Saveur, Far East Plaza

Having written off several dining options in Singapore, Saveur was my prodigal-child-returns-home tribute to the majorly overpriced dining scene. Carrying out a French revolution of their own, Saveur's proposition was simple: quality French fare for the peasants at affordable prices. While they kept a check on their prices, I kept a check on my expectations. 

Visiting them during lunch hour meant we were spared from the notorious dinner queue. At 11:45am, we walked into a empty-ish restaurant but a few minutes to 12nn, the office lunch crowds descended and they had a similar agenda to ours - famished, French food fast.

Throughout our stay, there was a good mix of people from students and office workers (no doubt lured by good value) to senior citizens (no doubt prompted after seeing the eatery featured on some Kim-Ng-Vivian-Lai-hosted variety show) 

The wait staff, while young and clueless, were polite - I will take that over experienced and rude any day. Food was served really quickly. I was a little suspicious when our first starter arrived within 10 minutes of our orders being taken but after tasting it, I couldn't hardly wait for the rest of the meal. 

As the salmon confit was not available, we had the Saveur pasta. The last time I ordered a pasta dish that cost less than $5 was a lifetime ago. Their namesake pasta wasn't exceptional but it was tasty and it did a good job of placating the hunger which had been bugging me for the last half an hour. 

Slicing through the foie gras was like slicing through a block of silken tofu but it was worlds apart from this health food. Unabashedly tender and unctuous, the foie gras had me wishing I had some bread to mop up the liquid fat with. You could order bread for $2 but it didn't occur to us to order empty calories. 

My last duck confit experience was disappointment du jour, so while I was excited, I realllly didn't want to jinx this experience. All I can say is, Best under $11 Duck Confit Ever. True, there won't be other contenders but this was seriously satisfying. 

The duck looked a little flattened, almost as if it had been through a panini press. However, the flavours were anything but drabby, not with its crisp skin and moist insides. This was serious bang for duc-, I mean buck. I really don't want to know how they kept the price so sweatshop-low - I just want to keep coming back for it. 

I initially thought the pork belly was made up of 50% fat and thought to myself, So that's how they keep prices low. Then I did a double take when I poked at the "fat". All meat save for a thin layer of fat in the middle.  It was a tad "porky" but that aside, the pork belly was cooked beautifully with a hint of pink blushing from within.

A perfectly soft boiled egg that would make any koptiam auntie beam with pride, when punctured coated the al dente lentils with oozy-gooey deliciousness. 

We didn't have any desserts but this picture on their Facebook page made me realise I might have missed out on something big time.