La Chasseur: Chinese Not French

When Kless first told me of this place where it’s famous for their Claypot Rice, I actually thought she meant ‘Lao Cze Char” or in mandarin 老煮炒. After I saw the name for myself, I thought she meant French Claypot Rice like Baked Rice.

I was so wrong. La Chasseur is a Chinese Restaurant, the meaning of this French word is ‘The Hunter’. The owner and chef, Andy Lim used to run a similar restaurant in Mauritius.

Chef Andy is really a passionate person when it comes to his food. He spent almost 5mins explaining to us how he prepared the Pig Trotter in Black Vinegar. This dish is usually eaten by women during their confinement period. So it’s not a dish you can find readily outside. According to Andy, the cooking of the pig trotter in the black vinegar requires only 20mins, this is so that the pork will still be intact and customers can still taste the meat. However, the soup (black vinegar) has to be prepared beforehand and that requires 2hrs minimum. A 2nd serving of black vinegar is added into the pot when he puts in the pig trotter, which is why the flavour is so strong and irresistible. Try it and you would know what I mean.

Famous Claypot Rice. Order at the counter once you are there, cos it takes 15-20mins for them to prepare your claypot rice. You can slowly choose the other dishes. What is special here is the type rice Andy uses, it’s good quality Basmati rice instead of the normal White rice. Basmati rice grains are lighter and will not stick together when cooked. Which is why Kless commented that it actually tasted like ‘Biryani-type of rice’. Definitely worth waiting for. The portion you see below is for 2 pax and it’s $9.

We ordered the grass jelly drink, and was surprised they added wolfberry. Nice and refreshing.

For dessert, it has to be Tau Suan. This is another dish Andy was super passionate about. We waited for about 10mins before the dessert was served. The tau suan is only prepared when you ordered it. Andy jokingly mentioned that everything in his restaurant needs to wait except for plain white rice. But I have to say, the wait was worth it. The soup was prepared with gula melaka thus the slightly darker tone. The you tiao were toasted with charcoal which gives it a crispy and fragrant taste. When served, Andy will provide 2 spoons and another smaller bowl for you to eat the tau suan. Reason is when tau suan is mixed with saliva, the flour texture will dissolve and the tau suan will become watery. So to fully enjoy the dessert, you got to scoop the tau suan into another bowl and used the 2nd spoon to eat. Another lesson leant during a lunch session. Impressive!

I will definitely go back to La Chasseur again. There are about 160 different dishes to try. And I am quite sure with such passionate Chef, there will be more food gems to be discovered.

Address:
31 New Bridge Road (opp Central)

Opening Hours:
Daily (11:30am – 3pm, 5:30pm – 10:30pm)