Cochin - A French-Vietnamese Culinary Experience

We tried the $30 mid-week banquet that Cochin offered and I thought it was really value for money.

We started with a creamy asparagus soup that was served in a stylish shot glass. The emerald colour through the glass added a nice aesthetic sense to the soup.

There were 2 types of spring rolls for our entrees. The 2 tightly-rolled but small deepfried rolls stuffed with minced meat and vegetables (Jew's ear I think - what a great name for a vegetable!) were really yummy and I enjoyed them a lot (deepfried, meat - what's not to like?). The Summer paper roll with prawns, vermicelli and carrot and cucumber strips was refreshing.

For our mains, we had a choice of about 6 dishes. As the 3 of us were sharing, we picked the 5-spice duck which was my favourite with the meat falling easily off the bone, the pork hock which was not my favourite (it was too crispy and hard on my jaw) and the spicy beef stew served with sourdough bread. We were served pandan rice with fried shallot garnishing which added a fragrance to regular steamed rice. We had eyed the portions rather sceptically when they arrived, but they were more substantial than they had first looked to us and we were filled up quickly and struggled to finish the food.

Desserts were shared as well, we ordered all 3 on the dessert list - the creme brulee, the dark chocolate mousse and the passion fruit creme caramel. They all came with a little sliver of red jelly which was more of a cross between jelly and agar-agar.

Cochin stays on my list.