Taratata Bistrot

Perfect French bistrot, 2 French chefs, Bertrand and Philippe gave us a memorable classic and authentic French dinner.
The lamb cutlets were so tasty, i found them better than some i had in a 3 stars michelin in France.
A very nice cheese selection, reasonable and excellent wine list.
Friendly and professional service.
We will come back, we were back to France for few hours!!! Thank you.

I’ve been on the lookout for good french food in Singapore and this place turns out to be that little gem where you can make a reservation relatively last-​minute (about an hour before) and still get a seat for Friday evening dinner. And the food and wine are both good and at a «reasonable» price point (well, relative to the likes of famous French fine dining establishments like Les Amis and Gunther’s).
As a starting point, we took their wine recommendation, a Fort Duroc 2007 Medoc Vieilles Vigne (thanks Vivino!). Most of their wines are in the low 90s to $ 200++ range and their special was going at $ 108 a bottle. The «house wine» turned out to be quite complex and delicious, and given that this was at the lower end of their prices for wine, not what I’d expected them to push. A good start already!
We had escargot for starters — suffice to say, the other reviews on this page have it spot on. Excellent, excellent dish.
The highlight of the night had to be my main — duck confit French style ($ 33). Duck confit is not an easy dish to do well, based on restaurant experiences in Singapore. Typically the duck meat gets too dry or the skin is too soggy. I’m happy to share that they did this dish perfectly — the meat was moist, succulent and tender but the skin perfectly crispy and hot. Easily the best duck confit I’ve had in Singapore!
Despite a slight hiccup in food service (our other order for main came 20 minutes late), the servers were at their best attending to us to make sure that we could share the duck confit (while we waited), and also gave us complimentary sorbet at the end of the night to make up for their mistakes. Like most good French places in Singapore, this place is not cheap (but not quite out of the stratosphere expensive). That said, good food, good wine and good service — I’m definitely coming back!

Taratata Bistrot is a charming little French restaurant along Keong Saik Road which I’ve been meaning to try for sometime. I finally made time for it when i saw that it was on the Restaurant Week listing (yes i’m slow in updating) and it was only $ 25 for a 3 course meal. The prices are very reasonable even if you didn’t make the RW bookings though.
We were served starters from their regular menu, which is a good thing i feel. I hate it when restaurants serve a completely different (usually substandard) menu for RW. That kinda deters repeat visits especially if the food sucks.
The Half Dozen of Snails Baked in Herbed Garlic Butter ($ 25). I found the escargots to be succulent and well flavored with garlic herbs.
The Baked Eggs Casserole with Duck Gizzard Confit and Mushrooms ($ 24) had nice runny eggs that are best soaked up with the delicious baguette Taratata serves. Generous pieces of foie gras were swimming in the eggs but i thought they would be better seared first before thrown into the ramekin.
Even though the mains were not from the regular menu, we were very happy with our dishes. The Salmon Coulibiac with Watercress Butter Sauce was lovely! The puff pastry was buttery and flaky and the salmon was cooked to a nice pink.
The Pan Roasted Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin with Mustard sauce was done simply to allow diners a taste of the tender and non fatty meat. It’s the first time i thought that pork could taste so clean and healthy. K thought it was a little too bland though.
Dessert was the highlight of the meal! The Baked Chocolate Tart with Crisp, Caramel sauce and Ginger bread ice cream was out of this world. The crunchy tart held the intense chocolate lava and the pastry skin twirl made us twirly whirly in our seats as we devoured the dish without speaking (but we did make a lot of oooohs and aaaahhhhs. God they need to put this on their menu.
Service was attentive and quick, maybe because they wanted us out fast for their second lunch service. If you’re up for some quick lunch, Taratata Bistrot does a 40 minutes Lunch Express at $ 25 which includes a soup and a main course.
For a more leisurely lunch, there’s the $ 30 2-​course set lunch and they also serve a 3 course set meal for $ 38. I’d recommend Taratata Bistrot for a charming and affordable French meal.

Nice Ambience and excellent & attentive service. Classic dishes done right — Escargot, French Onion Soup and Crème Brûlée. Worth a try — good for dinner party or a quiet date. The set dinner menu was good value for money. On a very happening street.

Where to begin. I’ll start with the food. Overall it was pretty good. The french onion soup was awesome. Not the best I ever had which was almost orgasmic but this was very tasty. Couldve used a little more cheese but oh well. My cassoulet was pretty good. I had never had one before so dont know what to compare it to. I wouldnt say the flavor was jumping in my mouth but it was a good dish. The dessert was a great warm chocolate cake with loads of chocolate oozing out. The wine was good and the ambiance was nice and relaxed. A good spot for a date. I have mixed feelings about this restaurant though. I dont want to be jaded by maybe what was a bad night for them. But I thought the service was sub par. I felt the manager was great and attentive. She gave great recommendations and was working hard. I felt like she was running the whole restaurant. I dont know what the other servers were doing. It took 20 min to process our credit cards and we were the only ones left in the restaurant. Its too bad because everything else was really nice. Like I said, maybe it was a bad night for them. If you enjoy french cuisine I’d try it for sure.

It was a great experience even though we skipped the mains and had 3 appetisers plus four desserts.
French Onion Soup
This was done exactly the way I wanted it to be. Cheesy toast which was soaked in the savoury goodness.
There was also some cheese crust that stuck stubbornly to the edges around the exterior pot that you should not waste.
just use your hands to pluck them into your mouth.
Once you dig in, there seemed to be endless amount of soft onions
Escargots in herbed garlic and butter
Escargots lovers must not miss this dish and it’s recommended that you go for the dozen on the ala carte menu if you find that the 6 little ones on the sunday set menu insufficient to satisfy your craving.
Crab and Pomelo Salad
This might not be commonly seen on French menu but it’s certainly a refreshing starter to have.
The crab meat hidden by the greens were fresh, sweet and creamy. Reminds me of a dense coleslaw without the vegetables. The pomelo was bitter but matched well with the crab.
These 3 dishes were followed shortly by 4 desserts, which were mostly accompanied with a pot of crème anglaise.
Prune Clafoutis with Rum and Raisin Ice cream
This was unexpectedly good as this French dessert is usually served at home for in large servings. This individual tart-​like Clafoutis had a chewy texture and is very sweet. The prunes as well as the ice cream emit strong hints of rhum. Worth a try since it’s not common in local French menus.
Crème Brulee
This is relatively large but I like generous portions of desserts since it is difficult to be satisfied with morsels of good things. A fairly decent brulee for the price.
Grand Marnier Soufflé
This mighty soufflé rises to a level which is one the highest I have seen so far. The alcohol kick was satisfying but somehow I still miss a chocolate soufflé.
The sweet cream is really good because one can control the sweetness of the dessert. I recommend pouring everything in as it would taste quite eggy and plain on its own.
Warm Chocolate Cake with Lavender Ice Cream
This molten cake is once again larger than the usual ones.
The gooey inner filling oozes out as expected but it would be better if the outer cake wall was thinner. Otherwise there would be no more molten lava to go with the dry parts. Nonetheless, the lavender ice cream and crème anglaise did set this dish a little different from the rest.
The lavender ice cream was particularly unique pairing and I appreciate it more than a vanilla scoop. The scent of lavender was quite strong which some might not be used to.
Overall, the French meal here was a comfortable and cosy one without the occasion pressures of a fine-​dining place. Moreover, the menu is not overpriced and has a variety of mains which include rabbit leg!
The service staff were approachable and friendly.

Several friends had gushed about Taratata so when it came time for a girls’ night out, F suggested we check out Taratata. The restaurant is cosy and the service is good so I was looking forward to trying the food.
Had the pan fried duck foie gras with caramelised pears which was quite good followed by the grilled Angus rib eye with cognac black pepper sauce. Thought it was decent but thought the steak began to taste a bit bland halfway through, unlike certain places like Bedrock and Gordon Grill where the steak remains tasty throughout. F had the beef flank steak with shallot sauce and quite liked it. We skipped on dessert as we were too full.
Wasn’t blown away but might come back to try other dishes.

I was brought on a date the first time, and I was rather charmed by the bistro setting that definitely reminded me of my stay in Paris not too long ago. The waiters were all dressed up and the warm lighting inside with tables tightly packed were quintessentially Parisian. The menu did not disappoint. Good old classics like Coq Au Vin, Confit de Canard, Escargots and Soupe a l’Oignon got me excited. The mackerel salad had caught my eye as I remember a rather delicious variant when I was visiting the French Countryside. I went with that, as well as the Poulet Rotî (Orast Chicken) for my main course.
The Mackerel Fillet marinated in white wine with scented potatoes salad had been so stunning, that was all I could think of since then. The perfumed salad had a light floral and earthy taste, possibly the doing of a herb infused oil. The fish was not the least fishy and it was delicate and soft, marrying perfectly with the potatoes that were lightly dressed. The greens and garnishing herbs were light in flavour not too overpowering, lending a great touch to the delicate textures of the dish. The main course were impressive, enough to leave an impression and a longing to be back.
I manage to catch a glimpse of the lunch menu that seemed very economical at just $ 30 for three course. This is cheaper than the usual lunch set menus in Parisian bistro and with the quality of the dinner there, I am sure to go back to try their lunch!

So good, I came for dinner two nights in a row.
The first night was pretty busy, but thankfully the reservation held, and we were shown to our seats promptly. The Girlfriend was quite taken with the European-​looking wait staff, and his (French?) accent, so looks like there were points there for authenticity. The fam joined us for night 2, and we had a lovely booth to ourselves.
Food was not an easy pick — there is a lot to choose from, and almost all of it sounded lovely! Over the two nights, we had loads: the cassolette of escargot was super tasty, especially with the garlicky mushrooms; the mackerel fillet was light, and the accompaniments added great balance (thumbs up for the dressing!); the lamb rack, pork trotter, boeuf bourguigon, and roasted chicken leg? All of it disappeared.
Some say dessert is the measure of a complete meal, and perhaps they need a bit more work here. We didn’t enjoy these as much — the Grand Marnier Soufflé packed too heavy a punch for me, while the ice nougat was a new experience, but not much to shout about. Perhaps the starters and mains had already blown our tastebuds away. The shining light was the homemade lavender ice cream — that really cleaned up the palate after some heavyweight mains, and was quite a delight to finish.
Service did well by me and the fam too, Manager Jovy made her rounds, and the two fellas were engaging and polite as they navigated the dining room.
They’ve just started a Sunday lunch menu, which promises a lot of family style food — right up my alley. Now, to round up the kinfolk…
Oh and check for credit card promotions! No better way to round off a dining experience eh?