news & events

Artisan Boulangerie Co. (ABC) - 1^st Mar 2015

Chef Albert approached us back in 2013 for some supplies to a new boulangerie he is setting up with a partner. He knew us back in 2012 when he was with Moomba and we were of course thrilled to be the appointed supplier. 

Artisan Boulangerie Co. (ABC)started off with a store at Killiney in 2013. By early 2014, it already had 3 outlets and by late 2014, they had a central kitchen where they produce their own meatballs among other things for all its outlets. 

With seven outlets now serving artisanal breads and gourmet food, I opted to go for the one at Vivo City. Having heard good reviews about it,  I was expecting a long queue (ABC doesn't take reservations) and was delighted to see a vacant table upon arrival. 

Orders are to be placed at the cashier's and while you make your way there, you see an attractive display of eclairs, tarts, lava cakes and brownies! We were disciplined enough to place orders for the mains instead of having only desserts for dinner. 

Roast Chicken Sandwich

The Roast Chicken Sandwich and Beef Pie were served almost immediately after we returned to our seats. Made with roasted chicken breast accompanied with greens, sauce, sandwiched in artisanal baguette made fresh daily, the chicken baguette makes an excellent quick lunch. Considering how lean chicken breasts are, this was decent. 

The beef pie stuffing is made with chuck tender

The beef pie stuffing is made with chuck tender and green peas among other ingredients. Though the beef was flavourful, we wished it had been braised slightly longer. We also imagined that the pie stuffing will come with a little sauce such that it will come oozing out when we poke through the pie with a fork. As you can see from the picture above that the stuffing has been well-drained such that there is little mess. 

linguine in sour cherry tomato sauce

Both my partner and I agreed that the linguine in sour cherry tomato sauce stood out that evening. One serving of the linguine comes with five meatballs that are hand-made by ABC in their central kitchen. One could tell that the flavourful meatballs are made with real meat with no fillers. It is apparent from the colour on one side of the meatballs that they are first browned in the pan before the tomato sauce is added. I imagine that the sauce is made with oven roasted cherry tomatoes blended with some olives, herbs and some cheese. It had a tinge of sourness that is uplifting and different from the ones I have made or tasted. The linguine was done al dente and we hungrily devoured everything that was on the plate like hungry children coming home after school. If you happen to have a recipe for sour cherry tomato pasta sauce, will you please share it with us by posting it on our FB wall?

Salted Caramel Lava Cake

For desserts, I had the Salted Caramel Lava Cake while my partner had the Coffee Eclair. You can guess from the picture above that more caramel sauce had been added to the top of the cake after it came out from the oven. While the inside of the lava cake was almost cooked through, the additional caramel adds another level of sweetness to it. I would have added more sea salt to the caramel. 

Coffee Eclair

The Coffee Eclair was good too except that we would both like it sweeter and with a stronger coffee flavour.