On average, I make only one good decision every quarter (of the year). If that is true, then I made my only good decision for the first three months of 2023 when I decided to drop by Little French Fusion. At time of writing, this little French restaurant has only been open for three days, and they’re still in their soft launch phase.⠀
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As you might expect of a restaurant in soft launch, more than half of their menu was unavailable. Fortunately, their Escargot Bourguignon ($16.50 + 10% service charge) was available, and I that was my appetiser by default. After all, when in a French restaurant, do as lé Parisiens do, non? Half a dozen snails are baked in garlic butter till they’re just cooked through, and at Little French Fusion, they are poshly plated before arriving at your table. For the more astute amongst you, you may be wondering: ‘it’s called Little French Fusion, but where’s the fusion twist?’⠀
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Mon ami, that is where the shichimi garlic butter & shiro miso (white miso) come in. Ye olde garlic butter is fortified with white miso and shichimi (Japanese seven spice mix), achieving the successful fusion of French cuisine with Japanese ingredients by turbocharging the garlic butter with a delectable umami that no ordinary garlic butter could ever hope to achieve. Admittedly, the shichimi was absent from my tasting, so it fell solely to the shiro miso powered garlic butter to flavour the snails.⠀
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The shiro miso, which is a milder, less salty form of miso, fused with the garlic butter to produce an absolutely mesmerising mashup of flavours that fully flavour the escargot. The already attractive attributes of garlic butter are enhanced by the umami savouriness of the white miso, and that concoction of luscious liquid gold has nestled into the snail shells. The snail meat was perfectly cooked, possessing a cheerful chew while still maintaining a decent tenderness. Unfortunately, some snails were decidedly bitter, although that’s more of a farmer-side issue than it is a kitchen side one.⠀
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Still, for a 3 day old restaurant, Little French Fusion serves up real big flavours, and I’m excited for the full menu. Hon hon hon!