Restaurant Review: Beurre Slips Onto Bukit Pasoh Road Singapore With A Buttery Concept
PUBLISHED September 23rd, 2019 06:00 am
Butter is ubiquitous. You could even say it’s indispensable in a majority of cuisines around the world. So to name a restaurant “Beurre” in tribute to the mighty fat is a certainly a bold move. But as we like to say, if you’re going to clog your arteries anyhow, just go all the way — well, we’re half kidding.
Set on the ground floor of a shophouse on Bukit Pasoh Road, Beurre’s interior is a lot more modern than the street it’s on. Sunlight pours in during the day, and you can enjoy the spaciousness — high ceilings, a semi-open kitchen, and the long chef’s counter where you can peer over to watch the magic happen. Don’t be so quick to dismiss the young team: Darwin Wong, who helms the kitchen with his sous chef Chong Yi Ping have collective experience in the kitchens of JAAN by Kirk Westaway, Saveur Art, Open Farm Community, and then some.
As one might expect, the duo’s food is primarily European with strong French influences. The ingredients they use are common and familiar, though with butter they create flavours where there are none and elevate them where there are any. Then there’s their ’secret weapon’: a custom-built bincho-tan charcoal grill where things like octopus and seasonal greens are roasted to lock in the flavour.
One thing we notice is how pretty their dishes are, like the colourful things you’d find at more serious places. Foie Gras and Hazelnut (S$26) come together in a French classic, seared with beurre noisette — a deliciously butter prepared by melting, well, butter over medium heat until brown and nutty. They plate the foie gras and hazelnuts with pickled pearl onions, thinly-sliced grapes, and strawberry-lime gel for acidity, and it’s beautiful.
A favourite is the Rose Chicken (S$22), which comes inspired by the rose wine soy sauce chicken that Wong’s mother would cook from time to time. This group-friendly dish sees a whole chicken leg slow-poached in butter and its own juices for three hours, accompanied with rose petals and mustard seeds pickled in vinegar and spices like star anise and cinnamon.
Some creations, like the Tomato and Burrata (S$13) doesn’t actually use butter, but they taste good either way. Yellow and red cherry tomatoes, Italian burrata, homemade sour plum vinaigrette, then garnished with seasonal cress. Or the Salmon Taco (S$17), assembled from fresh Norwegian salmon tartare, avocado, dragonfruit aioli, and cucumber, with fried wonton skin serving as the taco shell. It’s almost a salad.
The title of most buttery dish, quite literally, goes to the 10-Day Butter-Aged Angus Ribeye (S$68/300g). They’re purportedly the first in Singapore to employ butter this way, encasing the block of beef in butter for a good ten days. The result? A mega-tender steak that’s nutty and juicy, and you don’t really need the onion compote and red wine jus that comes together. Even an underdog cut like chuck can benefit from some butter — Wagyu Chuck with Onion (S$28/130g) is generously glazed with butter and seared, rendering it thrillingly tasty. The finishing touch is a beurre noisette potato mousseline that’s light and savoury.
When it comes down to it, it’s clear that Beurre doesn’t take itself too seriously, and not everything is about butter, butter, butter. Is it worth a visit? We reckon they’re still in their early days, and it can only get better from here on out. For now, what they can promise is a roaring good time with substantial sharing plates, outstanding service, and the best butter they can muster.
Restaurant Beurre is located at 23 Bukit Pasoh Rd, Singapore 089837, p. +65 9660 0597. Open Tue-Sat 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 10pm, Sun 11am – 3pm. Closed Mon.
