Le Petit Souffle is a new French-Japanese with Chef Miko Aspiras and Chef Kristine Lotilla behind the kitchen. Located inside a mall with glass windows showing a facade offering a little peek of the journey your senses will be taken to. Step inside the whimsical place that’s light on the eyes and imbues one with a sense of coziness without really trying. Yellow, white and brown is the color palette it adopts to transport you to someones garden complete with trees and shrubbery.
Look up and see the rolling pins hanging from the trees.
Our preview into their menu started with their trio of soup. The Sweet Corn Potage (P195) is an intense corn soup that’s a bit thicker than what Irene has been whipping up at home. It has a smokier flavor because of the the roasting and some bits of playfulness by way of the caramel popcorn pieces. I forgot to say that it is one of the prettiest soup presentations I’ve seen with the corn cob on the side to nibble on.
The other two soup options are the Onion Soup (P220) and Japanese Curry Squash Soup (P195). The onion soup is a no brainer menu item for a place serving some form of French food, classic beef and caramelized onion soup topped Gruyere and Emmental cheeses. The curry soup is the more enjoyable one for me because it’s a new combination that works really well together. A creamy and comforting bowl of soup.
The Sesame Crusted Tuna Salad (P345) is a joy to eat. It may not look it but the sesame-wasabi dressing ties everything together. The seared tuna are also perfectly executed with just a thin layer of the fish that is cooked so you still get the sashimi feel.
Chef Miko is enamored with ice tea so he whipped up some non traditional ones with his own spin to it. There’s Guava and Yakult (P375) and Strawberry/Mint/Celery (P375) served in big carafes perfect for sharing. With my strawberry leanings, my choice was the light and citrusy strawberry one.
If your tastes lean toward matcha then you’ll get a load of it with the Cold Matcha Latte with Matcha Softee (P175). Think of it as a matcha float.
The Pancetta Carbonara (P355) is one of the better renditions around staying true to how it should be made. A raw egg sits in the middle of al dente fettuccine noodles, aged pancetta, shaved parmesan and roasted cashews. Mix the egg into the hot pasta to cook it and coat the noodles to create a lip smacking creaminess.
Vegetarian Soba Pasta (P325). If someone offered this to you, you probably would not accept it but give it a taste or you might just regret the decision. The soba noodles are tossed in a tasty shoyu sauce with lots of green vegetables. This is healthy food I would not mind eating.
Croque Madame (P395). A croissant with a layer of bechamel sauce, black forest ham, gratinated raclette and a fried egg. Delicious but more ham would be greatly appreciated considering the price.
Squid Ink Rice (P395). Squid ink cooked rice topped with fresh seafood, shimeji mushrooms and a layer of creamy scrambled eggs. My undisputed choice for Le Petit Souffle’s signature dish. There’s no hint of “fishiness” from the squid ink rice, even Irene enjoyed it and she dislikes paella negra.
The indulgent choice goes to the Mac and Foie (P625) that’s a done with a bit of Japanese influence. Aside from the cheese and macaroni, they’ve added crimini and shimeji mushrooms as well as Hungarian sausage slices with pieces of foie gras on top. There’s a regular mac and cheese (P395) if you dislike foie gras.
Japanese Beef Curry Souffle (P525). Japanese rice, beef strips with Japanese curry sauce covered with a savory souffle although it looks like fluffy scrambled eggs.
Crispy Ramen Chicken (P355). Shoyu ramen crusted fried chicken cutlets served with Tonkotsu-wasabi and Sesame-Sriracha sauces. I felt the ramen just added visual appeal and crunchy texture to the chicken and I did not taste the flavor. The sauces are both good thought I just can’t decide which one I like more.
We started our dessert adventure with the Valhrona Grand Crus (P375). This plate is a chocolate lovers dream come true using 4 different kinds of Valhrona chocolates (Arguani 72%, Caramelia 36%, Dulcey 32%, Equatoriale 55%). Pouring the hot creme anglaise sauce melts the chocolate shavings that you have to mix thoroughly.
Chef Miko’s parfait creations are the belle of the ball. Each one beautifully crafted and presented you’d feel bad about eating it. Matcha Parfait (P220) with matcha softee, chocolate cake chunks, chocolate sauce, matcha and coffee jellies, azuki beans and green tea white choco wafers.
The Salted Egg Caramel Parfait (P220) has a vanilla custard base with vanilla cake chunks, salted egg custard, granola, vanilla wafers, caramel, peanut butter, and almond dacquoise. This is the most unique of the trio with the use of the grainy salted egg that gives a salty flavor similar to how salted caramel works.
The Strawberry Lychee Parfait (P220) combines two of my favorite fruits. Vanilla custard, vanilla cake chunks, fresh strawberries, strawberry sauce, lychee and match jelly, pistachio and almond dacquoise.
The custard bases were a little less creamy than what I would have liked but it’s already pretty good. They’ve since improved a couple of these parfaits by adding more toppings and substituting others out so it might not look and taste exactly the same as the ones I had. The core flavors will be there but trimmings will be different.
Excuse the picture of the souffle as I forgot to snap one before it had flattened. Of the two we tried, Matcha Valhrona (P350) and French Vanilla Bean (P300), I’m more partial to the classic vanilla bean one. Chef Miko’s souffle is a denser creation and has more body.
Chef Miko has introduced a new line of frozen souffles but we were only able the Valhrona Manjari and Mixed Berry (P325). The frozen souffle is left to rise in the cold so the texture is still similar, a bit less airy than the baked version. This is another chocolate lovers pick with strong chocolate flavors contrasted by a tart berry compote.
The Matcha Souffle Pancake (P180) is light and airy but the matcha flavor is too tame for the hardcore lovers. The pancake are puck shaped and thicker than regular pancakes but is still light and soft inside with a nice crust outside.
Le Petit Souffle is still growing into its menu with many changes as they gauge how the food is accepted. There are already clear cut favorites like the corn soup and the squid ink rice together with their pretty, Instagram worthy desserts.
Le Petit Souffle
Level 3 Century City Mall Kalayaan Ave. cor. Salamanca St. Brgy. Poblacion, Makati City Contact No.: (632) 886-3056Facebook Page: Le Petit Souffle
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