Enoch’s French-European Restaurant, Katong | PrisChew.com

This casual restaurant started out as Le Petit Paradis, a small stall selling French food at the AlibabaR coffee shop along East Coast Road in Katong. But last year, they moved into their own restaurant – a few doors down from the coffee shop.

Diners enjoying a meal at Enoch’s.

Recently, they rebranded and changed their name from Le Petit Paradis to Enoch’s, and are currently working on increasing their range of food from French cuisine, to modern European food, including Spanish, Mexican and Italian fare.

The current menu consists of an affordable range of food items including soups such as Mushroom Cappuccino and appetisers such as Truffled Asparagus. Also served are mains such as Steak Frites, 12-Hour Belly of Pork and Sous-Vide of Lamb.

I went to try the food recently. The original French menu is now still in operation, but according to the eatery’s owner – chef Enoch Teo, who is French-trained and has worked at top French and European restaurants such as Andre and Les Amis – this menu will change every three months.

Dishes that we tried at the eatery

For the soup, my companions and I tried the Mushroom Cappuccino soup ($7.00). I had the Herb Crusted Salmon ($20.00) for my main course while my companions ate the Pan Seared Sea Bass ($20.00) and the Duck Leg Confit ($17.00) respectively. To end the meal on a sweet note, we dug into the Creme Brûlée ($6.00) as well as the Chocolate Fondant ($10.00).

Here is how the various food items turned out.

Mushroom Cappuccino Soup

Mushroom Cappuccino Soup.

Don’t worry. There is no cappuccino in the soup. Instead, I found out that the “Cappuccino” part of the soup comes from the fact that the soup appears like a cup of cappuccino, with a layer of frothing on the top. It was also served in a cappuccino-like cup, and had a long piece of garlic bread sticking out like a straw.

The fresh mushrooms gave the soup a very homely flavour. As well, I rather enjoyed the crunchy garlic bread. But it was a pity it wasn’t hotter, though.

Herb Crusted Salmon

Herb Crusted Salmon.

Topped with a garlic parsley crust and served on a bed of sautéed potatoes, French beans and cherry tomatoes, this was definitely one of the better salmons that I have tried. The salmon, cooked medium, was very moist. I loved the taste of the freshness in the fish.

The flavours in the potatoes were nice. But it may have been slightly on the salty side though. And the French beans and cherry tomatoes added a nice kick to the salmon.

Pan Seared Sea Bass

Pan Seared Sea Bass.

This dish was served with saffron flavoured rice risotto, French bean Nicoise and basil pesto.

This sea bass was quite moist, like the salmon, and the skin was extremely crunchy and delicious. However I also found it slightly on the salty side. As for the side dishes, I tried some and the rice risotto was a little watery for my liking. However I’ll add that the flavour was quite yummy, though. My companion also thought the same.

Duck Leg Confit

Duck Leg Confit.

Served with mashed potatoes and wild rocket lettuce, this dish had a good balance of carbohydrates, greens and proteins.

I have never been a fan of duck due to its strong flavour, but I tried a little of this, and surprisingly it was quite pleasant, and not as strong as I had otherwise expected. The mashed potatoes though, were scrumptious and I could not stop eating these. My companion also loved the lettuce.

Creme Brûlée

Creme Brûlée.

Basically a dessert comprising of a rich caramel flavoured custard base topped with a layer of burnt caramel, this did not disappoint me – the flavour was nice and the dessert was pretty addictive. But I thought that the layer of burnt caramel on the top was a little thick for my liking, and this somewhat spoiled the overall sensation of the otherwise yummy dessert.

Chocolate Fondant

Chocolate Fondant.

This dessert is basically molten chocolate lava cake and it was served with vanilla ice cream. And when I cut into the chocolate cake, the lava flowed out onto the plate, as it should.

I enjoy eating chocolate, but I must warn you that this dessert is really rich – so it is best shared. I was feeling slightly queasy after eating several mouthfuls of this. The strong flavour of the dark chocolate, possibly comprising about 70 to 80 per cent cacao, immediately hit me the moment I put a spoonful into my mouth. The ice cream complemented the cake really well though, and created a delicious hot vs cold sensation inside the mouth.

The Service

I would say that the service at this eatery is quite fast – our first course came out of the kitchen within about five to 10 minutes of us ordering our meals. As well, Teo was very easygoing and friendly, and came out to speak to us several times, asking us how our food was and so on. The good service that really makes you want to return to this restaurant again to eat.

Enoch’s European Restaurant.

Overall Comments

As a whole, this restaurant is a good, hidden find along East Coast Road and if you are a fan of French and other European food, I think it is somewhere that you should consider trying.