235 330
FRENCH DINING
235
November14
Singapore has always had a
vibrant French community, and
right now it’s growing rapidly.
We find out where they shop,
what they like to cook and eat,
and where they go for the finest
French dining in town.
Isabelle Persenda
General manager and director at In Situ Design
4.5 years in Singapore
Where are you from?
I am a Parisienne, born and bred in
Paris, yet with strong ties to the South of
France where I spent all my childhood
holidays.
Which food is Provence most
famous for?
It’s lighter thanmost French cuisine. Highlights
include
saladiere
(caramelised onion tart with
anchovies),
tourte aux blettes
(traditional chard pie),
petits
farcis à la niçoise
(stuffed mini-vegetables), ratatouille,
lapin
(rabbit, yes!), lamb
provençale
, lamb cutlets with
herbs,
soupe au pistou
(pesto soup),
salade niçoise
and
its amazing sandwich version, fried courgette flowers,
bouillabaisse (traditional fish soup) – and so much more!
Who does the cooking at home?
I’m a keen cook and a jolly good one too! I’d say most
French people are; it’s in our culture and our upbringing.
Our Cambodian helper cooks amazing Asian food, but
the whole family
demands
that I cook French food for
them regularly.
Where do you shop for French ingredients?
The bigger Cold Storage supermarkets may seem
expensive, but my secret is to wait for Casino product
deliveries and then buy in multiples – yoghurts,
crème
fraîche
, olive oil, grated cheese, pastry dough and so on. I
recently discovered Le Petit Depot (lepetitdepot.com), and
they literally have everything. For dessert, the individual
cakes, éclairs and
tartelettes
at Brunetti (Tanglin Mall) are
equal to those of the best patisseries in France.
#1
Where do you buy your bread?
From Cold Storage – most of the alternatives are
unsatisfactory and ridiculously expensive.
Which food do you miss the most?
I really miss cheese; it is
soooo
expensive here. I always
come back from France with a suitcase full of it!
Describe your favourite French meal.
Fried courgette flowers, followed by home-cooked, rare
roast beef with its jus, a
gratin dauphinois
and green
beans, then a green salad with home-made vinaigrette
and cheese.
Which is your favourite French restaurant in
Singapore?
Le Bistrot du Sommelier at 53 Armenian Street, for
excellent, delicious, unpretentious, genuine French food
in a great, casual
bistrot
atmosphere.
By Verne Maree