SINGAPORE | JOEL ROBUCHON

For the regulars here it's not a secret that we like to splurge on an extraordinary meal every once in a while. So it wasn't a surprise that in our time in Singapore - that's home to a large amount of exceptional restaurants - we decided to try out some of the city’s best dining. We even had an actual dinner itinerary that was set up by the lovely host at our hotel.

On Sunday it was time for some true French cuisine at one of our most favorite chefs: Joel Robuchon. We've visited his restaurants in Paris and Hong Kong and have never been disappointed. His 'discovery menu' always consists of the most surprising combinations of flavors with dishes that are both innovative and mouth-watering.

As in Hong Kong and Paris, the restaurant is situated in a shopping mall, which is quite common in Asian countries. However, the difference in Singapore is that there are windows, which keeps you aware of the fact that you're dining in a shopping mall. I'm still not sure if it bothered me a lot, but I do know I prefer the restaurants without windows - even though I realise how odd that sounds! It's mostly because we love sitting at the bar anyway, where you have a view of the entire kitchen, so you're mainly focussed on each other while seeing all dishes getting prepared.

I absolutely love how the plates are set up in such a refined way.

This spinach veloute in combination with the soft poached egg may not sound very adventurous, but I especially like how they take these kind of dishes to the next level.

I'm no fan of foie gras - mostly because me and my family went to France every summer when I was younger, and I got explained once how it's made... - but this was the second time I enjoyed it in a dish, and both times was at one of Joel Robuchon's restaurants! This dish was served with mango puree, absolutely heavenly and a party in my mouth. What can I say? I just love that man's cooking.

It's kind of strange, but I was always under the impression that I didn't like duck. Until that one time that I made a bold move and just ordered it in a restaurant... since then, I absolutely love duck prepared in almost every way. And this perfectly seared version with a puree of peas on the side was no exception.

These mashed potatoes are without a doubt the most creamy I've ever tasted. I'm not sure what the secret is, but I think the answer is dairy butter, a whole lot of it...

This dessert is both surprising and delicious; it gets served as a chocolate ball that opens up at the top after they pour melted chocolate over it. On the inside there was some chocolate and caramel salted chantilly on cacao sorbet, soooo good!

At the end of the evening, when just the two of us and another young couple were still in the restaurant, we had a conversation with the sommelier and the manager. That's when we found out it was Mister Robuchon's birthday the next day, so when they said that they were going to sing and record 'joyeux anniversaire' (French for 'happy birthday') to send it to him, I offered to record it for them, so they could all be in in the film. Instead they asked me if I would like to sing along, together with the other couple. We all took pictures after that, to capture this fun memory!