle, Cevennes Onion

Confit Rainbow Trout, Kagoshima Pork, Cauliflower, Miso Caramel

Roasted Venison Loin, Celeriac, ‘Mulled-Wine’ Pear, Sauce ‘Poivrade’
($15 supplement charge)

For the mains, my venison was definitely the winner here. It was juicy, succulent and meaty. Everything a hearty game meat should be and more. Our second favourite dish was the ravioli.

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Palate Cleanser: Blood Orange, Grapefruit and Pomelo Granita with pop rocks

I love restaurants that use local ingredients and produce in their cooking. It shows more creativity than trying to ‘copy’ what other restaurants are doing around the world.

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Desserts:

‘Choconuts Tart’: Tastes & Textures

‘William & Kosui’ Pear, Tonka Bean, Ginger Bread

‘Exotic’: Pineapple, Banana, “Cheesecake”

For desserts, it was hard to pick a winner, but if we must we would have chosen the Pear and Tonka Bean option. It was just so good that I wanted to lick the bowl at the end.

Petit Fours: Rosemary Lollipops, Coconut Marshmallows and Chocolate Hazelnut

As with all good shows, it must come to an end. The petit fours provided another great theatric performance which we didn’t want to end.

But wait! There’s always an encore! When JAAN noted that we were dining for Madam Mummy’s birthday, they asked if I wanted to have a complimentary chocolate birthday cake for her.

Here it is! I didn’t realise it was going to be a full-on cake looking so pretty for her. She was surprised and loved it! Yayy!

We had a great time at this year’s (2014) 17th Restaurant in the Asia’s Top 50 Restaurant and 100th in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and can’t wait to make a return visit when we next head back into Singapore.

*Disclaimer: All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality at the time of visit

Food/ Cuisine: Artisanal French Cuisine
Dining Style: Fine Dining

Dress Code: Smart Elegant

Opening Hours:
Lunch: Monday to Saturday, 12:00pm to 2:00pm (closed on Sundays & Public Holidays)
Dinner: Monday to Sunday, 7:00pm to 10:00pm (closed on Public Holidays)

Address:
Level 70, Equinox Complex Swissôtel The Stamford
2 Stamford Road, Singapore 178882
Singapore

Phone: (+65) 6837 3322

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.jaan.com.sg/

How to get there: