Aruna Vasudev Dines The Montferrands

We kicked off with the starters: lightly-flavoured minced prawns on sugarcane stick—a Vietnamese speciality, skewered chicken mince wrapped in Thai glass noodles and crisp fried, and Chinese dim sum—more light and airy than one can imagine. To go with this were two Thai salads—the vegetarian with green papaya, the other with seafood. Bernard recalled the time when French chefs went to Thailand to learn about the combination of hard and soft, spicy and sweet. The ‘hard’ sesame seeds on ‘soft’ minced prawns served with a sweet sauce laced with thinly-sliced red chillies, the crisp glass noodles on the tender minced chicken served with soya sauce with finely-chopped ginger. It’s an Asian attitude to life, carried over into food.

In Singapore, the Montferrands had their favourite food for Sunday lunch—chicken rice for Bernard and chicken in coconut (a dish developed apparently by the Malay Chinese) for Catherine. Our choice at the Pan Asian reflected these preferences. "Crispy fried red snapper fillet with 3-flavoured sauce adapted from the cuisine of Singapore’s hawker centres", it said on the menu. We also had lemon-grass chicken, again a Vietnamese speciality. To go with the food they preferred the Grover rather than the French wine because its heavier, rougher taste is a perfect accompaniment to the spicy, flavourful food.

For the French, food isn’t a daily routine, it’s an experience to relish. And the conversation that accompanies it is as important. We talked of food and wine, of course, but also of history and cinema. Between past and present, history and poetry, media and politics, it was a delicious evening rounded off with mouth-watering desserts.