Le Comptoir

C says:

One of our new favourite places is Le Comptoir, a creperie/bar along Circular Road that sells some of the best galettes and crepes we’ve had. We’ve been here twice so far – once for a early dinner and again for brunch, and both times were immensely satisfying.

Their galettes are as good as most of the ones we’ve had in Paris – thin, crisp and moreish. A had one with smoked salmon and spinach, and I had the Menage A 5 – a delicious combination of cheese, ham, egg, mushrooms and tomato.

For dessert, we shared a Coco Chanel crepe, with pears, chocolate and almonds.

The Sunday brunch menu has an All Day Breakfast crepe with bacon, egg, mushrooms, sausage and baked beans. The bacon deserves a particular mention – it was perfectly cooked to an even crispness without being burnt.

They also had a Nutella crepe, and we had a brainwave of asking them to add bananas for an additional $2. The resulting Nutella and banana crepe was predictably fabulous – so fabulous that we didn't take any photos of our brunch visit…

A says:

Best galettes and crepes in Singapore. Win!

Le Comptoir
79 Circular Road
Tel: 6534-7645
Mon - Tues: 11 am - 12 mn
Wed - Sat: 11 am - 2 am
Sun: 10 am - 10 pm

Immanuel French Kitchen

C says:

Chef Immanuel Tee, who used to be head chef at Keystone Restaurant in the CBD, has opened a very different (and dare I say, much more welcoming) dining concept - a pared-down French hawker stall within a "high-end" coffee shop in the Alexandra Village cluster. Located within the Salut coffee shop and sharing space with other similar concepts like Two Wings, Mien by the Travelling C.O.W and SeaSalt, Immanuel French Kitchen may have a small menu but every item on it is executed perfectly.

We almost never order chicken main courses at restaurants (besides fried chicken and chicken wings in every shape or form), since they're usually the most predictable item on the menu, and it's pretty easy to do a decent chicken dish at home. The Sous Vide Chicken Breast here, however, is possibly the tastiest, most tender version of a chicken breast dish I've had in a very long time. Because of the sous vide preparation, the chicken is ridiculously tender and moist, but there's still lots of flavour from the sear right before serving. The rigatoni gratin that's served alongside is also pretty tasty - I just wish there was more of it.

The Pork Belly with onsen tamago and potato foam was also very good. The pork belly was slow braised, almost kong bak-like, and the light potato foam sauce was addictive. Given the choice, I'd still go for the chicken though, since I'm not a huge fan of super soft, slow braised pork belly.

The duck rillettes starter was tasty, but to me it was slightly underseasoned. It needed a tiny sprinkling of salt to bring out all the flavours.

Main courses are no more than $15, which is a great deal given how good the food is. It's only been open for slightly more than a month, but Chef Immanuel seems to have garnered a small following there already (including A and his colleagues). Yes, it may not be the most accessible location, but for good food at great value, this is definitely worth a (re)visit.

A says:

Great food for a great price. Restaurant quality food. If only parking wasn't so hard. Given it's close to our home, we'll definitely be back for more.

Immanuel French Kitchen
Block 119, Bukit Merah Lane 1
#01-40, Salut coffee shop
Tel: 9297-3285
Tues - Sun: 12 noon to 10 pm daily
Closed Mondays

L'Entrecote Express

C says:

Bruno Menard has opened a scaled-down version of his wildy popular L'Entrecote (at Duxton Hill) within the premises of &Made, at Pacific Plaza. Although the decor of the restaurant is now split, with half the restaurant now resembling the cramped bistro-like vibe of the Duxton joint, you can sit anywhere and order off both menus.

Almost all our favourites from the Duxton outlet are available here, with the one exception of the salted caramel waffles. Both the pate and the truffle brie are the same as the original, which is to be expected since I imagine they're probably made/sourced centrally.

Unfortunately, I think the steak frites fell a bit short, compared to the one at Duxton. The shoestring fries were quite tasteless, and the meat too was quite flavourless. At least the sauce seemed constant.

My main grouse isn't with the food, but with the pacing. I guess we were there early and the kitchen didn't have much to do, but having all our food arrive at once - yes, both starters and the main - doesn't seem like a smart thing to do. I don't see why they couldn't have waited to serve the steak. After all, neither the steak nor the fries were served hot, so they could at least have held it back till we were more than halfway done with our starters.

On the bright side, a peek at the &Made menu showed quite a large selection of new burgers, plus a brand new "create your own burger" section. When we come back here, it'll be for &Made, not L'Entrecote.

A says:

The food's good, but the fact that the steak came almost right after the starters kind of threw me off. It's definitely an option only if you're craving French bistro fare around Scotts.

L'Entrecote Express/&Made
9 Scotts Road
#01-04/05/06, Pacific Plaza
Sunday to Thursday 10AM to 10PM
Friday & Saturday 10AM to 10.30PM

Jaan

C says:

We signed up for the Far Card (formerly known as Feed At Raffles) because there was a pretty good promotion on. It makes the most sense with 2 diners - the second diner essentially dines for free. We figured one visit to Jaan would more than recoup the annual fee for the card.

We visited Jaan on a Sunday evening, and had their 7-course Menu Prestige. They were still serving their Spring menus, so everything was quite bright, fresh and clean-tasting.

We started with a host of canapes, including a smoked eel with konbu jelly and chef's interpretation of hummus. The eel definitely stood out, for its smoky and umami flavours.

The amuse bouche was a sabayon with mushroom tea poured on top. The mushroom tea was light yet earthy, and went very well with the creamy sabayon.

First course was a Spring Infusion, featuring a host of fresh spring vegetables. While I'm not a fan of vegetables in fine dining, I must say these were excellent. They were fresh and sweet, and really did capture spring on a plate.

The next course was langoustine with ratte potatoes and caviar. The langoustine was just barely cooked, but the best thing on the plate was actually the potato.

Next up was one of chef's signature dishes - the Rosemary Smoked Organic Egg, featuring an egg that was cooked sous vide for 55 minutes. It arrived amidst plenty of drama, with dry ice swirling around springs of rosemary. It even had a bespoke wooden container with the words "L'oeuf qui fume" (smoking egg).

I guess the dish is a specialty for a reason. Ignoring the (in my opinion, somewhat unnecessary) drama and production, the egg is perfectly cooked, with the runny yolk pairing perfectly with the chorizo iberico and smoked ratte potatoes.

The foie gras course was a bit of a letdown. Little cubes of foie were served with seared strawberries, which when eaten together overpowered the foie. They were better deconstructed and eaten separately.

The fish course was a Roasted Atlantic Brill, with white and green asparagus, crayfish and garlic cream. Flavours were again very clean and very subtle, although there was a particularly flavorful parsley foam that added a flavour punch.

Another of chef's specialties is the Hay Roasted Bresse Pigeon. The leg was served confit style, and breast was roasted to a perfect rare. I don't know they managed to achieve such a perfect even rareness, but it was superb. I loved the gamey flavour of the pigeon, and the barley risotto and mushrooms were a great accompaniment.

After a palate cleansing sorbet, I had a lemon curd, verbena and elderflower dessert, while A had the Choconuts, which features 4 different types of chocolate. I preferred mine, as it echoed the Spring lightness of the rest of the meal.

Overall, food was definitely good. I liked the subtlety but I think A was hoping for or expecting bigger hits of flavour. Service was good, but somehow the whole dining experience seemed a bit cold. Everything was very professional but it lacked a warmth and personableness that I guess we favour.

We'll probably go back once, maybe twice more, while I still hold the Far Card, but we certainly won't pay full price.

A says:

The service and food are great, but the winner here is the view. So it makes a great place to treat guests if you have an big entertainment budget or want to celebrate a special occasion. Other than that, I don't think it's worth paying full price.

Jaan
Swissotel, Equinox Complex
Tel: 9199-9008
Lunch: 12 noon - 2 pm
Sunday and public holidays: closed
Dinner:
Monday to Sunday: 7 pm - 10 pm
Public holidays: closed

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

C says:

This is ordinarily out of our usual price range for non-special occasions, but L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon has recently started serving lunch on Sundays, at relatively reasonable prices - $49 for 3 courses (limited selection of dishes), $68 for a 4-course (choose any appetizer, fish course, meat course and dessert) and $87 for a 5-course (same as 4-course but with the addition of a soup).

None of the soups were particularly enticing, so we both went with the fish and meat menu. The amuse bouche was a foie gras custard with truffle and parmesan foam - a winning combination of flavours and pretty tasty.

For the first course we both opted for the pig head terrine with slow cooked egg and olives. The gelatinous bits of the meat from the pig's head were wrapped inside a casing made from pig skin then fried. It was a very rich dish because of the sticky, gelatinous texture of the meat combined with the skin (which still had singed bits of hair on it), so the small portion was about all I could handle. The olives helped cut through the richness though.

A had a bacalao polenta with jamon, and I had the prawns with kaffir lime leaf. The prawns were pretty ordinary compared to the awesome bacalao, which was flavourful enough on its own, and went to a whole other level when paired with the umami-packed slices of jamon.

Most of the meat dishes were quite ordinary - roast chicken, or thinly sliced beef on rocket salad. I decided to top up my set for the roasted quail dish - the leg was really tender, and the breast perfectly cooked and stuffed with foie gras.

A went with the spaghetti carbonara, which he regretted to some extent because of how pedestrian he thought it was, but it was a damn good plate of carbonara. The dish was infused with flavours of bacon fat, and the sauce was just bacon fat and egg, no cream, so it was silky and smooth without being too rich.

We were each served a little dish of the legendary Robuchon mashed potatoes, but even though I requested at the start that ours weren't dumbed down (I'd heard that they may veer away from the 50-50 ratio in Singapore to cater to a reduced appetite for butter-rich food), I doubt they prepared a separate batch for us. I haven't been to any of the other Robuchons so I can't vouch for whether the one we had was the full-on version or not - it was very good, but I didn't get an overwhelming sense of butteriness from it.

A had the profiteroles for dessert, and I had a chocolate and salt caramel mousse with diced mango. The profiteroles were quite ordinary compared to the relative complexity of the mousse. Hidden within the mousse were bits of popping candy, which added an unexpectedly playful note.

We were one of the first customers at noon, and service was excellent when lunch started out. As it got more crowded, the waitstaff were getting quite stretched, and while the kitchen got the orders out in perfect time, they were generally let down by the speed of the service staff. Our desserts, which were prepped in a separate kitchen, took ages to arrive, not to mention the bill, and again the credit card slip for payment. I would have given this place top marks if not for the almost half hour wait (in total) from desserts till we finally paid the bill.

A says:

The food is fantastic but the question is whether it is worth paying astronomical prices for. In terms of the Sunday set lunch (which isn't cheap until you compare it to the regular menu prices) then the answer is yes, it's worth it. Other than that, I probably won't empty my wallet for it.

The service started great, but once the restuarant filled up with fellow cheapskates, the standard dropped tremendously. Our original server switched to another station and service was almost non-existent from our mains onwards. Maybe it's a different story if you go at dinner and pay the big bucks.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
Resorts World Sentosa
Tel: 6577-7888
Dinner: Daily, 6 pm – 10.30 pm
Lunch: Sunday, 12 noon -  2 pm

Le Bistrot du Sommelier

C says:

Bistrot du Sommelier was one of the few places on our to-try list that was actually open over the Chinese New Year holidays. Because we only called for a last minute reservation that very night, we only had a choice of an outdoor table at 7 pm, or indoors at 9 pm. Not wanting to eat so late, we opted for the outdoor table and prayed for good weather.
 
Note: The outdoor area is a makeshift open space, rather than specifically allocated al fresco seating. It’s not sheltered, nor lit for that matter, so once it gets dark you can barely see what you’re eating. As a result, I have no usable photos of anything after our starters. Granted, our experience was probably marred slightly by the unconventional outdoor seating, but we’ll try to be as objective as possible and just comment on the food.
 

They have a Rillette (and Charcuterie) Bar, which sells rillettes and cold cuts by weight. We had 100g each of a duck rillette, pork rillette and a sausage made with tongue, trotter and bacon. It was quite a substantial portion as it came on a platter with cornichons and bread.

I actually liked the pork rillette best. The duck was good but a bit predictable, whereas the pork rillette seemed to have a more interesting flavour. The cold sausage was pretty good too. Definitely coming back for more of these; they’re available for takeaway as well, though I’m not sure if takeaway portions come with all the bells and whistles.
 

Their pan-fried frog’s legs, fried with garlic and butter and some herbs, was also quite good. Maybe it helped that it was getting dark and I couldn’t really see the legs in all their glory (amphibian phobia), but the flavours were good and they were very well seared and still very tender.
 
M and W shared the Cote de Boeuf (900g), and A and I had the roast lamb saddle, also for 2. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the beef – as far as steaks go, this wasn’t really outstanding in any way. The meat wasn’t particularly flavourful, and any sear was all but drowned by sautéed onions and sauce.
 
In contrast though, the roast lamb saddle was excellent, and something we’ll definitely return for. The meat was very sweet, and very tender but not in a braised, fork-tender way. It was served with slow roasted garlic in the sauce, and some pretty good gratin potatoes.

The desserts garnered somewhat mixed reviews. The profiteroles with ice cream and chocolate sauce were pretty good, but I expected them to be spectacular because we heard rave reviews about them. I didn't like the apple soufflé with Calvados at all. I couldn't eat more than a few bites because I could still taste the egg white in the soufflé, which felt a bit ick. W felt the same but liked the apples sautéed in Calvados. A on the other hand didn't really like the apples but liked the egg white bit.
 
I think we’ll try to head back, this time for an indoor table to experience the place properly. I certainly want more of the rillette bar offerings, and wouldn’t mind having the lamb again.

A says:

Great rillete. Great lamb. Great profiteroles. The beef wasn't great for the price though. And sitting outdoors here is no fun as it's super dark. For our next visit, and yes, we'll definitely be back, we'll go indoors and stick to the stuff from the rillette bar.

Le Bistrot du Sommelier
53 Armenian Street
Tel: 6333-1982
Mon to Sat: 12 noon - 2.30 pm; 6 pm - 11 pm

Nicolas Le Restaurant

C says:

Ever since Nicolas Le Restaurant closed their Keong Saik Street outlet a while back, their re-opening has been awaited with bated breath. They finally opened at Teck Lim Road late last year. Their set lunches are a very good deal - $42 for 3 courses (one of each course), and $68 for a multi-course (3 appetizers) lunch degustation. To get the most variety, we went with one $42, and one $68 one.
 

We started out with a plate of 2 amuse bouches, which unfortunately wasn’t explained to us at all. One was some kind of cheesy gougere I think, and the other was a quenelle of duck rillette on a cracker.
 

The $42 set lunch offered 4 appetizers to choose from, 3 of which were part of the $68 degustation, so of course we chose the missing one as the starter for the set lunch – a beef tartare with sweet potato crisps and a sunny side up quail's egg. I liked that the tartare was quite roughly chopped - gave it some bite and texture.

The degustation started with a hen egg with caviar, xeres cream and a deep fried tempura (of sorts) prawn. I didn't discern the caviar, but I liked the perfectly cooked egg.

Next up was the black ink tonnarelli pasta with sakura ebi. Vast difference between this and the version we had at InITALY... The light broth in which this was served was briny and insanely flavourful. The pasta and sakura ebi were good too, but the broth was clearly the star.

Third appetizer for the degustation was a ravioli with confit vine tomato and seared Iberico pork. The cheese-filled ravioli and tomato were perfect together, and the pork was fabulous - seared and crisp outside, and a solid medium rare inside. Most of us are used to pork being cooked all the way through, but when the pork is good quality and reared in proper conditions, it can actually be treated like steak. Both the texture and flavour of the medium rare pork were outstanding.

Our mains were a slow roasted rack of lamb, and the special of the day - pigeon two-ways. The lamb was very simply served with mini ravioli and some mash, and a lamb jus sauce.

The pigeon stole the show, though. The leg was confited, and the breast seared. Again, props to them for serving the breast quite rare. It was really tender and the flavour of the meat came through without being excessively gamey.

Dessert was a tasting trio of vanilla ice cream with strawberry crepe, a tuile served on top of a yogurt mousse and chocolate ganache. The chocolate was a bit too potent for me, but the ice cream was really good, and I loved the yogurt tuile.

Overall, lunch was very enjoyable and also very good value. Props to Chef Nicolas for manning the kitchen with only one sous chef. The place wasn't full throughout lunch service, making this a very viable lunch option.

The only criticism is that service was a bit sketchy - more than once we had food placed in front of us without any explanation at all. While I don't need the history of each ingredient explained to me, a brief reminder of the components of each dish (given that we don't have the menus in front of us during lunch) would be helpful.

A says:

Even better than before. While I felt the old one was a bit on the stuffy side, this place is now more like fine dining with a somewhat casual feel. The set lunch is also great value (all things considered, i.e. still not cheap). Overall, definitely would go back.

Nicolas Le Restaurant
10 Teck Lim Road
Tel: 6224-2404
Open daily: 12 noon - 2 pm; 6.30 pm - 10 pm
www.restaurantnicolas.com

Au Chocolat

C says:

Being huge fans of the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity 3, we were curious to try the version (with only one “R”, since the former is probably trade mark protected) at Au Chocolat in Marina Bay Sands.
 

I wanted so much to like it, but unfortunately it was quite disappointing. The whipped cream was actually the best part – the frozen hot chocolate itself was icy, and had none of the rich, creaminess of the original.
 

However, all is not lost. Their food items were actually surprisingly very, very good. The Au Chocolat Signature Burger, which comes with cheese, bacon and a Portobello mushroom in addition to a juicy beef patty, was one of the best burgers I’ve had in a long time. I asked for it medium rare, and the patty was perfectly pink and juicy, and all the ingredients came together to make a damn good burger.
 
The fries deserve a special mention too – they were the perfect thickness (not too skinny and not fat wedges either), crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. Ask for both ketchup and mayonnaise if you’re feeling decadent – the combination is heavenly.
 

We also tried one of their crepes – with parma ham, melon and gruyere. This sounded good on paper, but wasn’t quite as good as expected. I think they threw too many ingredients into the mix, and everything just ended up getting muddled together. I ended up deconstructing it and eating the ingredients separately.
 

A had their white chocolate and espresso milkshake, which was good if you like thin, drinkable milkshakes. It wasn’t too sweet, and the espresso flavour was stronger than expected.

It’s funny that for a primarily dessert place, their desserts (or at least the ones we’ve tried) didn’t impress us all that much. It’s a good thing that their burger more than made up for it.

A says:

Yeah, the food is great (especially the burgers and fries) but the desserts are very ordinary. Very strange for a dessert place. And the frozen hot chocolate is really a bad copy of the one from Serendipity 3.

Au Chocolat
#L1-03, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Tel: 6688-7227
Sun to Thurs:10 am - 11 pm
Fri & Sat: 10 am - midnight
www.auchocolat.com

Saveur

C says:

We never went to Saveur back when it was just a hawker stall in East Coast (the location probably had something to do with it), but it's a lot more accessible for us now that they've moved to a bona fide restaurant on Purvis Street.

They don't take reservations, so be prepared to wait unless you get there before 12.15 for lunch. We were there just after 12 and managed to snag one of the last few tables.

Befitting its origins, the place is fitted out very simply with bare walls and simple monochromatic furniture, with a few chandeliers adding a quirky formalness. Unfortunately, all the hard surfaces make for rather poor acoustics. When the restaurant is full, you can barely hear yourself speak amidst the din. Maybe that's one way to ensure that people don't linger, so that they can turn more tables.

Saveur's known for their very reasonable prices for almost restaurant-quality food. Their seared foie gras is only $9.90. Granted, the portion is quite small, but executed quite well, with the outside seared and inside nice and runny.

We ordered both the duck rillette ($7.90) and the pate terrine ($11.90), both of which were surprisingly generous portions given the amount of toast that accompanied them. I preferred the rillette to the terrine, which was less like a pate and more like processed meat.

Their angel hair pasta with minced pork and sakura ebi was a steal at $3.90. It could've been seasoned a bit more, but overall it was pretty tasty and very good value for money.

They're famous for their duck confit, but we were ducked-out having just returned from Bali the day before, so we went with their barramundi ($13.90) instead. The fish was average, but the accompanying potatoes, which were probably roasted in duck fat and tossed with crab meat and spring onions, were delicious.

Don't go to Saveur expecting fine dining. It isn't, nor does it purport to be. If you go with the expectation that you'll be getting very decent French bistro-style food at very reasonable prices, then you won't be disappointed.

A says:

Service is very good. Food is very good for the price. Great value for money. Best budget gourmet place I can think of.

Saveur

5 Purvis Street

Tel: 6333-3121

Open daily: 12 noon – 2.15 pm; 6 pm – 9.15 pm

Saint Pierre

C says:

While St Pierre is still part of "chef in black" Emmanuel Stroobant's restaurant group, he now only holds a consulting position; chef de cuisine is now Leandros Stagogiannis, who was previously at now defunct FiftyThree.

Besides an a la carte menu, there are two tasting menus - a 6 course Classic menu for $128, and a 10 course Degustation menu for $148. The Classic menu is just that - traditional dishes and preparations which sound yummy, but perhaps slightly predictable. The Degustation sounded a lot more experimental, so we decided to give that a go.

We were served 2 amuse bouches - the first was a spherification of pesto and tomato, and the next was a shot glass of langoustine puree and beetroot caviar.

I couldn't photograph the first course, because it was prepared tableside and we had to eat it straightaway, but basically the waiter used a siphon to squirt some tomato mousse onto a spoon, then immersed that in liquid nitrogen to blast freeze it. It tasted interesting but I found it a bit on the gimmicky side.

Next was razor clams with a tomato and coriander salsa with fennel, yam crisps and edible flowers. Again, this was just ok, since the salsa all but overwhelmed the razor clams, and at this stage we didn’t have a good feeling for the rest of the meal.

However, from the third course everything changed. Called Langoustine, this had poached then grilled langoustine with a langoustine consommé gelee, cucumber and onions. The consommé had loads of flavour, but what really blew me away was the langoustine. It was just barely yet perfectly cooked, yet it had a distinct charred smokiness from the grill.

Next was a foie gras parfait with brioche, raisins and a fig-port reduction. This was intensely flavourful and wonderfully creamy.

Champignon was next – an ode to all thing mushroom with seared king oyster mushroom, pickled shimeji, enoki and cep puree. This was a tad on the salty side, but there were morsels of Chinese pear to cut through all the umaminess of the mushrooms.

The escargot course came with sautéed snails drenched tableside with a garlic butter sauce, garlic scented oat “soil” and a fresh green salad. This was the second to last savoury course, and the meal was really well paced because both A and I started feeling full at the same point – just as we finished this course.

The Porc dish is the chef’s take on satay – barbequed iberico pork with leek dumplings and pomegranate seeds. The dumplings were a bit like rosti and surprisingly good, and the pork was wonderfully cooked; really tender, with just the right amount of charred fat at the ends.

The first sweet course was sweetcorn with yogurt and a cherry-almond sorbet. This was a good in-between course, because there were considerable salty elements to ease our palate from savoury to dessert.

Dessert was a carrot parfait with coconut ice cream, coconut crumble and mint oil. This was a bit too unconventional for me, but I appreciate their creating a non-chocolate, typical dessert.

It's sad that $148 per person is considered cheap these days, but the influx of celebrity restaurants like Waku Ghin, Joel Robuchon and even home-grown Andre have resulted in $300+ per head being par for the course. I really can't bring myself to fork out that much on a meal, and I'm glad that there are still restaurants like St Pierre that offer good food and a pleasant dining experience, at prices that don't break the bank. 

A says:

I’d still say $148 per pax is expensive. But for the amount of high quality dishes and impeccable service, I’d highly recommended this for a special occasion.

We’ll be back once the wallets have sufficiently recovered.

Saint Pierre

3 Magazine Road

#01-01 Central Mall

Tel: 6438-0887

Mon – Fri: noon – 3 pm; 7 pm – midnight (last order 9.30 pm)

Sat: 7 pm – midnight (last order 9.30 pm)

Closed Sunday