From snacks to pastries, charcuterie to seafood, wines to cheeses, gourmands can stock up on more than 500 products in the 5,000-square-foot epicurean space. Out of every 10 products, six are imported from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in south-west France. A considerable number of the stockists are making their Singapore debut.
The Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, which is known as the first farming region in France, is a major agricultural hub in France. The lush region is home to oyster-rich waters, cattle-grazing pastures, orchard farms and cheese houses. Wine connoisseurs might be more familiar with Bordeaux, which is a major city in the region and one of wine capitals of the world.
We suss out five unusual French products at So France.
Cannot finish a bottle of wine by yourself? Try a flacon instead. Each nifty 30ml test tube stores wines that fill up a wine glass nicely. Choose from more than 10 types of flacons, ranging from Chateau Coulet Saint-Emilion Grand Gru, Thompson’s Vodka to Cognac. The cellar has about 20 varieties of wines that can be re-packaged into flacons upon request.
Price: From $14.50
One of the major pig farms in the Basque Country in south-west France, Pierre Oteiza is the go-to name for charcuterie. One of its star products is the Bayonne ham, also known as the French prosciutto. The ham comes from Celtic pigs that have been cured in Salies-de-Bearn salt for a year, air-dried and lightly smoked. Most Bayonne hams are also rubbed with a paste of lard and flour to keep the meat moist throughout the dry and warm months of spring and summer.
Price available upon request
One of the many specialty cheeses from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, the snow-hued dome-shaped cheese, which means “little smoke” in French, is made from pasteurised goat milk, salt, lactic ferments and rennet. The thick, creamy cheese is aged in containers that have been smoked with wood fire.
Price: From $9
These sugar-coated fruit pastilles make a perfect pick-me-up after a meal. The cubes come in a delightful assortment of all-natural flavours such as strawberry, peach, blueberries and orange. The pastilles are made by Confiserie Limousine, an established confectionery from Limoges.
Price: From $19
Peach Tartlets
Feeling peckish and craving something sweet? These nugget-sized peach tarts from Lou Cocal are filled with sweet and sticky peach and cheese, or honey and pistachio before being glazed with Monbazillac wine.
Price: $13.20