L’entrecote, Singapore
This is my second time to L’entrecote. The first time was 1.5 or 2 years ago, a hurried affair with friends blurred by alcohol.
L’entrecote is located in a quiet corner of Duxton Hill.
The restaurant is famous for having only 1 item on its main menu all day, every day—-the entrecôte steak (S$29, service and sales tax not included) drizzled in their secret sauce and served in two servings.
The second serving of steak is kept warm on burners while you eat the first. Included in the price is also an unlimited supply of fries, a walnut salad and a welcome drink (Kir, a well-loved drink in Europe consisting of white wine lightly sweetened with blackcurrant liquor).
Besides the Plat Principal, L’Entrecôte offers a range of “Entrées” (starters) and desserts, as well as a selection of wine, including its exclusive house wine, Cuvée de L’Entrecôte, a 2008 Château des Carmes Cantillac.
I started with Escargots de Bourgogne (6 snails prepared with parsley butter and garlic –S$14, service and sales tax not included). Not extraordinary but not awful either. Standard fare.
I then had the Homemade Duck Foie Gras Terrine (S$19, service and sales taxes not included). It comes with sugar glazed onions and grilled buttered Poilâne bread. The terrine was awesome. It felt so authentic and satisfying. Awesome! Beats the terrine at db Bistro Moderne hands down. I think I am really developing a thing for artisanal food – read my review on homemade beancurd here.
Then came the steak. Is it me or have the steak slices become thinner? The steak was not particularly anything —-it wasn’t particularly flavourful, particularly tender nor does it have a lot of marbling. The secret sauce is nothing to shout about. Fries was abundant – very ordinary though, nothing compared to the fries at db Bistro Moderne. I enjoyed the house wine, Cuvée de L’Entrecôte (S$10 per glass, service and sales taxes not included).
The walnut salad, though included in the price of the plat principal, is quite miserable – a few greens with a Brazilian walnut on top. The salad functions well to balance the meat and the starch, as well as to cleanse the palate, but beyond its functionality, I really don’t see any merit to it, looks or taste-wise.
My dessert was Floating Island – poached egg white mousse, crispy caramel, grilled almonds and custard cream (S$14, service and sales taxes not included). Again, nothing extraordinary; nothing awful.
This place sets itself out to be a no-frills bistro. It certainly meets all the criteria of “no-frills”, from the average steak, to the Spartan, quasi-industrial décor, to the cheap paper table lining. Ultimately, the crux of this restaurant is the steak. Despite the welcome drink, the salad and the unlimited fries , the steak at S$29 is not value for money. The steak is too little, too average in quality of the cut and in taste. I think it takes a certain fortitude to come in and dine at a glorified canteen (doesn’t the IKEA cafeteria do a much better job of filling up that niche?) and the shelling out a sum that does not commensurate with the experience.
Come here for the Homemade Duck Foie Gras Terrine; go to db bistro Moderne for the fries.
