The people behind the popular Saveur on Purvis Street (and now also at Far East Square), known for its affordable French bistro dishes are trying something slightly different at their latest venture. While retaining a focus on French cooking techniques and affordability, Saveur Art which opened in October last year, aims to bring a little more refinement to the table.
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Décor-wise the place takes its inspiration (and its name) from its location on the arty fourth floor of ION Orchard. The walls of this small, but polished venue, which seats a maximum 74 people, are lined with vivid paintings by two leading local artists Lim Tze Peng and the US-based Wong Keen. The sophisticated air is further enhanced by magnums of Champagne and a big chandelier, which dominates the centre of the dining room. The furniture is eclectic, with different elements like the orange bench seating or the aquamarine chairs taking their colour cues from the paintings. In general its all quite open plan, with a see through bronze trellis the only real separation from the rest of the mall, though you can still hide away in some of the corners.
The kitchen, manned by Tyler Lai, who used to be the sous chef at Jaan, also has lofty aspirations to match the surroundings. There’s definitely an artistic flourish in the way the dishes are plated up and a greater focus on higher quality ingredients such as foie gras, lobster and black truffle than at the other two Saveur outlets.
Despite this emphasis, they’ve tried to stick to the same philosophy of affordable French food, with lunch sets at $29 for two courses and $37 for three while the dinner set will set you back $52 for four courses. That includes dishes such as the signature egg confit and truffle ($12 a la carte, additional $15 for fresh truffle) which comes with a foam brown butter, roasted macadamia nuts and is served on a silky bed of truffled potato mousseline or the roasted French pigeon (top pic) with fregola sarda, beetroot, pickled morel mushrooms and liver vinaigrette.
Photo: One of Saveur Art’s Asian influenced dishes, braised pork short ribsFor the most part Tyler and his team utilise classic French techniques but they do also bring in regional influences in dishes such as the Asian spiced braised short ribs ($28 a la carte). Desserts maintain the artful approach and include the signature chocolate and pistachio, which includes different varieties of chocolate presented four ways and served with homemade pistachio ice cream ($13) — it’s got a little twist to it too, which we won’t spoil here. Alternatively, fromage-fans can opt for the cheese platter ($24) which is stocked with a rotating selection of French cheeses.
Drinks-wise there’s also a much wider scope than the two branches of Saveur. The manager Britt Ng happens to be a sommelier and he’s helped hand pick the 40+ labels of wine that are currently available, with options by the glass starting at $12 a glass. That includes the option to sample a glass of dealcoholized wine, a relatively new option for Singapore which lets you enjoy a glass of red or white wine ($8 a glass) without the fear of falling asleep in your afternoon business meeting.
Not surprisingly, considering its mall location the current crowd is a mix of shoppers and local business executives but Saveur Art definitely has aspirations to be more than that. The decent prices and the attention to detail given to its dishes, has seen it start to bring in regulars who come specifically to dine here, and based on our visit it deserves the chance to be taken seriously.
Saveur Art is at #04-11, ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, 6634-1141. Open daily from noon — 9:30pm.
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