Salut everyone! It was after this particular short adventure that the crew and I headed off to 10 Haji Lane to check out this new Halal bistro called Le Bistro Parisien. Oui, oui. It is French food. Oooh, la la!
It is in between other shops on that street! As you know how the streets there are with their bohemian looking shops and whatnot. Anywho, we had a reservation for there were about six of us! We were then led to their sitting area upstairs where the longer tables are. We faced a cello as we reached the second floor and we went “Ooooh” at the decor.
Once we were all seated, the waiter placed bread baskets and a bottle of water on the table. The bread basket was delish since it was those tiny little rolls you had to break with your fingers and then butter it with your knife. The butter packs provided were unsalted which I always liked since you could taste the creamyness spread upon the soft interior of the bread.
As the others figured out what to eat from the menu, I looked around. The decor upstairs had vintage posters and photographs of Malay actors, actresses and singers from the past! French music played from the radio in the corner where if you sat at the window seat, you could look out to the other shops along the street.
WARNING: THE NEXT BUNCH OF PICTURES WILL BE OF FOOD.
Tsk, tsk to people who’ll always go arrrrgh whenever they read these types of posts by me before lunch hour or something. Oh by the way, some of the pictures below… Well, I had a second trip there so I got more pictures of food! So hah! Ok, let’s go! You can check out their menu on the bistro’s Facebook or website. Oh and no, I didn’t eat it ALL by myself. I tasted some from my friend’s plates and such so there.
Be sure to ask the waiter or waitress what is available because at this time of post, there had been a Groupon deal a week or so ago and that a lot of people have come to try the food. So do ask what is available if you go to the bistro quite late in the evening.
LAST NOTE before I get to the food. I will name them by NUMBER cause I can’t spell it in the proper French spelling with this keyboard.
Firstly, the soups! You can’t go wrong with mushroom soup (no. 3 in the menu) and the French onion soup (no. 1). The cream of mushroom soup is mushroomy and creamy. Well, I can’t describe it more than that because it IS what it is stated, heh. The French onion soup meanwhile, has a lovely cheese crusty top that you have to break into, to get to the sweet onions soup. A delightful blend of cheese and sweetness that got my table (on my first trip) going “Uuunggh, it is French Oniooooooooon” in a gorgeous way.
Let us now start with the salads and entrees. This is the green salad with goat’s cheese and walnuts (no. 9). If you like cheese, this is quite lovely since as you bite it, the cheese will melt in your mouth since it is served warm. I also tasted Sue‘s mesclun salad with prawns (no. 10) preferred that more cause it had a more tangy taste with its sauce!
Entrees with the escargot (no. 12) or the baked bone marrow of veal (no. 13). It was interesting eating the escargot as I haven’t tried it before. The others who have eaten escargot before said that this was well cooked and the green peas puree did match it well!
Meanwhile, oh maaaaan. I certainly like the baked bone marrow of veal. The brown sauce is addictive while the mushrooms on the side are bitter. It’s not your standard cheap button mushrooms, non. It is a smaller type that you have to acquire a taste for but heck that. I liked this entree and this is one of the popular dishes there too.
This is what I ordered! The salmon with lemon butter sauce (no 18)! You can see it comes with a side of pasta and oh my, it was done well! The pasta was al dente and the sauce was not overwhelming nor was it sucktastic as some other pasta I have tried. The salmon in the meantime was cooked properly! Not overdone and dry but just a light pink where one is able to taste it and savour the true salmon-y taste. (This is why I’m not a food blogger. “Salmon-y taste” indeed.)
Chicken fricassee (no. 17), sauteed prawns (no. 19) and navarin d’Agneau aka lamb shank (no. 15). Of these three (and my salmon), I would say that the sauteed prawns were a winner. I mean all of them tasted good but it was the prawns that made us go “WOAAAAAH, I likes thisss”.
Unfortunately, Mintea ordered that so no, we couldn’t swipe it away from her that much BUT we can always go and order it the next time we’d go to the bistro.
Considering this place is super new and didn’t have reviews or pictures by others, we were wondering how the portions were like. I must say that it is not small nor it is too huge like some other restaurant we tried but it was satisfactory! Like just enough to go “Woah, I’m full…. BUT OK LET US HAVE DESSERT SINCE THE FOOD WAS DELISH”!
Which leads us to perhaps freaking the waiters out.
This one here is a Gianduja tart. At least, I think that’s the name. Or was it the caramel one? I DON’T KNOW THE NAME. To us, it was called “OH MY, THIS ONE IT IS CREAMY AT THE START BUT HITS YOU WITH THE AFTER TASTE OF REAL SWEETNESS OMGOMGOMGOMG!” to the point of us forgetting what it was called. EDIT: It’s called the CARAMEL PEAR TART!
Yeah, I told you we might have freaked the waiters out or something.
This is Chocolate Amer. It is deliciously chocolate! IT IS NOT SWEET. Not the cloying sweet or cheapo milk chocolate! NON! It is just WOAAAH CHOCOLATE. It is the chocolate of, as I quote one of our crew, “If this was a man, I will marry it and eat him forever!”.
Yes.
Chocolate.
This is the creme brulee. Ok, you see there’s limited desserts or there might be stuff they made for the day so you’d have to check what’s available. The creme brulee was apparently the last one in the bistro and we went all, “PLEASE! Go forth and let us have the creme bruleeeee! Run, run!” even though the bistro isn’t that big but heck, we’re very dramatic when it comes to dessert.
As it was served to us, I tapped the surface with my spoon and it made a little crack sound and we all went “OOOoooooooooOOOoOooooh” like it was some ground breaking ceremony of sorts. Yes, it is light and not too sweet. It is a very good creme brulee.
Lastly, on the table we had the strawberry sorbet. I would like to feature this out of all those desserts above because it is GORGEOUS. It is made by the chefs there using real strawberries. It’s the one that got as all, “Oh… it is gone” in a semi-ladylike manner because it looked as if we were gonna snatch it away for ourselves instead of sharing.
But no, we didn’t do that for we were in a French bistro and one must keep classy! So ok, now for the facts!
Le Bistro Parisien
Address: 10 Haji Lane
Phone: +65 9800 0319 , +65 6396 6383 (Call up if you have a large number of people in your party, best to reserve a place!)
They have a Facebook here and their website is http://www.BistroParisien.com.sg
It is a Halal French bistro in Singapore and while it doesn’t have the MUIS certificate, it is owned by a Muslim uh, owner. The food is more creamy and subtle tasting since it is French cuisine. The cost is around $20 and above but it has no GST or service charge so it’s easy to calculate from the menu.
The best time to go is in the afternoon since most people like to go in the evening. Yeah, I think that’s all there is to know besides… TRY IT OUT indeed!
Au revoir.
Omg … WANT WANT WANT!