Le Matin is back, with sandwiches, gelato and those famous pastries
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Pastry chef Mohamed Al-Matin is making a comeback, with sandwich and pastry shop Le Matin Petit, and gelato brand apres Gelato.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
- Chef Mohamed Al Matin opened Le Matin Petit with apres Gelato on April 3, offering sandwiches, gelato, and pastries, with signature pastries only available Friday-Sunday.
- Le Matin Petit signifies a fresh start after parting ways with partners at Le Matin Patisserie, focusing on a smaller menu and direct customer engagement.
- With the new store, set up for $250,000, he is prioritising passion and customer connection.
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SINGAPORE – Fans of pastry chef Mohamed Al-Matin will now be able to get their hands on his intricately flavoured pastries, and more besides.
On April 3, the 37-year-old will open Le Matin Petit at Viva Vista Shopping Mall in South Buona Vista Road, alongside his gelato bar, apres Gelato.
Pastries will not be the only offerings on the menu. In fact, items like Kouign Amann, Pain Au Chocolat, Pistachio Escargot and Wagyu Bone Marrow Pi, will be available from Fridays to Sundays.
What chef Matin is focusing on are his new offerings: sandwiches made with sourdough brioche, gelato and parfait desserts.
Le Matin Petit's sourdough brioche sandwich with scrambled eggs and truffle aioli.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
The home-grown chef trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney, Australia, then worked for Black Star Pastry and Zumbo, two famous patisseries there. He also worked at Taiwanese chef Andre Chiang’s Restaurant Andre in Singapore, and at Copenhagen restaurant Noma for two years.
He gained fame in Singapore during the pandemic, when his pastry boxes went viral. A shop at Raeburn Park followed in 2020. It drew crowds that then followed him to Ion Orchard, where he opened the swish Le Matin Patisserie in 2023 with partners, offering luxe creations like crab caviar waffles and chutoro brioche feuilletee.
It closed in February 2024, when he parted ways with the partners. He says both parties wanted to take the brand in different directions.
Small is beautiful
There are four sandwiches (priced from $14 to $18), including Red Hot Fried Chicken and Smoked Beef Cheek Banh Mi.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
Le Matin Petit comes from his name, which also means “morning” in French. Petit, French for small, is significant too, because of the way he has structured his new business. Apres, French for next or after, is also apt. He says he always wants something sweet after a meal, and he is signalling the next chapter in his career.
The menu, he adds, is petit. There are four sandwiches (priced from $14 to $18), including Red Hot Fried Chicken and Smoked Beef Cheek Banh Mi.
On weekends, there will be four sweet pastries ($7 to $10), four savoury ones ($10 to $14) and four cakes ($9 to $15), including Pistachio Textures and Kombu Tart.
A selection of flavours from chef Mohamed Al-Matin's apres Gelato: (clockwise from bottom) Brown Butter Jerusalem Artichoke, After 8, Rose & Ricotta, Pink Guava with Sour Plum and Toasted Rice.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
There will also be eight gelato flavours ($6 for a single scoop), which can be had in sourdough waffle cones or on brown butter waffles. Flavour options include Pink Guava with Sour Plum, After 8 and Brown Butter Jerusalem Artichoke.
“My pastries are not the easiest to produce,” chef Matin says of scaling down. “They are very intricate, with many components. So this gives my team more time to produce them. We are not going crazy, prepping five days a week.”
Mango Cheesecake Parfait from apres Gelato.
ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
The new store is some distance from Orchard Road. It is located in a condominium development with a row of shops on the ground floor. Haw Par Villa, the National University of Singapore and PSA Singapore offices are in the vicinity, and the building is surrounded by condominiums and landed homes.
The two shop spaces add up to 400 sq ft space, and all of it is taken up by the kitchen. It has only outdoor seating and two standing tables.
Chef Matin chose the location, he says, because he and his fiancee, chef Ashley So, head chef of Italian restaurant Sospiri, live nearby and he sees its potential.
“People are asking me if there is traffic here,” he says. “But I’ve got a feeling. This location is crying out for a sandwich place.”
He opened the store with two investors, both loyal customers who have followed him over the years.
“My new partners are people who love the food, and just want to see the brand rise again,” he says.
A new chapter
In the two years since the patisserie at Ion closed, chef Matin has been doing pop-ups, notably at Air CCCC in Dempsey, and taken on consultancy work in Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.
He says he learnt a lot from his clients.
“The way they do business is quite admirable,” he says. “Like, how they open so many outlets, how they keep costs low. It was eye-opening for me. So I was consulting, but learning at the same time.”
If he does grow Le Matin, it would be overseas, in Malaysia or Indonesia, rather than Singapore. But, he hastens to add, expansion is not what he is focused on now.
“Le Matin is my passion project. It’s something I started and I just want to see it through. I want to see it grow, I want people to come back and enjoy my food, and I want that human connection.
“Here, I can come out of the kitchen and talk and engage with customers. I want to bring back the days in Raeburn Park when I would come out of the kitchen and see happy faces.”
Info: Le Matin Petit and apres Gelato, 01-05 Viva Vista Shopping Mall, 3 South Buona Vista Road; open: 10am to 2pm (Le Matin Petit), 2 to 9pm (apres Gelato), Wednesdays to Sundays; closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Go to @lematin.sg and @apresgelato.sg (Instagram)
