Privé at Keppel Bay

The only thing I knew about Prive was that Wayne Nish's move to Singapore was noted in New York Times's Diner's Journal. That was good enough reason to check it out, I guess.

From the guy who brought you Hacienda, Cicada and Superfamous, it came as no surprise that Prive was chic blah blah [insert press release]. The over-staffed service was good enough - affable, friendly though not entirely smooth.



I appreciated the small touches at Prive.

Like the mini stool that they brought out for my bag, echoing the 6 words that most guys should take note of: Love the lady, buy her shoes Respect the lady, worship her tote.

The amuse bouche - ikura with smoked salmon on a Japanese cucumber - wasn’t one of them though. The New-American (or was it Australian?) garble was lost in this wholly Japanese mouthful. It wasn’t bad, just not interest-inducing enough. But moving on…



I love it when restaurants wrap their rolls in thread count sheets. Makes them cursed refined-sugar stuff feel loved, doesn't it? At Prive, you can choose from the biscottiish foccacia, walnut raisin roll and plain hard roll. Actually “choose” is such a misleading word, why “choose” when you can have it all?

The foccacia was a little meh, I enjoyed the walnut raisin roll but it was the unassuming plain hard roll that would prove life-saving.



For starters, I had the roasted bone marrow. Bone marrow has been on my radar for a long time coming since I have never tasted it before. Anthony Bourdain once described the bone marrow as his ‘Death Row Meal’ but two harrowing marrowing bones on, I could see why death was inevitable to begin with.



It was fatty, oily... Oh crap, I can't hear my heartbeat. Quick, where's the bread basket? I need something to soak up my brain, which is probably partially-submerged in oil. Plain Hard Roll to the rescue.

I don’t get it. I love animal fat. I heart fries cooked in duck fat, the fatty rims of roast beef and gelatinous tissues beneath crackling pork skin. So why can’t I stomach bone marrow?!

Clueless look.



Thankfully the roasted boneless quail was a thing of beauty. Tender like a baby’s-bottom... I sound totally perverse but admit it, if you have watched a diaper commercial, you would know what i mean! Right?



At the heart of it, a piece of foie gras wedged itself tightly within, drawing out the coos and the mmms. To some, one could only enjoy foie gras if he or she is morally deficient on every level; but I’m pretty sure there are worse criminals out there. Like people who chope seats with their tissue packets and parents who let their kids run wild in restaurants I'm not pointing fingers. Haha.



The roasted lamb was commendable too. However for the love of Giambattista Valli, I've forgotten what the dish composed of. Sad but delicious.

We didn’t stay at the restaurant for dessert. The molten chocolate soufflé and spiced melon soup seemed too complex for a Wednesday evening. Instead, we headed over to their bakery / café next door for cake and tart. Oh, it was really nice of them to call up next door to check if there were tables before we headed over.

My experience at Prive is best summarized with a half-smile and shrug. It was pleasant enough i.e. I wouldn’t recommend it but wouldn’t say no to either if somebody was hell-bent on visiting it.

Privé
2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina at Keppel Bay
Tel: 6776 0777