Butter plays an essential role in every kitchen – served cold with bread, cooked in a curry, baked in a cake or simply melted down till golden amber, lending a rich, toasted flavour to anything it touches. At Beurre, butter is so important, the restaurant is named after it.
Which is surprising, then, that the ingredient doesn’t feature as prominently as we’d expect on the menu. For a place that is “driven by a love for butter”, the creamy spread is strangely hidden from the spotlight. We struggle to understand its relationship with the dairy product. The love is vague – clandestine even. It sneaks onto your plate – in some dishes more obvious than others.
The offerings in which butter is the most conspicuous – because it’s stated explicitly on the menu – are also the least exciting. The escargot ($18) is easily forgettable, drowned in an overpowering pool of brown butter and truffle mousse. The Wagyu chuck ($28) comes with a similar brown butter truffle mousseline, braised onions, and a lotus chip. While the beef comes perfectly cooked, albeit a little tough, the nutty profile you’d expect from the sauce is once again lost to the pungent truffle.
Surprisingly, it is in dishes where butter sneaks in – and is left out of the menu description – that leave the biggest impression. The French omelette ($18) is pillowy soft, and comes studded with crab cooked in a lobster bisque. It is simple, elegant, and flavoured deeply by the crustacean. There is also the pork ($24), served with a curious mix of salted popcorn, sweetcorn puree, and a spicy Sichuan gremolata that leaves us equal parts fascinated and confused. The same can be said about the unagi mantou ($18). Eel is grilled over charcoal, broken up into small pieces and served with cubes of deep-fried mantou. Tossed with sakura fish floss and baby shrimp, it’s textual variation makes this dish a party in the mouth.
If you plan on ending your meal on a sweet note, the restaurant has only two desserts to choose from. Drop the strawberry shortcake ($14) and go for the peanut butter tart ($14) with toasted almonds and caramel ice cream instead. Our advice? Skip the otherwise safe sweets and order another main. The capellini ($26) is an umami tangle of caviar, creamy uni, and a spicy XO emulsion that makes slurping it down smooth as butter.
The love story between butter and food at Beurre is not one that is grand and intimate. It is, however, a quiet affair; a modest nod to the humble ingredient. But if this is the love story that it hopes to tell (and sell), the restaurant needs to turn sparks into fireworks.
Time Out Singapore reviews anonymously and pays for all meals. Read our restaurant review policy here.
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