Claudine Restaurant

I remember coming to the same spot 2 years ago for my birthday dinner and it did not dawn on me that Claudine has taken over White Rabbit at the exact same spot. When my friend suggested dining at Claudine, I quickly agreed as they are part of The Lo & Behold Group which created the Michelin 3-starred Odette restaurant. Helmed by the same Chef Julien Royer, Claudine is the more affordable sister restaurant

The moment I stepped into the restaurant, the entire look changed from the White Rabbit. Different from the white spacious look, Claudine has dark wood and warm lighting decor which portrays a warmer and classy atmosphere

The menu featured traditional French cuisine with fancy names with a mid-high price tag since Claudine is considered more of a fine dining restaurant

We were first served warm brown bread loaf with creamed Iberico bacon butter which is fragrant with savoury bacon bits and a smooth buttery taste. Most importantly the bread loaf was warm, soft and flurry with a hard crust which was a perfect partner to the Iberico butter

We ordered a couple of starters for sharing so we could taste a few more dishes. The first dish to arrive was the Mozambique langoustine, a dish of dumplings, bisque, and tarragon. Langoustines are a rare and expensive delicacy that resembles prawn but is actually part of the lobster family. The bisque itself is thick creamy and extremely flavourful. You can taste the deep umami taste from the langoustine. The dumpling skin was chewy resembling al dente pasta with a filling of vegetables and meat. The tarragon also provided a light herb flavour to balance the heavy flavours of the bisque

The next dish to come was the sea urchin spaghetti which is an olive oil-based pasta topped with kombu and fresh sea urchin. The noodles itself was al dente with light and refreshing flavours balancing the creamy and sweet taste of the sea urchin

For mains, we ordered a total of 4 dishes for sharing. The first is the fish dish which is no longer on the menu at the time of writing. The cod fish was seared with crispy skin and some crispy crouton-like toppings. The fish was fresh and melted in your mouth and even when paired with the savoury cream sauce, the dish was quite light on the palate

The next main is the roasted Brittany pigeon with carrot, harissa, cumin yoghurt and pastilla. There were slightly more than 4 portions since the pigeon is quite small but should be quite filling for an individual share. The pigeon was tender enough with roasted till the skin is brown but the meat is still pinkish. There was no surprise to the dish though in terms of flavours

The next dish was the pork chop with fondant potato served with a charcutière sauce. The charcutière sauce is a rich compound sauce from France, prepared from a base of sauce Espagnole with added chopped cornichons, onions, mustard, and white wine. The sauce helps to cut through the oiliness of the pork chop due to the slight tinge of sourness. The pork chop is quite a thick serving but is slightly on the tough side

Our last main dish was highly recommended by the server which is the chou farci. Chou farci, which means “stuffed cabbage” in French is a traditional recipe for using up leftover meat from stew or roast and stuffing it into the cabbage and cooked in a tight iron pot to keep the shape of the chou farci round and pretty

When taken out of the pot, the dish is shaped like a nice cute ball of surprises. The version served in Claudine has Gascon bacon, foie gras and prune all stuffed in cabbage and takes 30 mins to prepare. There was much excitement when it was served as the server described the dish in the most endearing manner. However, when taken out of the pot, it did not look as appetising as we imagined it to be. In terms of taste, it was quite a mix mash of flavours and you can hardly taste the ingredients stuffed in the cabbage itself. For close to SGD 100 for this dish, I was not impressed

We were quite stuffed by the time we got to dessert as we ordered quite a number of mains, The first dessert we had was the chocolate tart served with coffee praline ice cream. Platted nicely, the souffle was chocolatey from the Guanaja chocolate used with a hinge of bitterness. This is perfect for people who like their desserts less sweet

I can’t recall what this last dessert was but the crispy bits tasted like sweet waffle biscuits with bits of citrusy flavour from the orange chunks. Overall, this dessert was quite nice and balanced in terms of flavours and texture

Overall, the atmosphere of Claudine is definitely on point and the service is immaculate. This is definitely a great location for those special moments and dinners. With a great reputation from their sister restaurants, we came here with great expectations only to be slightly disappointed. The food is generally nice but nothing too extraordinary or blew me off my mind. I might visit again for lunch for the more affordable lunch options but probably not for dinner

Address: 39C Harding Rd, Singapore 249541

Opening hours: 11.45 am to 2pm and 6 to 9 pm ( closed on Mon and only 6 to 9pm on Tuesday)