Of beans and Christmas ornaments

With a full menu made of appetizers, mains, desserts and drinks, the "Novel Noel" is the brainchild of three extremely talented chefs of Le Pong - Chef De Cuisine Daniel Wong, Pastry Chef Padzli, and the Head of Coffee David Leong. And the best part of "Novel Noel" to me was that I was lucky enough to drop by the boulangerie for a taster, so I could now tell you how everything tastes. 

Le Pont's take on the Vichyssoise, pronounced Vi-she-swaz

Le Pont's All-Time Favourites, the Salad Nicoise, pronounced Ni-swaz

We opened to Le Pont's take to the Vichyssoise, a traditional French thick soup prepared with pureed leek and cream of potatoes before being served with garlic croutons. Maybe I was cold for the evening following the pouring rain, or maybe it was just that good because I thoroughly enjoyed the soup. It boasted an interesting texture, one that was creamy but also brought a bite that came presumably from the cream of potatoes. I didn't catch any hints of leek though, but that's perhaps good because I would have gotten a little turned off.

The Salad Nicoise, a Le Pont favourite is in fact a classic French salad composed of french beans, tuna, chopped eggs and shallot vinaigrette. There's also bits of olives and a little bit of anchovies in the mix, but it doesn't change the taste much. The french beans were crunchy and fresh, a very good variation to a mix of otherwise soft ingredients but I would suggest that you ask for extra shallot vinaigrette when you order this, because it does help bring out the flavour by the end of the day. 

Disclaimer: This is a Le Pont permanent item, which means you can still get it after the "Novel Noel" menu is over.

The Frisee & Beef Bacon Salad, pronounced free-zay

Runny yolk, hurray!

Also as a starter was Le Pont's Frisee and Beef Bacon salad, a mix of crispy beef bacon strips with frisee, egg confit, shaved mushrooms and honey mustard dressing. I would highly recommend you take this over the Nicoise or if you must have both, save this for the last. This I believe, comes from the fact that the honey mustard dressing masks all forms of the "green smell" from the vegetables, making it enjoyable even for a vegetable hater like me. And don't share your crispy beef bacon strips. Just don't.

Le Pont's Special Lamb Shank

The Novel Noel's Seafood Red Rhapsody

As we moved into our mains, we first got introduced to Le Pont's Special Lamb Shank, a dish prepared by braising house-made apricot sauce and served with potatoes, roasted peppers and asparagus. For someone who takes a lot of caution in my lamb meat, I must say the lamb shank here did the job and the sweet yet savoury sauce gave the very tender meat a good touch. It wasn't gamey at all and it definitely hits a sweet spot with the super affordable price tag for a lamb shank. 

Disclaimer: This is a Le Pont permanent item, which means you can still get it after the "Novel Noel" menu is over.

We also tried the Seafood Red Rhapsody, a bouillabaisse seafood stew that was served with delicious razor clams, seabass and prawns, as well as a slice of garlic toast for dipping. Again, it seemed like Le Pont was pushing me to my limits by serving seafood because I am (again) very sensitive to the smell. It's very pleasant to note that there is no fishy smell to the dish, and in fact the stew is made so perfect for dipping, I really wanted to ask for extra toast. The seafood is fresh, no doubt about that but you should always remember to squeeze some lemon in before you dig in, okay? 

The Christmas Tree Waffle

Served with a side of homemade raspberry sorbet

 Say hello to Santa! 

Our dessert started off special, with an introduction to a very unique Christmas Tree Waffle served with a side of homemade raspberry sorbet with almond crumbles, diced strawberries and fresh whipped cream. The jade waffles as they call it was the most unique of the entire dish, parading in a green colour mixed in their super fragrant batter to make the waffle one of the best things I've ever had. It was also good that they sliced it into tinier slices, made better for sharing (Or going on a full glutton-mode) as a bite-sized dessert. The homemade raspberry sorbet was a little sour though but really good when you dig right into the entire cup so you get that sourish but sweet touch with the almond crumbles and fresh whipped cream.

The Molten Snowman

Unfortunately for us, the snowman was no longer molten when we finished taking pictures and while the sticky, once-molten chocolate cake was really good, it felt pretty regular after munching on the Christmas Tree Waffle.

Video edited with WeVideo

For those who truly love chocolate, you wouldn't want to miss out on this Snowy Wonderland that Le Pont has created because underneath the dark chocolate ganache ball was a surprise centre of homemade honey ice cream, topped with strawberries and blueberries before being sprinkled with snow meringue and smooth chocolate sauce. The result was a bittersweet enjoyment, though cloying towards the end. It's good to share, but if you don't mind a binge once in a while, then you could consider this for a go.