The long queues and the no-reservations at Saveur were at the subject of a dinner conversation one night with Delly. A modern bistro along Purvis Street that aims to bring French cuisine to everyone at affordable prices. It immediately went on to my list of places to go and I was determined to have that ticked off as soon as possible.
Obviously the online chatter about how absolutely wonderful the food at Saveur is didn’t make it any better. Those amazing food pics taken at Saveur left me salivating as I wondered who in the world would be as crazy as me to endure a 30 to 45 minute wait. I thought I probably would end up dining at Saveur on my own. Fortunately for me, that didn’t happen.
Wini was back in town for a short visit and we decided it would be nice for a superb long overdue catch-up. Funny how our paths crossed again. We were schoolmates in the uni and kinda lost touch after we graduated. I guess we only got reconnected rather recently when we both found out about each other blogs through other bloggers. 
Better late than never I guess.
So a lunch date at Saveur was set! Since the restaurant opened at 12pm, I decided to go about 30 minutes earlier to wait. Ok, you can call me nuts but I was second in line at 11.35am when I arrived at the restaurant. Thereafter, the queue behind me formed rather quickly. I kid you not, people are really serious about their food here in Saveur. At 12pm sharp, doors opened and the seats to the restaurant were filled up rather quickly.
Now on to the review. Was it really as good as what others out there are saying? I say YES for the amount that you pay, the quality of the food you get at Saveur is certainly what many will call value-for-money.
Feeling greedy, we decided to share everything. First, we ordered the Angel Hair Pasta with Sherry Minced Pork and Sakura Ebi (S$3.90). I’ve read so much about this wonderful dish so it was actually gonna be the highlight of the meal for me. But the waiter served us the Angel Hair Pasta with Tiger Prawns and Lumpfish Caviar. We got trigger happy when the dish was set in front of us that we didn’t even realised that this wasn’t the dish we ordered. I only found something amiss when I peered over the other tables and saw their pasta with the Sakura Ebi which was clearly missing in our dish. Silly me, I was even wondering why in the world is the Sakura Ebi that huge! It was too late to complain or send the dish back for we polished everything off (a testament to how good the dish actually was). So guess what? I gotta make another trip back here again to try that dish which I missed.
For the main, we had the famed Confit of Duck with Orange Segment and Saute Shitake served over mash (S$8.90). I thought the duck confit was pretty good, tender and soft. Wini thought the skin of the duck could be a lot crisper and I agreed, but overall, given that the dish cost under $9, I couldn’t really ask for more.
Another dish that we shared was this Chicken Roulade With Foie Gras Stuffing And Basmati Rice (S$9.90). This was a miss rather than a hit. The foie gras stuffing was so subtle that it was almost negligible. Basmati rice served as an accompaniment was a little tough for my liking but Wini assured me that’s how the rice tasted. I’ll definitely not order this my next visit here.
Now on to dessert. Since this was lunch, I guess we could afford to eat a little more. So we each ordered our own sweet endings to the meal. Wini has the Pistachio Panna Cotta (S$6.90) which she thought was passable in terms of taste but could do a lot better in terms of presentation. I had the Textures of Citrus dessert (S$6.90) which was like a mixed platter of sorts – from jello to a zesty sorbet to cereal bits. It was actually kinda fun having this dessert and playing with the different textures. I like!
I’ll definitely need to make another trip back here to have that pasta dish. So stay tuned for part deux in time to come!
And thanks Wini for being my foodie partner-in-crime in this eating adventure. It sure was great catching up with you and hope you secure those reservations for your upcoming trip! Can’t wait to read about them for sure! Envy!!
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