“Chef Pang WE LOVE YOU!!!!” (or so go the giggly girls who crowd around him go). At Chef Pang Kok Keong’s new pastry cafe, Antoinette, you’ll have an opportunity to say that to him if you’re lucky. We did (have the opportunity that is, not tell him we love him!) – the affable Chef Pang was stationed at the cake counter painstakingly and lovingly explaining each and every cake to us.
So it’s been a while since we’d seen Chef Pang (he left Canele Patisserie last October), and it was with great anticipation that we headed down to Antoinette for breakfast last Saturday (we didn’t manage to get a reservation but reached the cafe at 1015am and crossed our fingers, hoped and got lucky). To start, we had the Antoinette’s Breakfast (eggs / bacon / sausage / grilled tomatoes / pain de mie, and a choice of juice / coffee / hot chocolate and some mini viennoiseries). While I know of people who would scorn at paying close to S$20 for a breakfast, I thought this was really nice and good value. Sausage was succulent, bacon well fried, and the only thing we had to complain about the fry-up was that the egg yolks were broken (probably in the transfer to the plate?). The mini vinnoiseries came with a most delicious tasting clotted cream (or whipped butter – not sure), and together with the croissant (yes i know – heart attack heaven) was just to die for.
We also had the Savoury Blinis with Bacon and Mushroom Ragout. Again, the bacon was great (by great, I mean lean-ish, but crisped up and not quite so salty), and the mushroom ragout was flavourful and had a slight sweetness (sherry or martini perhaps?). I didnt quite like the blini texture – slightly on the dry side, and I’d envisaged smaller blinis (though to be fair they never said “minis”). Overall still a nice dish with well-executed accompaniments.
The piece de la resistance (or pieces de la resistance) at Antoinette, however, must be the cakes and macarons. After all, Chef Pang IS the sugar (and macaron) daddy of the Singapore pastry industry. The macarons reminded us of (gasp!) Pierre Hermes in Paris – we had the Antoinette and the Grand Cru. The Antoinette revealed a berry centre, and married the tanginess of the berry well with the sweetness of the macaron shell.
We also tried the Antoinette, which was an earl grey infused mousse with a (very interesting) raspberry coulis wrapped in a gelatin pouch on the top. This was a very nice balanced cake, with earl grey permeating each mouthful. It was not heavy on the palette and each bite reminded us of why we’d missed Chef Pang so much in the past few months!
In the name of blogging (hurhur), we made a special trip down again this evening after work just to try more of Chef Pang’s new creations. We ordered the Chocolicieux and the Cafe Caramel Tarte. Unfortunately, we didn’t get pictures of either, but the Chocolicieux is a chocolate lover’s delight. A dense chocolate cake enveloping chunky hazelnuts and covered with a chocolate and nut coating, this looks exactly like a magnum icecream bar, and the taste of it will linger in your senses for some time (yes, it’s THAT dense). The tarte was equally delicious, with the caramel having a delicious burnt flavour with a hint of coffee that drags the caramel-ly flavours just oh-so-much-longer.
So that’s our review of Antoinette. A small little place with plenty of heart, and a great affable owner to boot. What more can you ask for? Suffice to say we’re COMING BACK! Chef Pang, WE LOVE YOU(R CAKES)!
Antoinette
30 Penhas Road (off Lavender Street)
6293-3121
Mon–Fri: 11am – 10pm
Sat: 10am – 11pm
Sun: 10am – 10pm
