Dad's French birthday dinner!

The first time I dined at a French restaurant was a few years ago. I was maybe 10 years old? I'm not quite sure. It was at The Brasserie. I remember the desserts from there; sorbet and chocolate tart. My dad really liked that restaurant, he dined there a few times with my mum and my sister. But, unfortunately, The Brasserie closed and has been replaced with Bistro Guillaume. 

My sisters took our family out for French food at Bistro Guillaume. For my dad's birthday! From what I can remember, the interior hasn't changed much from the Brasserie, but it's quite pleasant. We sat outdoors, which was really nice. It's still spring, and it won't be long until the hot, blazing summer nights, so my dad wanted to take the opportunity of sitting outside. We normally don't, since my mum doesn't like the cold. 

Credits to my dad!

My dad had escargot (snails) as an entree, and I tried one for the very first time. I never knew snails tasted that good.

Uh my sister's finger got into the picture.. But I think Mum and Dad look real great. 

 I had steak frites. Simply delicious. The meat was cooked to perfection (my favourite, medium rare!) and the fries were really nice and crisp. However, I won't say that they are the best fries I've ever had. Believe it or not, I personally find that the best fries come from Charcoal Chicken, a take-away chicken shop. I think they use chicken salt. And they produce the best, thick, crispy and just-enough-salt chips. Anyway, the chips at Bistro Guillaume were still very nice! Ooh, the bearnaise sauce went well with the steak. Just enough tang.

You know it's a good meal when you polish the whole plate. 

My second sister had the half a roasted chicken with jus and Paris mash. I tried some and quite liked it! I really liked the jus and the mash was extremely creamy. 

 My mum had the duck, but I didn't try it. She said it was quite good though.

OF COURSE, we had to get dessert. After all, the French are known for their patisseries. 

We got the special of the day, the Valrhona chocolate tart with lavender ice cream. A chocolate tart starts off with high-quality chocolate; this chocolate tart certainly delivered the standards of what a superb chocolate tart should be. The pastry was buttery, crisp and matched well with the intense flavour of the Valrhona chocolate. The lavender ice cream was surprisingly nice. I thought it would taste like soap.

 We also got the profiteroles with vanilla bean and hot chocolate sauce. I wasn't able to get a shot before the waiter poured over the hot chocolate. Heavenly.

 It was a really nice day. I love it during evening in the city. Especially during spring and autumn.

 I made a masterpiece. No, not really. Just a vanilla cake with coffee buttercream. My mum did all the decorations. The coffee buttercream is so, so, so, so yummy! I will sure do a post of cupcakes with coffee buttercream. You see, I don't like coffee itself. At this age, I find it horrible, icky and bitter. I tried a cup from the Nespresso coffee machine we have at home, and I nearly spat coffee out after I had a sip. Though, I'm quite certain that my tastebuds will change in the future.

 Happy birthday Dad! I love you so much, thanks for being the typical Asian dad (studies, studies, studies), being always so hilarious when you mishear things (e.g, we were talking about pasta on Masterchef, and the judge dropped a plate of pasta because he was being dramatic about it being 'disgustingly good' and then Dad's ears perked up and he said "Char kway teow?? He dropped char kway teow??!??" ), but most importantly, for being my role model. I hope that one day, I will become somewhat similar, to the super-nerdy-genius you.