&Made: Once upon a Blue Moon
I'm meant to be impartial about my research judgement for the title of 'Best Burgers in Singpore' and yet, &Made breaks those rules with its previous stellar performance. (Read about it here)
That being said, some major roadblocks have been thrown their way and Chef Bruno Menard who had been working with Deliciae Hospitality Management to set up both &Made and La Cantine has decided to venture out for his ideals and thus stepped down as chef. When a restaurant is founded by a chef whose kitchen acrobatics and knack for flavor profiling makes us sit up and notice, it can be confusing for most when that chef has moved on. The questions arises on whether the replacement will be a caretaker cook mimicking the style that made the place exciting or a creative genius who can make the menu jump through a new set of hoops.
Upon hearing about 3 new gourmet burgers being introduced into the menu, it wasn't long before I was dragging my boyfriend by the heels to this joint.
&Made's service standards had obviously taken an understated turn for the worse since its glory days of hyped-up reviews and ridiculously long queues. However, being a casual burger joint, my main concerns were shifted to the food. How did that fare?
The 3 Little Pigs ($23) had a brawny, rustic quality to it. The wonderfully diverse patty composed of pork fillet, chorizo and bacon, each bringing the best of itself to the table. The other components, the spicy koshu mayonnaise, shibazuke, shitake and white cabbage speaking volumes of Chef Bruno's strong Asian influences. This turned out to be as good as I remembered it to be.
Now on to the newbies, The Blue Moon ($23), dry aged beef patty, topped with french blue cheese, grilled bacon, lettuce and pickles. This had a little more nuance than the enlistees from the staple menu, featuring a dry aged beef patty for the lack of better and more unique sauces and accompaniments. No complaints though as I do love a good blue cheese burger every now and then. The fried egg was a silly addition (+$2.00), an unworthy investment that yielded an overdone moulded fried egg with no runny yolks. devastation. That aside, there was an echo of Chef Bruno's silky way with burgers, the compelling amount of french blue cheese scattered over the top highlighted by the surprise smudge of more stinky delight over the bottom bun as well; the dry aged beef patty bringing finesse to it's towering construction and the thick cut bacon cooked just the way I like it. I was sold on this elegant dish; the unique sambal belachan served with fries sealing the deal.
And while previous helming chefs had moved on, the food at &Made remains remarkable and original. Still with that pop and sizzle element in tact.
&Made
9 Scotts Road
#01-04/06 Pacific Plaza
Singapore (228210)
Tel: 6690 7566
Website: andmade.sg/
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