Wanderlust for Cocotte

Casual French eatery Cocotte sounds like an awesome place to try out but I have heard of how notoriously difficult it is to get a dinner reservation on weekends. For my birthday though, I decided to buy into the hype and have lunch with my family there. I thought it was quite brilliant since there would be less people, hence greater attention to food and service - which we did get as soon as we got over the trauma of navigating the crazy Little India traffic and lack of valet parking for lunch.



The lunch menu isn't large but there was something for everybody - in my family, with our preferences and quick tempers, that's a huge deal. I also liked how there were communal options (cue memories of Ad Hoc, sigh), and we had the communal set for two and four for our party.

I hereby summon the power of food to soothe our frenzied souls.



A refreshing but heady pear and blue cheese arugula salad dressed in lemon and hazelnuts (yum!) vinaigrette. I never thought hazelnuts were good for savoury dishes but this worked with the pungent blue cheese.



Chicken liver mousse, paired with gherkins and tomato coulis, that packed an of-ful bunch of flavours within its deceptively calm façade.



A Cocotte signature appetizer, the deep fried beef tripe had a crunchy breadcrumb coating and distinct offal taste. It came with tomato coulis (which seems to be the default companion for other side dishes as well) but I didn’t use it as I like my crunchy to stay crunchy.



I had brimming high hopes for these escargot gougeres poppers after hearing my younger sister rave about them for a good part of the car ride. They were ok. Squiggly escargots encased in soft choux pastry with parsley cream and again, tomato coulis... I would have enjoyed them more if they had an alternative textural element like a crisp or crunch somewhere.

The mains followed quickly, which was a plus point since I was starting to get ravenous.



I was surprised noone else shared my uber love for the lamb. The rest of the family thought it was good but they are fans of the grilled-lamb-racks preparation. The tenderness of the lamb made me feel loved and as it was placed right in front of me, I had unlimited direct access to it.



Cocotte’s signature roast pork collar would have been phenomenal had the meat not been so sinewy but the Dijon mustard sauce ... Oh the Dijon mustard sauce! It was the kind of sauce that could cover up a multitude of sins (not that that was the case) and make anything taste loads better; one that you would spend hours after thinking about how you can replicate it at home.

I mopped it up with bread; I doused my garlic potatoes with it; I drank it straight from the pot. Happy birthday to me indeed.



The star of the afternoon was definitely the Chilean sea bass that rested on a bed of zucchini gratin, accompanied by the loveliest roasted fennel and tomato provencal. Dad, who is super fastidious about his fish, was audibly impressed. It was the dish that single-handedly erased the ordeal we went through earlier.



We had two dessert platters and what you see above is the dessert platter for four. I don't think anyone would or should go out of their way for this dessert platter but it provided a suiting sweet end to our meal.

The coffee crème brulee that was assertive yet coying – my favourite of the lot. I love coffee desserts and as far as coffee creme brulees go, this promptly retrieved my heart from Beacon.

Cocotte’s homemade sorbets – rock melon, blackcurrent and raspberry – packed a punch and were delightful, considering the unapologetic heat these days.

I have no idea what a “Basque cake’ is and trust me, Google and Google images didn’t help. But I really enjoyed this cookie/tart cake; it was as if they skipped whatever whipped cream topping they had in mind and added another layer of cookie/ tart top to it instead. As for the filling, it was probably a cake that contained seasonal fillings but this time round, my uber sensitive/ sophisticated tastebuds told me it was … chocolate.

Being a dessert traditionalist at heart, I liked the chocolate royal slice too. It is hard to go wrong with a rich dark Valrhona Araguani mousse and crispy praline base but I was slowly seeping into food coma to care about its ubiquity.

Sadly, the apple tarte tartin wasn’t good at all. Just so happens I had just read a chapter on tarte tartan in Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life and was hankering for a apple tarte tartan as delicious as her French love, Guillaume. I found neither love nor deliciousness in the flat (I hardly dare call it "puff") pastry. Sad...

The desserts on the other platter was similar except for a chocolate mousse that was ok-good though not terribly memorable.



I probably won’t kill myself to get a dinner reservation at Cocotte but it was a good meal and we left well-fed, ready to take on whatever that was left of that afternoon.