Le Bistro Parisien

They used to be located in kampong glam and have moved over. Hope they survive cos the V hotel currently is blocked off by the construction works for the downtown line on bencoolen street. So you need to go through one narrow lane left on bencoolen turn left into a tiny backlane and enter the hotel from the back entrance. Then go through the lobby to the main door and the café is on the right.
It’s pretty quiet right now but it’s worth seeking out. The food is decent, the portions are very generous and the prices more than reasonable. Oh yes and it’s halal too! Which is great for groups of friends.
The appetizer and salad options are limited at the moment probably because they don’t have enough custom to prep the whole menu. So we ordered what they had — the bacalao baked with cheese and the goats cheese salad. The bacalao is the bomb — savoury and gloopy, with generous slices of melted Gouda on top. Perfect for dipping with bread. And it was enormous. Three of us shared it but four to six could easily share it as a starter.
I’m not fond of goats cheese but the salad had generous chunks of it and they were toasted to a melty consistency. The greens were well tossed in a balsamic dressing.
I had the prawns as the main — dressed in creamy Dijon mustard and with very tasty spinach sautéed in garlic (which tasted like Chinese style zichar to me) and squid ink pasta. One friend had the duck confit with figs and it was super generous too.
We were completely stuffed by the end of the meal. Especially since the chef was nice enough to bestow us complimentary mushroom soup — grainy with chopped mushrooms and very hearty.
Word to the wise tho — everything is super creamy and rich so order judiciously. The café is small but the décor is lovely — marble top wooden legged tables that remind me of old school kopitiam and chandeliers and posters for that touch of French.
I will definitely be back.