Chez Olivier

This saturday, we went to a French restaurant in Prahran for our weekly lunch, and to celebrate my sister's birthday, which, was back in May...

Chez Olivier is very closed to the Prahran market, only a few minutes walk.  It's a nice little cozy restaurant.

The decorations are simple, but with a french touch.  The waiters also all spoke with a french accent, which was interesting.  I think we even overheard them speaking in french amongst themselves.

The complimentary bread was very nice, had a crisp outside with a very soft center.  The butter was a bit hard and difficult to spread, but otherwise tasted very good.  And the sea salt that came with the bread add a very nice touch as well.

For entree, I had the Seafood Bisque Soup.  It was very thick and creamy, and full of seafood flavour.  This is the first time I had bisque soup, and sure this won't be the last time if this is what bisque taste like.  Pity that we had already finished the bread, or else I would definitely have used the bread to soak up every little last drop of the soup.  The soup also came with one mussel and one large prawn.  The mussel was quite small, but the prawn was large and cooked perfectly.  Cooked, but still very juicy.  Loved that prawn.

My mum and my sister both had Soup a l'oignon aka Onion Soup.  I had a little taste from my sister's soup, and it was quite nice, but a little to the sweet side.  It's still very good, but I have had better else where.

After the three serve of the entree came out, the waiter then bought us something we didn't order.  He explained to us that because the cheese souffle that my dad had ordered will take a little longer (which was only another five minutes), they are giving us this little dish for free.  I forgot what exactly this dish was, but I think it was sardine on red capsicum with a piece of biscuit on the bottom, and some greens on the side.  It was fresh and simple.

Dad chose the Entree of the Day, which was a Goat Milk Cheese Souffle with Pumpkin coulis and greens on the side.  OMG!  This was MAGNIFICENT!  It was very cheesy but without the goat milk taste that I dislike.  And sooooo soft, fluffy and light.  Absolutely what souffle should be like.  ARGH! I should have had this!!  I should have had BOTH!

For main, I chose the Boudin Blanc - Chicken Sausage with caramelised apple and creamy mash potato.  I had always wanted to try boudin blanc, but never had the chance.  The dish didn't disappoint. The boudin blanc was very moist and soft, unlike normal sausage.  It's a little like those japanese fish sausages I had when I was small, only more moist and even softer.  The mash, oh the mash.  It was so soft, so creamy!  I always love a good mash, and I love this mash.

Dad picked the Main of the Day, which was braised lamb with vegies and creamy mash potato and bread.  I didn't taste this dish, but it did look very good.

Mum had the Brochette de Boeuf Grille - Grilled beef skewer with pomme frites and Salads.  I tried a piece of the beef, and it was quite nice, but I suppose, not really special.  And it did seems that, although the overall serving was not small, it would have been better if there were more meat.

My sister had the Salmon of the day, which was seared salmon with capsicum on a skewer with Cauliflower coulis.  I tried a bit of the salmon, and it tasted very nice.  But the highlight of the dish was definitely the cauliflower coulis.  It was very creamy and tasteful.

For dessert, dad once again picked the Dessert of the Day, which was poached pear in chilli red wine sauce.  It looked very amazing, but the pear seems to be not poached enough.  It wasn't as soft as I would like it to be.

I have never had poached meringue before, and this Ill Flottante definitely made me want to have it again.  The meringue was light and fluffy, absolutely amazing  And the sauce, the vanilla custard sauce was such a perfect match to the poached meringue.  Not too sweet, but just right, and not overpowering.

Overall, it's a very nice restaurant that I would go back to.  We had the set course lunch and the price and serving size was a good match.  Not extraly expensive, but definitely enough to make you full.

However though, next time we go there, we must remember to have tap water rather than mineral water...  We did realise that we do need to pay for the mineral water, but no idea it was $11 for a bottle...and we had two...  And probably we would do fine without having extra sides as well, since the set lunch is already quite enough.