It's been almost exactly a year since I was last at Mad About Sucre - I like this quaint little place (near Singapore's Chinatown) a lot - everything about it. So, when Pearl jio (Singlish for invited) us for lunch at Mad About Sucre, I agreed before my next heart beat.
Inside Mad About Sucre, it was much the same as I remembered it from my last visit. Long narrow space, cake display and counter on one side, orange lights, simple but comfortable furnishings. Unpretentious. Charmingly understated.
It reminds me of compact, boutique eateries in for example New York City with the strong personal stamp of the chef-owners. (Not been back to France for a very long time.)
Mad About Sucre is famed for their exquisite cakes by baker-owner Lena Chan and French Provencal dishes by chef-owner brother Eric Chan.
Mad About Sucre's hot food menu is inspired by the family's first trip to Paris in the Summer of 1982. Since then, the Chan family have a life long love affair with French cuisine. Even now, they have been back to France at least twice every year to source for ingredients and inspiration for their culinary creations.
You can feel and taste the dedication, love and passion of the creative chefs in every inspired dish. True Francophiles, these.
Pearl was famished, so we launched straight into a meaty salad. It's rib-eye of beef on a bed of organic greens and water melon cubes topped with oven crisps. The salad is dressed with a vinaigrette of Cambodian sweet chili, lemongrass and Kaffir (lime) leaves.
The tender juicy slices of grass fed (i.e. free ranging) rib-eye come from Provence, France. Chewing on the medium rare beef releases the rich beefy sweetness in the tender fibres and juices with every bite.
The refreshing tang and mild spicy sting from the Cambodian-French inspired vinaigrette dressing on the leafy juicy greens whetted our appetite for the mains that followed.
First up, the fillet of lamb that Pearl used to entice us to come to Mad About Sucre together (though actually, I needed very little coaxing as I was already about to make my repeat visit).
Strips of grass fed free ranging lamb from France laid on a bed of ratatouille (vegetable stew) and artistic swirl of aged balsamic vinegar. Served with a rolled pesto pancake and Moroccan mint.
The medium done fillet of lamb was tender and juicy with a subtle gaminess that tasted different from Australian or New Zealand lamb. It was lovely and a nice change from the usual Southern hemisphere lamb.
Paper thin slices of pork belly marinated in beer, sauteed, rolled and served with crispy pork rind, caramelised green apple, sticks of cucumber, stalks of chives, tomatoes etc.
The pork belly "roll" was tender and mildly savoury sweet tasting - the gently sweet tangy caramelised green apple wedges provided the accent to the somewhat flat tasting pork.
This baked rice is the quintessential French Provencal dish - the kind that French pops and moms serve in family homes.
It's whatever happens to be in the kitchen, sauteed in a pan of grease then popped into a hot oven and baked at high heat. It's the French answer to the Italian risotto or the Spanish paella but with it's own unique characteristics like a Cognac flambéed just before serving.
Mad About Sucre's rendition of this French classic has chicken, mussel, squid, barramundi, sausage, Icelandic shrimps, house made sausage etc.
If you need a rice dish, this is it.
I love tails and when I saw oxtail on the menu, I must have it 😋
Oxtail slow stewed (over 8 hours) till soft like warm butter, served with rich Burgundy red wine sauce and mash potatoes, carrot and broccoli sides.
That soft meat, gelatin and fat were saturated with rich beefy savoury sweetness. That Burgundy red wine sauce was so delicious, I was mopping it up with the mash potato, stopping only when that white plate was squeaky clean.
We were done with mains and ready to start desserts when someone mentioned foie gras - how can we come to a French restaurant and leave without tasting the foie gras, right?
So, we cleansed our palates with some house blended tea and had foie gras 😄
Foie gras.. oh.. foie gras... when it is French goose liver.. and done at Mad About Sucre... there is really no need to say anymore than just - it is a "Must Try".
😱 Four of us, we actually had 5 out of 6 mains in Mad Sucre's Summer menu. We would have had their Duck Confit made with old French ducks (5 years old 😄) but we just had no more stomach space, and we wanted to have their legendary desserts (which is a must).
Mad About Sucre's cakes are hand crafted by Lena, Eric's sister (she was not at the shop at the time).
1982 White Lime - so eye catching, I couldn't contain my curiosity about how it tastes 😂
It's made of lime, lemon, white rum, mint, citrus sponge, and white chocolate.
Yummy!
I like this Sunkissed a lot. It has the taste and fragrance of pink guava - the way guava tasted when I was a child and something that I have not encountered for a very long time. The sweetish light cheese complemented the pink guava very well.
E. Ti. (Forgot to ask Eric why the cake was named such.)
Cold dripped espresso coffee, dark chocolate, organic almonds, Spanish Mandarin orange, nut sponge, and Chantilly (whipped) cream.
In the mouth, it was fruity tangy, sweet, bitter sweet with subtle hints of Arabica.
Zesty and sweet. Nice!
Mad About of Sucre has 6 delicate house blended teas with which to enjoy their exquisite cakes with.
(They also have a selection of French wines.)
4-Stars (out of 5). One of my favourite boutique eateries in Singapore. I like the intimate feel and the personal stamps of owner-chefs Eric and Lena. The food and cakes are always creative and delicious. Mad About Sucre is one of my top of the mind places when friends ask me for recommendations for a good Western restaurant and excellent patisserie in Singapore. Prices are at a premium but it is worth it as all ingredients are natural or organic, and every dish and cake is lovingly hand crafted.
Read about my other visits to MAD 👈 click
The easiest way to Mad About Sucre by public transport is to get off at Outram Park MRT station on the East West Line. The shop frontage is a little inconspicuous outside - the restaurant is 50 steps from Exit H of the MRT station on Teo Hong Road.
Restaurant name: Mad About Sucre
Address: 27 Teo Hong Rd, Singapore 088334 (50 paces from Outram Park MRT station)
GPS: 1.279977, 103.840693 / 1°16'47.9"N 103°50'26.5"E
Tel: 6221 3969
Hours: 12:30am to 10:00pm | Closed at 5:00pm on Sunday (Closed whole day on Monday)
Non Halal
Date visited: 23 Jun 2016, 20 Aug 2017
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