Bistro du Vin - The best set lunch ever

The Bistro du Vin set lunch is something that is such brilliant value that you don't want more people than necessary to know about it. $30 gets you 3 courses of very very good quality food, plus coffee, which is so difficult to beat, and is available even on Saturday. Since I'm no longer in Singapore, I'm happy to just post this so that hopefully it can be kept alive until I move back home. 

I was there about 3 months ago, and went back again last month. We tried to order a few different things, but one's heart is always torn when something you've tried gives you such good memories yet you know there are other good things on the menu. 

This was the Iberico ham tartine. The meat was on the salty side, but no complaints there. 

The foie gras ravioli with a creamy sauce and pine nuts was absolutely sinful, decadent and brilliant. Lapped up every last drop of the sauce. And like all good French restaurants, they were very generous with the bread.

Close-up of the ravioli filling - tasty, creamy and super rich. 

Angus ribeye, which cost a supplement of $10. Loved loved loved this. One damn good steak. 

Lamb rack with baby peas - the lamb was fall-off-the-bone tender. Had this again on my second visit, as a main. 

Madeleines with chocolate - soft on the inside, slightly crisp on the outside. Perfect. 

I am of the opinion that this walnut tart has to be the best dessert along Orchard Rd, with a thick caramel taste. 

Next visit - this was the ratatouille with a fried croquette that my dining companion ordered....it was all right, and I'm not a real fan of ratatouille in general.

I went for a second round of the foie gras ravioli. As good as I remembered.

I had the duck confit this time, and it was really brilliant - as good as what I've had in France. 

The pineapple tart dessert was also very very enjoyable, lusciously sweet and tender. 

With tea/coffee, their set lunches are so hard to beat in terms of value for money. Reservations essential. 

https://www.facebook.com/bistroduvin

Bad Restaurant Week Meal

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll realise that I never write bad things unless they are absolutely warranted, or if I get pissed off enough by the establishment. Unfortunately one of those incidents happened to me recently, during Restaurant Week. 

This place markets itself as "the perfect blend of classic French bistro" in the Duxton Road area named after some obese house of wine. But I was sorely disappointed when I went there during Restaurant Week - their starter was 1 miserable poached egg with fried mushrooms and a bit of salad, their main was this chicken vol au vent pictured below (which was super salty) with steamed rice, and their dessert was 2 lumps of chocolate mousse that were rather turd-like. No choices. No coffee or tea. $25+++. 

The last time I had a chicken vol au vent was in college, where I stayed with 200 other uni students whose main goal in life was to use drunken parties to get on the scoreboard. I would never pay good money to buy another chicken vol au vent, which seriously was just a glorified Polar Chicken Pie. The edge that Polar has over this place is that Polar probably at least bakes their own pastry; I'm sure the vol au vent was bought premade and frozen.

If they knew or cared about what their neighbour served, they would hang themselves in shame. But sadly, such operators seem to be more concerned about their name, ambience, marketing, image, etc, than whether the customer would come back. And SORRY, French fat house, I'm not spending a single cent there again, and will tell all my friends and readers not to as well.

HMPH.

Lunch at Au Petit Salut

Au Petit Salut has a great set lunch for $36++, and we had a very nice lunch there one weekday afternoon - it was cool, cloudy and perfect for sitting outdoors.

They were pretty generous with the flow of bread, which was nice.
I had the escargot for my starter - the bread was excellent with the herb+garlic butter.
The snails were tender, but it's the sauce that makes or breaks the dish. This one had a bit too much tomato at the bottom, but nothing to complain about really.The husband had the pork and prune terrine. He probably thought it was undersized :) But he liked it - not too salty, and not too fatty. The husband had the beef stew that came with horseradish froth (which we thought was a bit too much). I thought this was a brilliant dish - the sauce was like a consomme, very light and drinkable. The beef cheeks were super tender as well. I liked this better than he did.
I had the bavette steak, which we found out, was something similar to skirt. He liked this more than I did. So being good Asian diners, we swopped plates eventually. The fries were super crispy.
His dessert was a lemon chocolate tart with yuzu sauce and a camomile honey sorbet, which cost an extra $4. All was good until I tried the sorbet...the only thought that went through my head was "YARDLEY".
I liked my cheese platter though. For a supplement of $6, I got comte and reblochon after having told the waiter that I did not want any goat or blue cheeses. This was a very happy ending to a very enjoyable meal.
Website: http://www.aupetitsalut.com/aps/aps-contact.php

Beef Bourguignon

We must have done something right, because we got invited back to the home of our favourite French chef for yet another dinner. Expectations were running high, and were most certainly not misplaced. We started the evening with a glass of red, some saucission and cheeseThey were fantastic with the wine. I think it was Emmental cheese, but can't say so for sure since I promptly forgot what it was after the glass of wine.

D cooked the same scallop dish which he prepared the last time - sauteed in butter. We were so happy to be able to eat it again.
Adding some lemon
In the meantime, the mashed potatoes were being prepared
He had already prepared his leek and carrot base
And in a cast iron pot, the beef bourguignon was already bubbling away - there was tomato paste, bay leaves, carrots, red wine and mushrooms in the pot.I gotta get myself one of these pots.
Scallops pan fried to perfection on a bed of carrot and leek, served with a wedge of lemon
Another look - this was absolutely delicious.
Wine No. 2
Hot crusty bread out of the oven
This photo below honestly doesn't do any justice to the dish. It was amazing. I have never enjoyed beef bourguignion this much. There probably isn't a better one to be found in Singapore, I dare say.
Amazing with the mashed potatoes. I'm so glad my friend A married D.
We were careful to buy only French cheese - Brie, Comte, St Albrey and one more (can't remember after 3 glasses of wine)
Our other friend made a lemon tart - this was great tooGood food and good friends - who could ask for anything more. No one needs rhythm and music

Bistro Du Vin

This was our second time at Bistro Du Vin, and with the same group of friends which included a Frenchman living in Singapore - the fact that he wanted to go back to BDV was a pretty good sign that we had hit on something right.

We started with a charcuterie platter of various fatty but yummy things, with hot crusty bread rolls which they topped up various times, no questions asked.

Including an amazing duck terrine - this was fabulous.Tomato, basil and anchovy salad
This foie gras terrine was good as well, but I found it a bit too rich in the end
Various types of saucission - absolutely fatty, salty and deliciousDidn't try the escargot but it sure smelt good
I had the lamb shank ($33) and this was one huge whopper - the gravy was rich, flavourful and wholesome. I thoroughly enjoyed this.Potatoes on the sideThe husband had a veal blanquette with mushroom & pickled onion ($33) - this was excellent as well. Dessert was a chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream.
It was a really enjoyable meal - both for the food and company, and we'll definitely go back there to try other things on the menu. http://www.lesamis.com.sg/index1.html

Joel Robuchon at Ebisu, Tokyo

And so the first of the Japan posts is finally up! No better way to start chronicling the food adventure than with our only visit to a Michelin starred restaurant (2, the last time we checked) during our trip. I've been to the Joel Robuchon at Roppongi Hills a few years ago, and was quite happy to try the Ebisu outlet since the reviews were pretty good.

The restaurant is housed in a European-style 19th century chateau next to Yebisu Garden Place, which was built on the site of the former Yebisu beer brewery, after which Ebisu (the district) got its name from.
They have a little garden just outside the restaurant. There are 2 restaurants in the chateau - La Table (ie. the cheaper version) at the ground floor, and Joel Robuchon Restaurant on the floor above.

We were at La Table for lunch, since it was the cheaper option. The interiors were very pretty.
Loved the little touches. Even their font is beautiful.
And so is their cutlery and crockery. They have a 2 course lunch for 2950Y, and a 3 course lunch for 3850Y. We all took the 3 course set, which came up to about S$60 per person.
The amuse bouche was a foie gras puree in a shot glass with a slice of biscotti.

It was wonderful. Just too small. The breads before the meal. The EVO was really good.
This entree was called Le Crabe - crab served with an avocado mousse topped with tomato jelly.
A closer look - this was really divine. The tomato jelly was very sweet, tangy and tasted exactly like a fresh tomato in jelly form, and this was very nicely balanced with the creamy avocado. The crab flesh was sweet and succulent.

This was Le Foie Gras - duck liver served with a daikon veloute (mash, really) served with beef consomme (in jelly form). I'm a foie gras fan and was in immense happiness having all the beef, liver and daikon flavours come together.

One of the mains was the El Arroz Bomba - similar to paella, it had seafood. I didn't try this. But the person who had it said it was good.
I had Le Porc - roasted glazed rack of pork. It wasn't that tender, and I was expecting a crispy skin. The desserts were really interesting as well - this was Le Fromage Blanc, cottage cheese light mousse with a raspberry filling and a strawberry sherbert. The mousse came in a casing which I can only describe as deconstructed meringue chips. This was fabulous. The little thin strawberry chips were so nice with the sherbert. The other dessert called Une Symphony wasn't as amazing but still pretty good. It was described as a fresh mango composition with condensed milk, and it was accompanied by a lemon sorbet and little drops of cream.

In Tokyo, I firmly believe that you don't need to see Michelin stars to taste good food. However, this was one of the most memorable dining experiences in Tokyo but I wouldn't say it's my best meal ever - that accolade remains with Eleven Madison (which got voted No. 10 best restaurant in the world!). Worth one visit in a lifetime, but I probably would spend my future limited time in Tokyo trying out other places.

http://www.robuchon.jp/ebisu/