Private Affairs

 

Private Affairs sounded interesting to me – of the movie, of secret love affairs, of romance and of juicy gossips……… and today I went to one! Yes, Private Affairs is a restaurant in the east part of Singapore and at Joo Chiat Place. It is a dining place that is all about elegance and finesse offering Modern European cuisine with “hit and miss” kind of Asian flavors woven in. Here you see the magical touch of Chef Paul Ng’s in every of the plated food. Chef Paul Ng has 15 years of working experience in the kitchens of Les Amis, Saint Julien, Pierside Kitchen and in 2 kitchens of the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai. At Private Affairs the menu set menus change every month according to what dish he likes to showcase. We were hosted by charming, soft spoken, Ms. Sharon Chow, an ex-investment banker turned restaurateur.

 

We were served a basket of warm home-made, chopped sundried tomatoes studded Focaccia and soft Hazelnut Bread rolls along with olive oil and balsamic vinegar in what looked like a plastic, transparent, mini dust blower air pump cleaner for cameras! It was really very cute looking but the portion of oil and vinegar in the ‘pump’ was too little for bread fans like me. 

 

The Duck Carpaccio Granny Smith, Scallion Gel Duck Consomme Jelly was brought to the table. It was clearly a work of art by the kitchen brigade. Apparently the marinated paper thin sheets of duck breast were cured in brine for a couple of days and then air dried. These duck slices had an artistic sprinkling of spring onion jelly cubes and crunchy Granny Smith apple and cubes of duck consommé jelly on it. The trick is to roll up the duck slices with pieces of the colorful jelly cubes and apple, roll up and pop it into the mouth, to experience an explosion of flavors. 

 

 

We were told that the soup will be served soon and I was expecting a bowl of hot, hot soup and when the White Lobster Bisque with Salmon and Lobster Cannelloni, Capsicum and Lemongrass Crumbs came I was dumbfounded! My soup was a work of art too. There was a hand-made three-colored artistic cannelloni stuffed with salmon and lobster mousse. The clever chef had made the three colors with spinach paste to give the green color, squid ink for the black color and the standard egg for the yellow color and this must be truly labor intensive. There were very wee bits of chopped spring onions on top of the cannelloni too. The soup dish came with this beautiful cannelloni seated on some breadcrumbs and chopped capsicums. The hot lobster bisque was slowly poured into my soup bowl by the chef himself. The bisque was like most other bisque – rich, creamy and mild tasting but it was balanced by the bland stuffing of the mousse within the cannelloni. This was indeed a very memorable presentation of a soup.

 

 

The Hokkaido Scallops served with Corn Noodles, on a bed of corn, topped with Smoked Miso Powder and Bonito Flakes came next. This  was served on a hot piece of tile. Although the scallops were nothing to write about except eat of course, the home made corn noodles just melted in the mouth and the miso powder added another dimension to the overall taste. Wagyu Beef Cheeks with Potatoes, Chinese Kale Royale, Curry leaf Cous Cous and Tomato Chutney and Port Wine Grapes Reduction (phew a very long name for a dish) was more than excellent. Well, I liked this piece of beef because it was a bit sweet with the reduced grape juice and the sticky aged port wine sauce and the beef was also very tender. Chef Paul said the beef was cooked slowly for 12 hours. There were no vegetables on my plate but there was………! The kai lan (kale) was a bright green cube of ‘cake’ made of eggs, butter and cream. Definitely not what the HPB would recommend for your daily intake of vegetable but definitely something, I would recommend anyone to try. There was almost a dusting of curry leaves cous cous and I could hardly smell the curry leaves.

 

 

 

Before dessert we were served Mangosteen Lime Granita. Chef Paul said he had used 10 kg of mangosteen to do the puree. Though the granita was refreshing and made an excellent palate cleanser, I keep thinking, “I can’t taste even 5 mangosteens here.” I would have preferred a more robust taste of mangonsteen. Dessert was Pistachio Tuile and Cheese Sandwich served with Passion Fruit Coulis, Strawberry and Basil Gel. Basically it was sort of presented like the way my Chinese ice cream uncle from my school days would cut the Wall’s ice cream and sandwich it between wafers! Except that this was a cheesecake was sandwiched between home-made tuiles. The fragrant, tangy coulis and basil gel complemented this dessert very well.

 

Our coffee came with very mini honey madelines and a brown lipstick! Yes, good dark Valrhona chocolate in plastic see-through lipstick containers. So amused and fascinated I tried to take home the chocolate lipstick to show everyone but then I knew that the chocolate will melt and therefore I let it melt into my mouth.

 

Private Affairs certainly surprised me with all their intricate dishes. Certainly, a wonderful place if you want to impress someone. Private Affairs also has a reservations-only lounge decked out in plush sofas and comfortable armchairs which seats about 30 in the main area on the second level. If you like juice plump oysters served with a variety of sauces, Private Affairs offers Oyster and Sparkling Nite every Friday evening. Check it out.