Ô Comptoir: French “Maki” Chocolate Crepes, Galettes & Ciders Along Circular Road

French cuisine has given us classic favourites like the croque-monsieur (ham & cheese sandwich), pot-au-feu (beef stew) and anything with fromage really. 

But at Ô Comptoir, in the midst of the hubbub of Circular Road near Boat Quay, the focus is on delicieux crepes, galettes and fizzy ciders.

The exterior of the French restaurant already hints at the overall aesthetics, with pink windows and brick walls that complement the turquoise lettering. Not to mention the pretty fairy lights draping across the eatery!

If you’re all about nice interiors and ambience, the decor inside the restaurant will dazzle with Wes Anderson vibes.

The picturesque furnishings were further enriched by Oscar Wilde’s quote glowing in neon pink, and I really loved the geometric metal chairs and dangling lightbulbs.

The restaurant also boasts a cider bar, and I started with a Cidre Brut Tradition (S$7), which is a dry apple cider 4.5%; and a glass of Poire Bouche (S$7), a dry pear cider 3.5%.

Darker in colour, the dry apple was indeed “dry”, not sweet but mildly bitter with a heavy finish on the tongue. The dry pear, however, was sweeter and lighter in dryness, but I couldn’t quite taste the pear.

Ah, fromage! I couldn’t not order something cheesy in a French restaurant, so I went with the Tempura Camembert (S$18) to nibble on with my ciders.

When the dish was served, I was pleased to see the generous nuggets of tempura-covered cheese lying on a black slab along with fresh blueberries and crushed walnuts. Honey-mustard and sweet raspberry sauces were served on the side.

I cut through the crispy tempura layer and the cheese slowly oozed out (yes!) and gave off the distinct camembert smell. Salty with a bitter aftertaste, the consistency was creamy, meeting my cheese expectations.

Make sure to enjoy these chunks with the blueberries, walnuts and sauces lest they become too jelak. The sweet raspberry sauce was the best complement in my opinion.

From the classic galettes section of the menu, I tried the Menage A 5 (S$17) with Emmental cheese, ham, sunny egg, mushroom and tomato. This wholesome combination was nestled in a gluten-free and eggless buckwheat galette, which is something like a pancake.

I cut a square slab to have a taste of everything and as I chewed, the roasted flavour of the buckwheat coated my tongue, followed by the sweetness from the tomato slices and mild saltiness from the ham.

Split the egg yolk open to tie all the ingredients together and you pretty much have the perfect brunch dish.

Inspired by the flavours of Thailand, the Khao San Road (S$22) was folded on all sides encasing prawns, diced mangoes, tomato slices, bean sprouts, a sunny egg topped with crushed peanuts and a mint leaf.

The sour cubes of mango, crunchy bean sprouts and plump prawns infused in the subtly zesty and creamy peanut sauce, unfortunately, all came together to form a rather bland and disappointing combination. I much preferred the previous galette.

The savoury galettes were filling, but my sweet tooth beckoned me to indulge in sweet crepes like the Normandy Landing (S$8). On a large round plate, two huge folds of crepes were encircled with a homemade salted caramel sauce.

Unlike the buckwheat galettes, the crepes are made with wheat flour, giving them a fluffier consistency. Slicing into sizeable triangles, I let out a cry of delight as the sweetness of the butterscotch-like caramel permeated my mouth.

Definitely a winner in my books! It wasn’t overly sweet, and would go perfectly with a strong cup of tea or coffee.

As a sushi fanatic, once I saw Maki Crepes Chocolate (S$10) on the menu, I had to get my hands on it. I mean, crepes shaped into makis? The crepe rolls were topped with whipped cream and grilled almond slices and dusted with powdered sugar.

The dish even came with chopsticks for us to truly experience the bite-sized “maki” dessert, Japanese-style. The rolls were quite mushy to hold, so they’re good practice for anyone looking to work on their chopsticks skills.

I bit into one and could see the layers of the crepe aligned neatly in folds, each brushed with chocolate. While it was certainly lovely for my taste buds, my only qualm was that the coating of chocolate was too thin.

---

If you’re already salivating and can’t wait to try the galettes, allow me to sweeten the deal — Ô Comptoir offers three weekday set lunches: Set A (S$14 for any classic galette + garden salad), Set B (S$18 for any inspiration galette + garden salad) and Set C (S$22 for soup of the day + special of the day).

It’s the perfect excuse to ask your colleagues to try something new for lunch, and make sure you don’t leave without trying that Normandy Landing crepe!

Expected Damage: S$7 – S$25 per pax 

Thanks for reading the article. Share if you enjoyed!

Source link