Christophe Baquie At The Cliff, Sentosa

Whenever I hear of a Michelin-starred Chef cooking in town, especially for a very short engagement, I am always very skeptical because a) after flying across the world, he has to deal with jet lag; b) he is in an unfamiliar environment (kitchen, quality of ingredients, etc) and c) how many restaurants in Singapore you think can hold up to Michelin service standards?

I attended this dinner because it was Chef Baquie’s second time cooking at The Cliff, so there should be some familarity. Besides, the invite was from a friend of Chef Baquie, so I guess it wouldn’t be all bad.

For those who don’t know, Chef Christophe Baquie, upon graduation with a diploma in cuisine from Balagne Hospitality School (Corsica) in 1990, started work in Paris at Montparnasse 25, a one-Michelin-star restaurant, followed by the Oasis, a two-Michelin-star restaurant at Mandelieu la Napoule. He finally returned to Corsica in 2000 where he established himself at the helm of Restaurant L’Alivu at the Hotel La Villa. Two years later, Christophe was awarded a Michelin star and in 2004, the prestigious national title “Best Worker of France”. This year, Christophe became the first chef in Corsica to be awarded a second Michelin star.

Best worker indeed. Throughout dinner he was all over the kitchen cooking, saucing, monitoring the final touches and even delivering the piping hot dishes to our table.

The Cliff is located at the former Beaufort Hotel, Sentosa. Getting there was a breeze via taxi. While the lobby facade was made of poorly polished brass and tacky furniture, the architecture of the buildings was nice with wide open walkways and shimmering pools and waterfalls. There is a familiar feel that one finds in all Singaporean- bulit and managed resorts all over the world.

The Cliff itself does not, I feel, lend well to daytime meals because the whole place is non-airconditioned. Yes, there is air-conditioning, however the dining rooms are all open to the elements which leads to a lot of condensation in the glass as well as us Humans.

Fortunately the Champagne was well-chilled and we were revived somewhat in time for dinner to start.

Dinner started with an appetizing hot potato soup made from lobster broth. This was served with an unoaked Australian Barossa Chadonnay. It was a magnificent start as the light frothy broth gave way to the creamy mouthfeel created by the floury potato slices which was finished by a slightly sweet spicy aftertaste. As the amuse bouche should always give a summary of the dinner theme, tonight’s theme was layers.

The dinner menu was assembled from Chef Baquie’s 5 signature dishes and the first course was Kamchatka Crab, a Saint Pierre carpacchio crab “Sushi” with Aquitanian caviar and Kaffir lime.

It was terribly good. The salt from the caviar and the sweetish tartness of the lime brought out the salty sea breeze taste of the crab which was all rounded off but the soft but sweet Saint-Pierre fish. Personally, I felt the whole dish, while very good, was let down a little by the Aquitanian caviar as most of the roe had burst thus losing that spark of briny goodness.

The Lobster course was a spectacular demonstration of flavours layered one after another each building up to a crescendo of taste.

I had fun taking photos of the bubbles that formed like a web on the lobster itself. As I was clicking away, deep in the back of my mind, there was a little niggling doubt that it was lobster; it looked more like a Langoustine to me.

However, what do I know about seafood?

I do know, however, about what sort of risotto I like. And the risotto is the one I like.

I’ve always been disappointed when the French try to do Italian, but the Truffle Risotto with Scallops was as good as any Risotto can be. The Scallops were each stuffed with a single slice of black Truffle, but it didn’t impart much flavour at all. However, they were very generous with the Truffle oil. At the end, it was a rich creamy Risotto that simply filled the senses with the heady aromas of black Truffles.

For me, it was a toss-up between the Lobster Gazpacho and the Black Truffle Risotto for the best course of the evening. And given the previous two acts, the follow-up US Prime Beef had, to switch metaphors, some big shoes to fill.

It was competently done. One might easily dismiss it until you taste it with the Anchovy butter sauce; it becomes a medley of interplaying flavours; sweet, salty and sour with an echo of great depth. Unfortunately, it was gone all too soon.

Fortunately, dessert of Macaroon, Pistachio cream, Raspberry and Coconut Sorbet brought up the rear and ended the dinner on a very satisfying note.

We had lots of really delicious wines that night and we were very lucky to have a vineyard owner, Dennis Davis, to be with us that night. He was going to introduce the pride and joy of his vineyard, a pure Merlot, when he noticed that the prototype labels he sent with the wines were stuck, inexpertly, to the bottles. He was a little upset. However, we all reassured him that the labels are the least important part of the wine and that quality will shine through anything.

And shine through it did! The Craneford Barossa Valley Merlot 2005 was one of the finest Merlots I have ever tasted. Jammy, thick and so rich that you are practically chewing the wine. Silky layers of voluptuous chocolate and warm raisins practically envelope your mouth leaving a long-lasting finish. This is definitely worth checking out again.

The Christophe Baquie dinner at The Cliff, Sentosa was excellent, just the thing I needed after a very busy week. The layers and layers of flavour that descends upon you as you savour each mouthful was an experience that I’ve not had in a very long time. And I look forward to when he comes back to Singapore. Hopefully soon.

Posted on 19th Nov 2007 in French

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There Are 11 Comments

thehungrycow commented on November 19, 2007 at 3:25 pm

I’ve never had a Michelin-starred meal before but your recent account sure seems yummy! Btw, what does the intriguing web of bubbles taste like?

Camemberu commented on November 19, 2007 at 8:28 pm

Wow, that lobster/langoustine dish is a work of art! Amazing how they created and sustained those moist bubbles! Looks like some living, breathing, organic creature out of H.R.Giger’s collection (only much more colourful!)

gan55 commented on November 20, 2007 at 1:50 am

Where can I get Craneford wines in Singapore?

Mich commented on November 20, 2007 at 2:37 am

Yeah, I love Merlots! Where can we find this one?

mabel commented on November 21, 2007 at 9:27 am

ditto on the merlot!

Ivan commented on November 21, 2007 at 12:02 pm

@Everyone asking about the Merlot: It’s out of stock! Will let you all know when available.

@thehungrycow: It tasted of spicy air!

@Camemberu: I think it was a fluke ‘cos no one else had it, but yeah, it really looked wonderful. I almost missed it until I used the camera flash and saw the web on the preview.

Weylin commented on November 22, 2007 at 5:12 pm

Thanks. That dinner you had looks amazing.

skaiz commented on November 23, 2007 at 10:58 am

awesome.. food are amazing… do u need to call for a reservation if you dine to ‘The Cliff’? and which will u recommend. The Cliff or Saint Pierre? tnx

Ivan commented on November 23, 2007 at 11:26 am

@Weylin: It was, especially the wines.

@skaiz: It would be prudent to make reservations at restaurants. That night they had to turn away 3 couples (imagine the disappointment after all that travel). As for which restaurants, both have their own unique characteristics to warrant a visit each.

Mich commented on November 27, 2007 at 4:05 am

I thought the dessert was very artfully plated.

Ivan commented on November 28, 2007 at 3:15 pm

@mich: Yeah! I was quite mezmerized at how they could hold everything together.

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