Au Jardin, Botanic Gardens

Au Jardin, part of the Les Amis Group occupies an elegantly restored colonial residence inside Botanic Gardens. In French, Au Jardin means - in the Garden, hence a appropriate name for this restaurant. 

Ms C had invited us for an opulent afternoon of French food at Au Jardin.

Look out for the signage at the entrance of Botanic Gardens. The restaurant is only a 5 minute walk from the entrance (Cluny road entrance)

Reservations are highly recommended. We got the best seat in the house! A corner seat with great view of the forest. 

Elegant table setting with fine China. 

A choice of 2 set menus are offered for lunch and the set menu changes every month. 

The Amuse-bouche - Watermelon juice with grapefruit foam and prawn roll. Something refreshing to cleanse our palette before the start of the meal. Amuse-bouche are not something in the menu, but served complementary in accordance to the chef's selection. 


The starters we had: 

pan fried foie gras with seasonal mushroom, figs chutney and puff pastry, truffle vinaigrette

salmon graviax with radish salad and grapefruits, garnished with trout roe, whisky cream, honey mustard dressing

pan seared crispy goat cheese & heirloom tomatoes, Mediterranean anchovy & pesto sauce 

The foie gras was simply melt in your mouth! To put it bluntly, it was like having a piece of fat which is so soft it melts immediately in first bite, leaving only the taste of fragrant foie gras. No wonder Ms C ordered the $65 set menu - just for the foie gras! And a big piece of foie gras it was. Totally worth the price! 

Salmon graviax was pretty normal, but I liked their salad which was very refreshing with a nice touch of roe and grapefruits. 

Ms H had the pan seared goat cheese as smoked salmon wasn't something she fancied. however I ended up having quite a lot of the goat cheese as well, as goat cheese had quite a strong aroma, not suitable for the faint hearted. 


The mains:

I had the braised beef cheek with wilted spinach, carrot puree, potato, red wine sauce. The beef cheek is another melt in your mouth dish - braised until so tender that there is no more toughness to the beef. 

Sea bass, the catch of the day, together with peas and bacon, baby potato. 

The grilled black cod with vegetable ratatouille, olive puree & tomato concasse

Ms K had the roasted Angus striploin with butternut puree, baby potato and zucchini ring. It was also a big piece of meat, and indicated specially in the menu at they are 200 day grain fed beef. 


Our desserts: 

Being a coffee lover, I love my dessert which is coffee parfait, creme de cacao jelly, earl grey ganache and milk tea ice. The items listed are mostly prepared in liquid form, such as coffee, earl grey, milk tea, but the chef manages to create it all in solid form, some good cooking technique and creativity here. 

Ms H had the poached rhubarb with strawberry confit, aloe vera yoghurt parfait and cranberry jelly. Seems like she loves her dessert choice as well, as she finished every single item on her plate as well. 

Ms C's dessert of mixed berries with balsamic yoghurt, lemon sorbet. Hers is the only dessert which was served in a glass plate. It's like an piece of fruit art on a plate.

Ms K's dessert of dark chocolate variation with spicy chocolate ice cream. Too bad the ice cream melted quite quickly after it was served, otherwise it would have been another great dessert. 

And what best to end a meal with a cup of piping hot coffee. 

We almost forgot about the petits fours which came with the coffee. Well not exactly four but two each. The madeleine and chocolate coated almond. 


We were also presented with a voucher each at the end of the meal. Enjoy 4 set lunches for the price of 3. A good way to attract customers back, as the set menu changes every month. 


Although the set lunch prices are a bit on the high side at $45 and $65, but the quality of the food is definitely worth paying for it. Anyone wants to join me for a great lunch at Au Jardin again? I have a voucher! 


Au Jardin
EJH corner house, Singapore Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, Cluny Road
Opening hours:
Lunch - Tuesdays to Fridays 12 - 2pm (last seating)
Dinner - Tuesdays to Sundays 7 - 10.15pm (last seating)
Sunday Brunch - Sundays only 11am - 1pm (1st seating)

Reservations recommended: 6466 8812

Hatched, Holland Village

Hatched opens in Holland Village! I've always heard about Hatched at Evans lodge, but didn't have the chance to try their highly popular egg menu. Since we were having a brunch gathering and pondering where to go, Ms A suggested trying Hatched at Holland Village, so we were all thumbs up for the suggestion. 

When we arrived the cafe, there were actually very limited tables in the cafe. When informing the staff that we made a reservation, we then found out that they also had a 2nd floor as well. But 2nd floor's air conditioning wasn't working very well, hence they switched on the ceiling fans for better ventilation. But it made the surrounding very cold and distracting with air constantly blowing on your face and food.

The menu looks interesting, with colourful cartoon characters. However, the laminate had came off from most of the menus, so it made them look quite old. 

90 percent of the menu consists of eggs, hence the name of the cafe "Hatched". As per their website says: baked, boiled, fried, poached and scrambled, we have them all and more... 


We ordered a few of the popular items on the menu: 

Sir Benedict - half an English muffin topped with smoked ham streaky bacon, poached egg and hollandaise sauce, topped with homemade mash. I liked the homemade mash, as it was covered in a mushroom sauce, something like your mushroom soup, only in a thicker consistency.

The poached eggs were a tad too overcooked - no egg yolk flowing out here when cut into it. 

Another recommended item from the staff - beef pot pie topped with scrambled eggs. It was not exactly like the normal oven toasted pies. They actually pour cooked beef slices over a soft bread. But soft bread actually goes well with the scrambled eggs and sliced beef. A normal oven toasted pie crust would be too dry to match the eggs. 

We also ordered the caesar salad, and of course topped with another poached egg. The poached egg was also too overdone, like the eggs benedict. 

The sausage platter looked interesting, so we ordered for sharing. They had some chicken, pork and beef sausage.

And this super red sausage is their beef and pork sausage. It's not exactly something I would order again... a tad too dry and at the salty side. I had to put alot of mustard on it and to eat with lettuce and bread together. 

We also ordered a ciabatta and sauteed mushrooms on the side. 

I spotted a blueberry bircher muesli on the menu, and had to order it to try. The staff told me that there were no raisins in it, only blueberries (as I am not a raisin fan), but it still contained raisins afterall. I still prefer the Sheraton Ho Chi Minh version where it has a thicker consistency. 

After a full meal, we just had to try their sweet items, so we ordered a waffle with strawberry sauce. To our utter dissapointment, the waffle was very hard and I couldn't even cut it up with a knife. Our culinary expert - Ms S commented that they must have made the waffle beforehand, maybe kept in the fridge and reheated it when we ordered it. Otherwise I couldn't believe how anybody can make/serve such a hard waffle to the table. After informing the staff, they made another waffle for us, this time much better, but it's not something I would order in their menu again. 

Lastly, how can brunch be called brunch without my cuppa latte... 


Overall, Hatched has a reasonable menu, with affordable prices. The staff who served us was also very helpful and knowledgeable, except for one who banged the plates on the table when we asked for a change in plates for dessert. Not exactly the best of the whole lot of places serving all day breakfast, and I still prefer jones the grocer for their higher quality food.

Maybe I should try their Evans lodge branch someday for comparison.


Hatched at Holland Village

267 Holland Avenue
(located along the same stretch as Starbucks and Swensons)

open Tuesday to Sunday: 8am - 10pm
reservations are encouraged to secure a table: 6463 0012