Au Jardin Les Amis

Au Jardin by Les Amis is a French restaurant set in a old black and white colonial house located in the Botanic Garden. Lunch is served only on Fridays and the menu changes every two weeks. On a particular Friday, the dining room on the second floor was more or less filled with prim and coiffed ladies who lunch. The waiters looked formal in their black suits and right from the beginning, the service was professional and attentive. But well, it felt a little stuffier that what I was looking for in a Friday lunch celebrating the coming of the weekend.

The 4-course menu ($55) came in the form of a pretty greeting card. There were three choices for starters and mains, with two choices for desserts and a mandatory soup. For that particular Friday, we started rolling with an amuse bouche - chilled watermelon juice topped with a cranberry foam, prawn cracker. The latter was freshly fried so it was crispy and the juice cleansed the palate for the rest of the meal.


Grilled scallops with crushed almonds were the starter of my choice. The plump scallops had a crisp exterior but remained slightly raw and tender within. The crushed nuts added another dimension of crunch and bite. Swirls of a sweet brown sauce that reminded me of a variation of 'kecap manis' went well with the scallops as well.

The lentil cappuccino soup came in a dainty porcelain teacup and saucer to boot. It was very light and not heavy at all.

The oven-baked pumpkin with parmesan and mushrooms risotto sounded really yummy already because I am a lover of both pumpkin and mushrooms. I had imagined the pumpkin to be in cubes and cooked with the risotto. Hence, I was pleasantly surprised to see a whole baby pumpkin served to me. It had been baked until tender and filled to the brim with a perfectly executed risotto that contained generous amounts of a few different variety of mushrooms and because it was rich, it blended well with the sweet pumpkin.

The main course was rather heavy but dessert was to be had next. The plum confit with rum and raisin ice cream was a good choice as it was light tasting and cleansed my palate once again. I loved the plum confit as it was not overly sweet and still remained firm despite being cooked.


With a choice of coffee or tea, the petit fours were the perfect ending to a sumptious lunch.

Au Jardin Les Amis
Tel: 6466 8812