l'angelus

i've never had a classic (admittedly, for lack of a better word here) french meal, or even eaten any classic french dishes before, even though there are no lack of french restaurants in singapore. the jaan meals are the closest to what i suppose could be termed "french", though by a stretch, since the restaurant itself bills the food as "modern french". dining at les amis remains quite out of my reach at the moment; anyway, i'm not sure if what they serve can be termed "classic french".

no luck in paris either; attempts to have french food there six years ago were pre-empted by the arranged meals in dubious chinese restaurants, which included oddities such as boiled cucumber with sprinkled sugar, and the obligatory servings of egg-drop soup, and orange for dessert. the bse-scare then did not help matters much, either.

friday's meal at l'angelus is, thus, what i termed as my first foray into french food. not the bite-sized morsels you find at modern french restaurants; this, i suppose, is the real hearty deal. of course, i may be mistaken (it's my first french meal after all!), but i cannot imagine any dish to be more representative than confit de canard.

l'angelus is situated in one of the shophouses along club street, and it's one of the few restaurants that doesn't sport a modern, faux-zen look. my dining companions (j, d, g, yq, ws) have been there a few years ago, so i suppose it's been around for a while, which says something considering the short lifespan of singapore restaurants. most of the tables comprised westerners, possibly french: one more good sign. another thing i liked is the generous spacing between tables, which allows for decent conversation to take place; something which is strikingly lacking in two of my favourite restautants: ember and oso.

the menu is made up of the usual suspects of french food: duck confit, terrined livers with bread, escargots, and so on. being a novice to french food i ordered the safe choices: warm salad with duck liver, chicken liver and bacon for my starter, and the duck confit with garlic sauted potatoes for my entree.

the starter was a obscenely huge plate of salad greens, with chicken liver and bacon pieces generously scattered over it, and a slice of terrined duck liver, slightly larger than a credit-card, sitting on one side. the serving was so large, i was contemplating cancelling my main course, for fear of not being able to finish it after the salad. but i must have been more ravenous than i'd felt, for i almost finished the whole thing, save for the last bits of salad greens. it was delicious too; the freshness of the greens combined with the slight hint of gaminess of the chicken liver, and the oiliness of the bacon. i opted to eat the duck liver slice by itself, rather than with the greens; it was sweetish, and quite delightful without any accompaniment, and i wanted the taste to remain unadulterated. perhaps that's why they served it as a slice rather than chopped up.

the duck confit was another substantial dish: a whole serving of duck leg, all oily and crispy, accompanied with the abovementioned potatoes, and a lone gratinated tomato. the potatoes were served in a wierd (i think) style; i was expecting, from the descriptions on the menu, for the potatoes that came with the duck confit to be whole, or perhaps mashed; it turned out to be a flat, slightly crispy hash-brown piece that i didn't think complement the duck in terms of texture, and by itself was rather forgettable. the duck was enjoyable enough though; the skin layer akin to fried pork lard, oil seeping out with each bite, which, coupled with the slightly dry flesh, makes for a guilty, sinful dish. i cared even less for the tomato than the potato hash, though i did dutifully eat the whole thing up.

j later described the preparation of the dish to me, for he did not expect for the duck to be as dry as it was. basically, confit is a

"... specialty of gascony, france, (and) is derived from an ancient method of preserving meat (usually goose, duck or pork) whereby it is salted and slowly cooked in its own fat. the cooked meat is then packed into a crock or pot and covered with its cooking fat, which acts as a seal and preservative..."

- definition of confit, epicurious.com

if it were any more oily than what i'd had, i probably wouldn't be able to take more than a few bites (though i may just surprise myself; my propensity for oils is astonishingly high =p )

i ended up not having dessert or tea, as i was supremely stuffed by the end of the entree; if i'm back here for another meal, i'd probably share a starter with another person, so as to make room for dessert, or just simply to prevent myself from overeating.