Black Sheep Cafe, Mayo Street

Found this place on HGW by chance and decided to snoop around. Some of the reviews mentioned that an Indian chef serves affordable French food here. This is a little restaurant tucked away somewhere near Sim Lim, right across a Malay mosque.

Black sheep with a little chef's hat! (OK this has got to be a reference to the actual .. erm, Indian chef - a completely unracist statement btw).

There is no GST or service charges here! We chose to order the foie gras (after much deliberation between this and the baked brie cheese), and were not disappointed when the eager waiter placed this upon our table. The liver was fatty and velvety smooth, with just the right amount of charred-ness. Interestingly there was a side of achar which added a quirky tang to the dish. However the achar is a bit strong and should not be eaten with the awesome goose liver.

Bear thought that foie gras could be cooked and charred a little longer. This one in particular was not cooked completely, and therefore was mushy and sinewy when bit into. Ones that are cooked thoroughly would be harder and more firm to the bite, but still melts like butter when chewed. Either way, this was decadence.

The highlight of our dinner was this duck confit. The skin was nice and crispy and meat tender yet firm. Every bite packed a load of flavour, and was very well complemented by the mango chutney thingamajig. The portion was quite generous too. We both liked this very much!!1

We also ordered the braised lamb (sheep?) shank. It looked really yum, but turned out to be a little bland. It probably could have used a generous sprinkling of black pepper and maybe little more herb. This dish was somewhat lackluster :(

But the biggest disappointment was the damnable souffle. They have a different flavour everyday - just so happened today was Kahlua day. We suspected something was amiss when it arrived poofed up like that, and with ice cream (!?).

Granted, souffles are supposed to rise when baked due to the fluffed egg whites. But a massive malgrowth like this is rarely seen. We theorized that the chef probably used self raising flour instead of regular for the extra omph.

Anyway, upon inspection, this mountainous heap revealed a soggy mess inside. It was way too WET and definitely not souffle-like at all. If our understanding of souffles are accurate, they should be light and fluffy inside. This just wasn't it! Maybe the ice cream was a distraction ...

Ugh. You can see just how soggy it is from all the nasty bubbles. Again we theorized that our particular souffle had too much kahlua, but we didn't taste much kahlua at all. Also almost everyone else in the restaurant ordered the souffle, and got pretty much the same thing. The bunny thought the best part of this dessert was .. the ice cream. Hello!?

Even though our dinner took a slight turn for the worse, we decided that we would only come back for the duck confit, and maybe try the brie and pork cheeks. The service was also very good - waiters were warm and friendly: something other cafes/restaurants should emulate! It also wasn't crowded and wasn't too expensive - the mains were about $22 - $25 (ex. steak and seafood) and with no GST and service charge, the price / portion ratio was good!

HGW Link : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/the_black_sheep_cafe_mayo_street/