Lunch at Boathouse Restaurant

I have been eyeing this place ever since its St. Julian's days, so it is inevitable I get to dine here again today. Boathouse Restaurant is located at 3 Fullerton Road #03-01 The Waterboat House, Singapore 049215. The number to dial is 6538 9038.

I was rather fortunate because this place states that reservation is to be made 4 full weeks in advance, but I managed to get it in less than two weeks. Shaped like a magnificent three-storey, stately ship that is permanently docked, this historical building looks interesting from the outside and offers diners great views from the inside as well.

Even the entrance looks exactly like that of a ship's. One needs to mount the steps up to level three to locate the restaurant.

Interior-wise, this place offers a quaint and intimate ambience in a beautiful setting of rich browns and elegant chandeliers. Besides the sophisticated decor that gives diners a sense of happiness, the service crew provided rather immaculate service as well. This place prides itself on bringing French dining to a new level.

Lunch menu is rather limited; mainly set lunches that comes in two or three courses. Both *Priscilla and I took the 3-course set lunch. Before the meal commenced, we were served a bread basket with soft focaccia and lovely raisin toast with mellow butter to start off.

The first shared Appetizer was served - Salade de Canard - smoked duck breast, shredded duck confit with lemon vinaigrette and walnut oil.  The duck meat was tender and not at all salty. The salad consisted of many ingredients - cheese cubes, onions, vegetables etc, making it a delight to eat and offers a burst of flavors.

The next Appetizer was the Crabe - marinated blue crab, smoked tomato coulis and crispy herb tuile. The blue crab paste was very sumptuous, redolent of the sweetness of fresh crab. Eaten with the cheese-like crispy triangles of tuile, this appetiser leaves one longing for more.

The first shared Main was served next, the Saumon En Papillote - baked paper-wrapped pacific salmon, baby potatoes, julienne vegetables and natural jus. The salmon was, like, steamed? It was so so tender and fresh it disintegrates in the mouth like meat-molasses. It was sweet with freshness, and the accompaniments heightened the overall taste.

Our next Main was the Roeuf - rib eye, fine mashed potato, heirloom carrots and bordelaise sauce. The beef was rather tender (we asked for medium rare) and slightly chewy, juicy. The mashed potato was so fine and tasty we thought it was some kind of cream initially.

Finally, time for Desserts. We shared the L'Orange - orange and chocolate meringue rock, crumbles and orange granite. As meringue goes, the dessert crumbled into the mouth and dissolved easily, but it was a little too sweet, in my opinion. While the orange flavor was quite promiment, I thought that the white chocolate somewhat obliterated the orange's citrus flavor; I prefer orange desserts made with dark chocolate as the contrast is better.

Last but not least, the other Dessert - Chocolat.- chocolate pave, bergamot mousse, chocolate soil and cassis granite. It was a slab of moist, soft chocolate cake served with fruits and a sourish mousse, rather rich and refreshing combination. We enjoyed the smoothness of this cake.

Finally, we washed down lunch with a cup of hot tea each. What a lovely dining experience - and each of us spent SGD$50.00 in total.