Le Bistrot Du Sommelier

Good concept, hit or miss execution. Expensive, so the misses hurt.
I’ve been twice, the first time for an onglet and a sage and rabbit stew, the second for a herring salad and a hazelnut soufflé, both times upstairs.
The room is dark, loud music plays (too loud), and a TV is displaying some old French food related shows from a time when countryside food still existed (think Aile ou la Cuisse). Caught a nice recipe for chestnut and foie gras soup. The tables are made of planks, and the seats not that comfortable for extended conversations. Oh well, I didn’t come here for the ambience.
The onglet was great, flavourful, cooked properly and with a nice shallot sauce. Great fries too in a massive portion. And it better be at $ 32, which at l’Entrecôte also gets you a salad and bread. The rabbit stew however lacked flavour — just a creamy, slightly unsalted sauce with sage floating on top. The herring salad was, again, average. Not much herring, although it was alright as far as herrings go, and some pickled onions and carrots with a puddle of oil underneath. This time, at $ 19, I expected more.
The soufflé was the biggest disappointment. Just look at the photo. A soufflé is all about texture. If I wanted hazelnut cream, I’d have ordered it. There was no texture to this soufflé although it looked so good on the outside which amplified the disappointment. The chocolate ice cream was particularly creamy and not very cocoa rich, which was too much when faced with a bowl of hazelnut cream — it was left behind. At $ 25 for that, well, if you sell your expertise in cuisine de famille or cuisine bourgeoise the execution is pretty damn important. As a French national who has eaten many a soufflé, be it cheese, raspberry or Grand Marnier, I did not recognize that bowl as belonging to that family.
The menu is short enough that all items ought to be done properly, especially at that price point. I gave it a second go because of the onglet the first time, but I will stick with Bistro du Vin from now on, where execution is exactly the same every time, as befits a French kitchen.

Fantastic French food. Came back 5 years later to celebrate wife’s birthday. The food is yummy to the core. One star off for the casualness of the place :)

Excellent food and wine, bordering on divine. Artichokes in season leading to interesting salad and accompaniments. Beef in red wine main deliciously tender. Fish du jour a little overpowered by otherwise yummy sauce. Dishes could easily be shared given size. Not for budget conscious though. Highly recommended if seeking special night out.

Wonderful food. Traditional almost country French which is rare these days with the gaining popularity of fusion food. They have lots of choices for pâté/​terrains– must have. We had the beef cheeks and it was just divine. The food portion is generous and so order wisely or go as a group. Great start to finish. It was full downstairs and we were upstairs at the bar which worked well. We would go back for sure.

It’s a long over-​due review. Le Bistro offers great food. My favourite is the beef cheek. I’ve tried a few other things, most of which were delicious. I wish the next empty space next door hadn’t been converted into a construction site, which has taken away the pleasant outdoor seating area. But that’s entirely not the restaurant’s fault. When there is a big dinner party inside the dining room, it can get a tad loud and you may have to shout across the table at your dining companion, though the food mostly makes up for the slight inconvenience.

Food was good, service excellent but wine was by the glass was very limited and overpriced.

This place is really excellent. The onglet steak has a lot of flavor. The profiteroles are epic. The quince and chevre salad is the kind of thing I like to think I would make if I had a restaurant. The soup was also nice.

Oh Gosh, I’m so in love with the ambience the restaurant décor. I love the ceiling light and the light are make up of the wine glasses. You just have to tilt your head up and enjoy it.
I read through a few reviews and have decided to explore this place for dinner. I would say I have not regretted it. I’m a big fan of French and Italian food and I have a slight crush with baguette and it was served it hot.
I and my friend ordered a beef to share and 1 escargots which is my all time favorite and another side dish to share. The service crew is attentive and they will ask you for feedback.
Last but not least the last highlight for the night is the PROFITLEROLES. This is simply awesome and it taste absolutely yummy. It’s served with chocolate sauce and a plentiful of almond slice … Its the best dessert that I ever had.
Oh gosh … im drooling about it … gonna head down this weekend to ease my craving

First time at Le Bistrot and would quite confidently return.
Food was pretty impressive and I agree completely with Curious O and his shout out for Bayonne Ham. Amazing. Where can I buy this in Singapore!!! We also had the duck rillette (a little salty but tasty) and one of the terrines (not a huge fan, but that’s just me). THe crusty baguette they serve is simply perfect… again, where can I buy this in Singapore?!
For the mains we had the beef onglet which was huge (!) and the guinea fowl which was wrapped in a cabbage leaf and served on the most creamy and delicious mashed potato you could imagine — and I don’t really like potato. The beef onglet wasn’t the best cut of meat but it was cooked exactly as ordered and the garlic confit on top was delicious. The pommel frites went down a treat too.
Service was patchy and as a result we never ordered desserts as we were never shown a dessert menu (despite having our table cleared and sitting there with empty glasses…). Probably a good thing as we were well full but it just seemed a little bizarre that staff would miss that opportunity.
Agree with previous reviews — book ahead and avoid dining outside.

Great ambience inside and out. We did not mind the dark at all, but did ask for more candles and used our phones to see the menu.
Food was awesome. Great beef specials. The beef cheeks were truly amazing.
The only disconnect was the wine list. Exceptional perhaps, but there was one wine under $ 100 a bottle. Truly unnecessary. For this reason I would dine elsewhere.

First time here. Seeing all the food going pass the table makes me even more hungry. Having a late dinner (9pm) well… Late by Singapore standards at least. Friendly staff. Very willing to help. Wishing I had more people with me. Would love to try the 1kg bouf

I went to this restaurant for the first time for lunch on a Friday and was very pleasantly surprised, The service was good as the hostess was very knowledgeable, who made good recommendations and was efficient.
The food was good. We tried Rillette and spinach salad for starters. The Rillette was excellent, in fact the best that I have had in Singapore. For mains we tried a mega large Striploin (good for 2 pax), which was nicely done with fresh carrots, condiments and caramelized onions. While the desert menu was tempting, we had already eaten too much. WE polished the meal with a well brewed coffee.
On the whole a good meal and I look forward to going back again and try their impressive wine collection.

First time upstairs at Rilette Bar. One of my fav dinners in Asia in terms of French/​Swiss dining. Warm service, good atmosphere, casual yet stylish environs.
7 of us shared mont D’or, salads and pates. A few bottles of white wine.
2 words = Bayonne ham.
I would come back just for the desserts. Profiteroles! Gorgeous.
Most enjoyed a chat with Patrick and learning more about his exotic homemade pig’s head pâté, pigeon mousse, rabbit Rillette…
100 total per person. Not cheap but I left feeling like it was worth it.
Have previously dined downstairs. I must agree with a previous reviewer that during a warm night it’s a bit unpleasant. Fans and plants would be welcome.

First visit to Le Bistrot Du Sommelier. The food gets very high marks (4 – 5 stars), but I don’t recommend going unless you can reserve a table inside.
THE ALFRESCO DINING: It is a very small restaurant with most tables outside on the patio along side the shop house. The night was warm and the patio is near the intersection of Armenian St and Stamford Rd at the entrance to the Fort Canning Link. The traffic was very noisy as the motorcycles and cars sped up to enter the tunnel. Even with 2 candles, the table was extremely dark. All five of us had to use our phones to see the menu and then to get a good look at what we were eating. The staff makes use of a large specials board on an easel that they move from table to table as guests arrive. The illegible script and the low light made it more difficult than it should have been to order.
Long story short: Little effort is being made to make the alfresco dining experience a good one. The heat, humidity, traffic noise, very low light, flying insects landing on your plate, uncomfortable outdoor furniture, overall ambiance all make me give their outdoor dining a VERY BIG thumbs down. I recommend the addition of fans, misters, awnings (?), festive lighting to bring up the light level, more comfortable furniture and potted shrubs down the length of the patio to screen the diners from the traffic and the noise.
On the same note, it also looked like there was a substantial amount of space being wasted in the downstairs of the restaurant. Reducing the size of the waiter stations and rearranging to fit in more tables would help alleviate the number of guests forced to endure the patio in order to enjoy the very good food. I did not see the upstairs so can not comment.
THE SERVICE: Overall the service was acceptable, but I believe the waiter was serving the entire outdoor area and spread a little too thin. It was clear that the waiter was experienced, but I always see trouble looming when they don’t write down or repeat the orders back. As my friend was ordering, I watched as the waiter got momentarily distracted by someone passing and waving to him from the sidewalk. This (of course) resulted in my friend not getting the correct entrée that he ordered. The starters arrived immediately, but we had waited upwards of an hour for the entrees to be delivered. My friend really had no option but to accept the entrée that was given to him. The disturbing part was no manager came to apologize and the waiter (in full-​on robotic mode) didn’t make the first attempt to set things right. He could have comped the entrée or offered a free dessert or drink — but did nothing. Later in the meal — another friend approached the waiter away from the table and stressed for him to somehow make it right. The solution came at the end of the meal when the waiter delivered the correct entrée in a take home bag. Not sure if that would have been the solution I would have chosen, and it would have been good if the waiter (and unseen manager?) would have been more upfront with offering a solution instead of having to be prodded.
THE FOOD: We each chose different starters and were all happy. As I am no expert on French cuisine and because it was too dark to note the plates — I can only say that we all cleaned our plates. I don’t recall the name of my starter — it was a stacked brie, ham and pastry dish that had the flavors of a gourmet ham & cheese croissant — it was quite good! For the mains, 4 of us shared two portions of the Cote de Boeuf. This was EXCEPTIONAL! (The lengthy wait for the mains was definitely because of the prep time for these very large portions of beef.) Two of us shared one, but it was enough for at least 3 or 4 people. The beef was tender, flavorful and served along side a large portion of sauteed onions and garlic cloves. OUTSTANDING! My only complaint is that is was quite fatty, and in the darkness it was difficult to separate out the fat. The side of gratin potatoes were creamy, rich and delicious. The 2 bottles of french red wine were good. In the heat of the night, they did a great job at keeping the water glasses filled. The total bill was $ 720 /​$ 144 each (5 starters, 2 Cote de Boeuf ($ 138 each), a Duck entrée, 2 bottles of wine).
The Good: The food! — especially the Cote de Boeuf (4 – 5 stars)
The Bad: The alfresco dining (1 star)
The Verdict: All of us look forward to another visit — but only at an inside table. Lesson learned.

The first time I tried Le Bistrot Du Sommelier, it was a few years back when it was still in its old location. We were seated outside and it was a hot, humid day. You can imagine how unpleasantness the whole dining experience was. The food was good, but perhaps because we were bathed in sweat, this restaurant has always slipped our minds.
Fast forward for a few years, and we suddenly were reminded of this place again. We Google-​ed it up and found out that it has moved to a new location. But thankfully, the food quality remains the same.
We had quail salad and some bacon seafood salad for starters. To be honest, they were not particularly memorable. And I’m not a big fan of salad either, so I couldn’t care less.
The main courses were the belle of the ball. We ordered a sweetbread-​stuffed veal trotter and it was as good as it sounds. The jelly-​like skin (very similar to pork’s) and the sweetbread were just a perfect combination for a guilty pleasure. We also ordered the 40-​clove garlic chicken. I’m a garlic guy and I thoroughly enjoyed that dish. The garlic just penetrates through the chicken meat. Beef tongue were a specialty of the day, and we also chowed through it. All of the main dishes had a very strong home-​cooked feel to it, that heartiness as if your French grandma had cooked them herself. It was fantastic.
For dessert, we had the coconut soufflé and some alcohol-​marinated cherry + ice cream. The soufflé was perfectly cooked and it was our first time having a coconut soufflé. They proved to be a good match.
All in all, I really enjoyed the dinner here. It’s something I probably won’t visit too often, considering how guilty the meals were, but should I decide to commit another food sin, this place will be on the top of my list.

We came here on a Thursday night. There is an upstairs bar seating area that is a little more lively. You can order food and drinks here and enjoy the good wine selection. After eating an appetizer up here we got out table downstairs in the restaurant area. Overall I’d say the food was fairly good. I cant say to be an expert in French cuisine so some of the items were new to me. To be honest I tend to gravitate towards spicy food so the flavor seemed a bit more subtle to me.
The duck rillette was very good. I enjoyed the beef with a red wine sauce but I was thinking it would be more of a steak but was actually more like a stew. The meat was very tender and fell apart. We also had a quail salad. The quail was very tasty and well done. The wine we had was good as well. The ambiance is relaxed and friendly.

A really tiny restaurant at an obscure corner of the road. I was disappointed to learn that indoor seating wasn’t available (at 8.30pm at night). The place was tiny!!! less than 5 tables indoors. Thankfully, Singapore’s humidity was kind to us that night. Although sitting by the road, near a cow grass patch wasn’t exactly the ambiance I had in mind when dining at a French restaurant…
The food
1. Salmon rilette — Love! They have a Rillette (and Charcuterie) Bar, which sells rillettes and cold cuts by weight. Beautifully fresh. Came with baguette and pickles on the side. Love the presentation.
2. Frogs legs — Pan-​fried frog’s legs, fried with garlic and butter and some herbs, was not bad. At times a little fishy but overall the garlic/​herbs did a good job in masking the fishy taste.
3. Cote de Boeuf (1kg) — $ 138 — sautéed onions and sauce. Good. Only very fatty. You probably have to spend some time cutting the fats out. It didn’t help that we were seated outside in the dark with nothing more than a candlelight to help us see what we were bitting into. Portion — Very huge. 4 of us could barely finish it.
4. Pastries — We had 2. One with Cheese & Ham (I liked) and the other with Mixed meat (I didn’t quite liked it. It was too salty).
Too bad we didn’t have space for desserts :(
The service
Good. Although there was only 1 waiter for the outdoor tables. I think he had to manage 10 – 15 tables… not to mention lugging around their huge standing-​2meter-​board which served as the speciality menu. If he was tired, it definitely didn’t show. Kudos to putting up with so many diners all in one night.
Overall, not bad. I would come back again if I could get a table indoor and probably order more rilette & have a go at their desserts :)

This is a review of a conglomeration of visits to Bistrot du Sommelier.
Twice, I’ve enjoyed dinner here. Other times, I’ve simply stopped in and had dessert in the upstairs bar area.
For both dinners, I sat in the quaint outdoor area.
First, service is always impeccable, friendly, and professional.
The food is amazing.
The outdoor seating makes for a very comfortable dining experience. It does have a very European feel. Well, except for the warm tropical evening weather of Singapore.
I’ve had the frog’s legs appetizer twice. Lots of garlic. Lots of flavor. Perfectly cooked frog’s legs.
On my first trip, for my main course, I enjoyed the Chicken in vinegar sauce. This chicken dish was very good. I ate every bite.
On my next visit, I ordered the 1.1 kilo Cote de Boeuf. This was one of those legendary meals that you remember for a lifetime.
The Cote de Boeuf was beyond good. It is the best steak I’ve eaten in Singapore. It was so good that my dinner companion abandoned her meal and focused on «assisting» me with mine. We still did not come even close to finishing it off. I was able to enjoy it for two more dinners.
The meat was cooked perfectly. The light seasoning allowed the quality of the beef to shine. Of course, the portion was magnificient.
The only dish that I have not thoroughly enjoyed is their tomatoes dish. But, then again, it seems ever so difficult to find really great tomatoes in Singapore. The tomatoes here all seem to be overly acidic and lacking sweetness.
Then there is the coup de grâce to any meal at Bistrot du Sommelier. Of course, I am speaking of the profiteroles. They are so good that I will finish meals at a restaurnat across town by stopping off here and asking to be seating in the upstairs area. They are worth the trip.
it also doesn’t hurt that the upstairs area is a very comfortable open and airy space. I do want to have a casual dinner there sometime and try their «bar» menu. The service here is also always warm and friendly.
I do think I would remiss in my review if I did not mention their extensivee wine list.
I will finish by saying Bistrot du Sommelier offers that unique combination of a wonderful ambiance, excellent friendly service, and truly amazing food. Whether for a wonderfully paced evening meal or simply to finish your evening with a delicious dessert, it is a phenomenal dining experience.
(note — they will not allow outside bottles of wine (even with a corkage fee). i almost removed a star for this. it is pure snobbery. it is not putting the customer first. it is ridiculous. i don’t care how great of a sommelier he is. it is the kind of thing that if i had not already fallen in love with the restaurant that would normally lead me to never returning. it borders on unforgivable when an proprietor places their own ego before the desires of their customer)