PIQUANT DINING – Enjoy fine dining in the comfort of your home! 

Thanks to a VERY LUCKY Father’s Day giveaway contest on Facebook, I won myself an exciting FINE DINING experience for my dad and I at Piquant Dining! In a bid to escape the classic ‘who do you love more’ question by parents, it was imperative that I ask if I could bring my mum along too – and they graciously agreed! Oh, that joy and RELIEF I felt, HAHA. 

Instead of experiencing this treat in a typical restaurant, my parents and I were very privileged to be invited down to their beautiful home where Chef LT and his Wife played such awesome hosts to us! 

My happy parents all excited!
Our menu for the night!

We had 2 appetisers; flavourful Smoked Salmon and Foie Gras (both my favourite!!!), an AMAZINGLY TASTY Fillet Mignon (highlight of the night!) for our mains and a decadent Opera for dessert! These were all meticulously prepared by Chef LT AND ME for the course of the dinner so I got to learn some tricks and tips on creating that perfect fine dining experience! 

But first, check out this HUGE spice cabinet (and all the magical kitchen tools) that has such an impressive array, it could feed you for years!!! 

The epitome of a dream kitchen!

And here’s Chef LT plus a series of fun shots of us plating our appetisers!

Say HELLO to Chef LT!
Our yummy smoked salmon!
Look at that passion to impress!
Many funny moments where you can laugh at your own attempts (or get laughed at) HAHA
And of course you have those serious times as well. I was learning to mould the candied fruit!
My artwork! With Chef LT!
Perfect plating, yeah! 😉
Look at that thick yummy foie gras!!!
HAPPY PARENTS!
A sneaky shot of my YUMMY food!

Here comes the star of the show! The sous vide cooking method was utilised here where the vacuum sealed marinated meat were placed in the water of about 50 degree celcius (ask the Chef for a more accurate temperature!) for about an hour! 

DID YOU KNOW that you have to dry the meat before searing it? This is because the water on the meat would interfere with our achieving the edge-to-edge perfect doneness of our dish! We then seared the meat using tallow (beef fat) and oil with a high smoke point. That was 15 seconds each side (top and bottom and sides) for about 2 min at a high temperature. This will give you a very beautiful brown colour to whet your appetite! BUT before you get to enjoy, we are going to plate it! 

TIP: If you want to try doing this at home, you can use your oven to precook the meat before you sear them. Oven can be set at 100 degree celcius and you can cook the meat inside for about an hour before you seat them! (I found a very useful link here for detailed instructions: http://ladyandpups.com/2015/09/30/how-to-easily-sous-vide-in-oven-with-or-without-water/)

Just use paper towels to dry your meat, it’s easy!
GLORIOUS MEAT~
I was looking intently at that timer!
Isn’t this a heartwarming scene? Cooking for my parents!!!
Channeling my inner salt bae~
Was I paying attention? 😂
Very impressed with the end result! Did you know quality steak should not have blood coming out when you cut it?
PROUD OF MYSELF! Haha
Indulging in the scrumptious STEAK😍

Finally, we are going to end on a SWEET note! The dessert was pretty straightforward though, I had plenty of fun making the ‘dirt garden’ for the cake and piping out some yummy jelly gems! The layers of the cake were distinct and oh-so-flavourful! Especially in love with all the crunchy bits like the yummy nuts!

Preparing my dirt garden here! Tip: use a folded baking paper to sweep your dirt garden in line!
Looking over to check if I destroyed any mint leaves, LOL. I destroyed some when I plucked it the wrong way, haha! You got to nip it from its stem!
WEW MY GARDEN!
MY MASTERPIECE😍
With Chef LT and his Wife! Thank you two for your patience and guidance!
Bellies and hearts all fed and filled! ❤
GROUP PHOTO!

It was such an amazing experience that I had over at Chef LT’s house! I am really heartened that they graciously accepted my request to bring both my parents along for this wonderful treat! It was definitely THE MOST MEMORABLE cooking experience I had, with so much hands on in cooking and plating a fine dining meal! And I’m sure my parents were definitely overjoyed to have been invited down! 

Enjoy such quality meals and service from Chef LT’s warm and welcoming home like me, or bring back a taste of their expertise with their pre packaged sets that you can DIY! 

Special note: the steak sauce was HEAVENLY! Do request for this amazing wine reduced sauce when you go! 

Check them out here!

Instagram: @piquantdining

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piquantdining/

Website: http:piquantdining.com

GET $20 OFF CHEF CHOICE PICK SET!            (20 coupons while stocks last so hurry!)

Use ‘SHER01’, valid till 15/08/2017.

Cheers, 

Shermaine

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