The Black Sheep Café

I've finally made my pilgrimage to The Black Sheep Café, where many have been raving about its duck confit. If there's one thing that I was particularly craving for in my two weeks in Vietnam, it would have to be duck confit. You'd probably be wondering how such a craving could have come about in a place like Hanoi, in fact I'm wondering about it myself too, but I think it has to do with this knowledge at the back of my head that the Vietnamese language was romanised by the French to "quoc ngu". It isn't the most direct stream of thoughts for sure, but that's how I made a promise to myself that I must have a good duck confit within a week that I'm back in Singapore.


The Black Sheep Café, previously situated at Seletar, is now located along Mayo Street. It's a small diner with simple but inviting decor, and the first thing you would probably notice is the few portraits and paintings on the walls bearing the sheep motif.


This poster somehow reminded me of George Orwell's Animal Farm. I guess it's got something to do with the pig? Hahaha.


The Black Sheep Café is a French restaurant helmed by an Indian chef. For many of us, we don't really bother who the king of the kitchen is so as long as the food is good. Others may be prejudiced and think otherwise, as was the case with Chef Ratha when he worked in other French restaurants in the early 2000s. I say, quite simply so, that we let the food speak for itself.

Duck Confit with Apple Rosti


The Duck Confit from The Black Sheep Café is amazingly good. I've not eaten a good many duck confits that is this tender on the inside; it's the duck variant to one of my favourite tender lamb shanks at Cafe Oliv. Every bite was like a little piece of heaven to me, and this was so good that even The White Rabbit's confit could not hold up to it. I'm serious.


A unique but refreshing addition to this dish was the Tangy Mango Relish. I normally like my food as it is and unadulterated by additional sauces or relish, but a sufficient hint of this mango side did well to whet my appetite even further.


The duck confit was lying atop a bed of extremely delicious Apple Rosti, which complemented it perfectly. Soft, smooth and flavourful, this rosti puts the plain (and sometimes overly oily) rosti at Marche to shame. Can I have more... of everything please? :)


As it was drizzling outside, a nice frothy cup of Cappuccino was all I needed to keep myself comfortably warm inside. Just a single course meal, but I'm very satisfied. Perhaps if you come with a friend, you might want to consider ordering a third confit to share!

Now, don't you think it's nice to come to the end of a post and not have to read rubbish like "Thank you blah blah blah for the invited session" or "Thank you blah blah blah for hosting the dinner"? The number of free food tastings that some bloggers do has become quite ridiculous, if not disgusting as well. I was telling some of my friends that I no longer acknowledge that I am a "food blogger" because I feel quite ashamed really to be associated with these cheapskates losers kids... whatever. I wonder how these people can live with themselves, I was uncomfortable after just two invites in the past, but these guys are churning out a free food post almost twice a week. Poor sods.


Good things don't have to be free. In fact, with such good duck confit here at The Black Sheep Café, what I'm paying for is just a small token of appreciation to the Chef for making my lunch such a satisfying one.

Service
Very good. No service charge, no GST.

Price
$22.50 for the duck confit.
You can check out the menu here.

Place
35 Mayo Street, off Little India
Directly opposite Abdul Gafoor Mosque,
In between The Verge and Sim Lim Tower.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.