Not your mainstream French

I was hanging out with a few friends tonight, and we decided to give On Lot 10 a try.  I had missed an opportunity to come here a few weeks ago, and looked forward to checking out the cuisine.

The restaurant's menu was small but full of surprises.  I ended up choosing 3 starters, which were all more interesting than your run-of-the-mill French fare.  I was getting really impressed with the the menu put together by the chef.

I started with some rabbit rillettes.  It's not often that one finds rillettes made with rabbit in Asia, as it's usually pork.  I love rillettes, and this one was pretty nice.  Very fine strands of meat fiber, very smooth on the tongue, and not too fatty.

I had a bite of my friend's boudin Basque, which was nicely pan-fried to dissolve some of the fat in the blood sausage.  I didn't have any of the caramelized apple because I wanted the full flavors of the sausage.

Crispy tête de cochon came next.  I love that they have this on the menu, although it wasn't as good as the one I had last month.  Pig skin, pig's ear, pig cheeks and tongue wrapped together.  There were big pieces of crunchy ear which kinda ruined an otherwise soft and smooth texture.  The garnish on the side consisted of capers, chopped gherkins and cheese, using the acidity to balance the fat of the head cheese.

Finally I had some andouillette, which was off the menu but was offered to me by the waiter instead of something else I wanted.  I think what I got was half of a sausage, pan-fried along with a chunk of caramelized pear.  I looooove andouillette, but this one was a little extra chewy.  At least the flavors were all there, although I'm not sure some of my companions appreciated the smell.

My friend brought along two bottles of wine, which we did not finish as the ladies weren't drinking much.  The 2001 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet drank very well, with nose of lemon, toast, minerals...very ripe nose and a little buttery.

The 2007 Torbreck the Struie was drunk way too young, but it was pretty much what I expected from David Powell.  Huge sweet nose, with lots of minerals, oak, orange, a hint of smoke, vanilla and caramel.  Really a lot like American Syrah...

I didn't have a huge amount of food, but they were all pretty rich, which left no room for dessert.  I was happy just to stop here, and it was a pretty good meal.  Maybe next time I'll come back for the roast suckling pig...