{Updated Post: 7 Nov 2020}
Choosing Jaan to celebrate our 15th anniversary was a no-brainer. We had been twice before and always walked away feeling duly indulged.
I’ll just get straight into sharing the photos from the latest encounter since the original post has more details on other aspects.
It was a 6-course degustation of refined, elegant cooking with delicately balanced flavours. We started with a couple of glasses of Champagne, how could we not?
2 years later, the price has slightly increased from $268 for an 8 course to $288 for a 6 course, but I’d still recommend Jaan for special occasions. We’d definitely return!
{Original Post: 28 July 2018}
My very first time at Jaan was around 14 years ago, when my boyfriend (my darling hubby now) had brought me there on a date. Back then, we were all about exploring the latest fine dining places, so we would go around trying new restaurants, never mind the fact that back in the day, there wasn’t much focus on exactly who was cooking your pricey meal.
So disinterested was I in the chef, that I honestly cannot recall who was the chef at Jaan then. Maybe it was Andre Chiang, definitely not Julien Royer (too recent), well, those were the days of just eat, enjoy the experience and go, without having to study and articulate the head chef’s life story and show off how your astute tastebuds could discern between cumin and caraway.
As we grew older, and hopefully wiser, we became far more restrained with our rush to dine at some fancy, new hotspot. Like cougars on the prowl, waiting to pounce on the perfect victim, we bide our time and let others scan the scene first before heading out to dish out our hard-earned moolah.
And so, it was time – for Jaan. With the plethora of options around, deciding where to bring my hubby to for his birthday dinner was a mindf*** till someone said, “well, he brought you to Odette for your birthday, so how about Jaan for his?”, not knowing the significance that Jaan held for us.
Yes, well, why not. It had been ages, and with age comes all manners of sentiment, so Jaan it was.
The elevator doors open onto the 70th floor of the Swissotel, and you’re escorted to your table (be sure to ask for a table by the windows. Actually most of them are, but just in case). The degustation options are laid out in front of us, and without delay, the champagne cart is rolled over, inviting us to start the night with an aperitif.
Well, seeing as how I would have had to shell out at least $50 for a glass, I politely declined and started perusing the extensive wine list instead. We’re talking around 500 old and new world wines, with half, magnum and jerobaum formats available as well.
I think the sommelier could see we were in an extremely adventurous mood, so he recommended a bottle from the up-and-coming Jura region of France. Located between Burgundy and Switzerland, this region is known to produce some weird and wonderful wines that are enjoying some sort of a cult status now.
We had our wine education for the night thanks to the affable sommelier, now we know all about the Trousseau and Savagnin varieties too (indigenous to Jura) and ideas of exploring this obscure region, drinking its biodynamic wines while munching on Comte, started floating around.
But back to the food. Four snacks are presented to whet your appetite – little they might have been but powerful in flavour were they. I especially enjoyed the Truffle Macaron and the Cumin Hummus.
The next snack was a smooth potato puree dish, over which truffle tea was poured – mmm, very moreish indeed.
Then commences the 8-course degustation proper. Here’s the rundown:
Seeing as how hubby had brought me to dinner at Odette in March this year, we couldn’t help but compare who had had the better birthday dinner. Two Michelin starred Odette or One Michelin starred Jaan? At the end, we concluded that Odette had just that touch bit more excitement and experimentation, but Jaan’s Kirk Westaway is definitely hot on the heels of his predecessor, Julien Royer who left Jaan to open Odette.
And on a last note, this was one degustation menu where we almost left rolling out of the restaurant (that’s a good thing in my books) – at $268 for the 8-course, with the skyline views and wonderful service, Jaan is definitely a great place to go to for a celebration.
JAAN:
Address: Level 70, Swissôtel The Stamford, 2 Stamford Road, Singapore 178882
Contact: +65 6837 3322, jaan.bookings@swissotel.com
Opening Hours:
Mon to Sat 12:00 – 14:30, 19:00 – 22:00