Flammeküche (French "Pizza") at Flam's (Orchard Central)

Right off the bat, let me first say that describing a French food (Flammeküche or Tarte Flambée) with an Italian word (Pizza) is perhaps not the most politically (foodiecally?) correct way to go about things. So if you're reading this and you're French, no offense is intended. It's just that calling the Flammeküche a "French Pizza" seems like the easiest way to describe it in our neck of the woods :)

The Flammeküche originated from the region of Alsace in the North-East of France, and is traditionally, a very thin crust with lots of onions and bacon (or pork fat) on a crème fraîche-based sauce. The folks over at Flam's brought this Alsatian specialty to our shores about two months ago, naturally with a number of different toppings available on offer :)


It's hard to imagine the restaurant decor being any less French. Maybe it's because we're used to equating French food with Fine Dining; Flam's is much more casual. With bright orange sofa seating and lots of wood everywhere, it's not what you'd call cozy, but it does gel with that whole Pizza vibe.

Oops, I meant Flammeküche, of course!

Anyways, because the Flammeküches are so thin, they only need to be popped into the oven for something like 3 minutes before they're served. We started off with The French (SGD18.00), which is Camembert (cheese), walnuts and chives added to the basic bacon and onions. Having such a thin crust does mean that we can enjoy the taste of the liberally-sprinkled ingredients.


The Fresh Mushroom (SGD14.00) also comes loaded with slices of mushrooms. We're not 100% sure what mushrooms they were (tasted like shiitake). For those of us with normal appetites, one Flam per person is probably just about enough.


There are a bunch of sweet Flams on the menu too (for dessert) - we try The Banana Chocolate (SGD6.50) - a half-sized Flam that as its name suggests, comes with slices of Banana and chocolate chips. No bacon and onion on this pie, thankfully!


If you're in a particularly hungry mood, Flam's offers up "all you can eat"s for about SGD25 a mouth, which comes with a salad and non stop Flams until you throw in the towel.

So is a Flammeküche a "French Pizza?" Not really, in my opinion. There's no cheese topping, and the sauce is cream based and not tomato based. Nevertheless if you're in the area, the ingredients are fresh and the Flams are pretty good. Good value for money, too, especially if you're a big enough eater to take advantage of the "all you can eat" offering.

Flam's is on the second floor of Orchard Central. Non-halal.