Verre Wine Bar

Farther off Robertson Quay is Rodyk Street, which was for a bit, a hipster spot (thanks to Toby’s Estate). Even though i used to frequent this spot, i’ve not noticed Verre, formerly a wine bar hidden behind dark and heavy drapes. Thankfully, after a relaunch, Verre Modern Bistro and Wine Bar has lost all that darkness and brought light, and great food to its mix.
The new direction cannot be a better choice really. With their expertise in wine (they have over 750 labels of fine wine mainly from Bordeaux and Burgundy), Verre is able to provide great pairings with their Modern French dishes created by Chef Consultant Masashi Horiuchi (who also manages Shelter in the Woods). We had an extensive night of food and wine pairings, something easily done since one could have over 30 wines by the glass with your food choice.
A good start to a meal at Verre would be the creamy Chicken Liver Parfait ($ 24) paired with a reduction of port wine, madeira wine shallot, balanced with a tangy mandarin orange jelly and a dehydrated honeycomb-​like mandarin orange. This was paired with a dry lemon lime Paringa Estate Riesling 2012 ($ 19.50).
The Half Lobster Salad ($ 38) features a sweet Maine lobster cooked in court bouillon, with a creamy guacamole and a refreshing calamansi and honey dressing. I would order this dish for the sweet and tangy dressing! The wine pairing was the Stick Chardonnay 2013 ($ 18) with flavors of grapefruit, white peach, citrus and oak spice.
I loved the Black Garlic Soup ($ 19), which was made with a white wine chicken stock and black garlic. That clove of roasted black garlic was icing on the cake and gave the soup a slightly tangy sweet preserved plum flavor. We had the dark fruity Massalino Dolcette D Alba 2013 ($ 18) to go with this.
The Pan-​seared Scallops with Sweet Corn ($ 38) was an absolute stunner. The corn flavor was immensely intense and the pickled konbu gave the dish an umami lift.
Onto the bigger dishes. I’m not a fan of the Seafood Papillote ($ 30) of oven baked seafood. It was a little too bland for my liking though that toasted dill bread with gruyère was perfect for mopping up the stock.
Do not go away without having some of that gorgeous Suckling Pig ($ 42) done 2 ways. One part slow roasted for 4 — 5h and braised with spices; and another slow braised for 12h with a tangy Asian marinade of orange, honey, and spice. Give me a bun and make me a slider out of this pulled pork mix with Iberico ham and pickled onions already!
I was extremely pleased with the meat selection at Verre. The Fillet of Wagyu Beef ($ 62) can have my body and soul. Just look at that pink flesh (best enjoyed slightly rare)! And hand over that umami American potato truffle fries, seasoned with truffle shavings and truffle oil. I’m sure there’s some soy sauce in there somehow. No bottled ketchup here by the way. We’ll go with the homemade mushroom ketchup made with madeira wine and pickled mushrooms.
Have this with the classic full bodied Massolino Barolo 2010 ($ 32) and you’d be in cow heaven.
After that heavy meal, I was grateful for the light refreshing desserts. I enjoyed the deconstructed Apple Mille-​Feuille ($ 16) A LOT. We had apple in all forms– macerated apple with lemon juice, sorbet, compote, and caramelized, with layers of caramalised filo pastry and vanilla custard cream flavored with Calvados. That cream THAT CREAM! The dessert wine award goes to the Caprilli Moscadello ($ 15), a silky and refreshing drink which was sweet but light enough.
Other hits include the Saint-​Honore ($ 10) filled with the mind blowing vanilla pastry cream and chantilly! The Canele ($ 4) was pretty good too but could be more crisp. Certainly one of the better ones because I

Since my last review, I must have been here 30 more times. This is my second home from 6−7pm most days :-)
The staff is amazing, the wine selection is great (especially if you go for the fancy cellar), and the location is perfect – right on the river. And the happy hour prices are unbeatable!

Superb great service! Good job Manager! Keep it up.
Great wine selection though the prices are slightly on the high.

Singapore does have many wine bars but not really an abundance of wine bars with good selection of wines at decent prices. Verre does in that sense fill a gap, and a bit surprisingly (perhaps not in having a good wine selection but decent prices seldom goes hand in hand with this area) it is in a rather touristy and expat heavy area.
This bar/​restaurant is located along Robertson Quay and has both nice outdoor seating area as well as a fairly large dining room. It has never been very busy when I have been here so have always been able to get a seat without reservations. Service has always been friendly and fast so a big plus for that.
The wine selection is pretty good, I counted 8 reds and 8 whites by the glass and 1 sparkling. Very decent prices and for their happy hour it is really good (from 4 – 7 pm on weekdays and 4−6pm on weekends) with buy 1 get 1 free offer on the wines by the glass and some beers. Their champagne by the glass is for example the excellent Guy Charlemagne Brut (for a review of thier 2008 check out
) and at 18 SGD for 2 glasses it is excellent value for money.
The selection of wines by the bottle is also good, a lot from France but also from other parts of the world. Prices are pretty good as well so really a pleasant experience.
They do also have a full food menu. I have had the food and it is not bad but also not something very special. I mainly come here for the fine but occassionally also eat here and have never been really disappointed but also never really escited about it either. Expect pastas and other European dishes on the me u.
Overall this is one of my favorite places for wine in Singapore.

It’s hard to believe that I’m the first to review Verre, as it’s in a very popular hood and it is a fantastic wine bar. The room is beautiful and spacious and very roomy. Definitely a lot quieter and more intimate than some of the larger places like Wine Connection. It’s also a bit different as it offers some formal main courses, but first let’s talk about the wine.
While their by the glass choices are decent, around 6 – 8 whites and same for reds, their deep by the bottle offerings are the real star of the show. In particular, they had a solid offering of French, both Bordeaux and Burgundies, and many are quite reasonably priced. By biggest pet peeve however is that our Bordeaux arrived cold! OK, it wasn’t ice cold, but still colder than ideal and with some condensation, so that was annoying. The by the glass selections did not have such an issue.
As for the food, don’t miss out on the tarte flambé. These are basically flatbreads, but much better. Loved the savory toppings, and we ordered a swecond one as a starter too. The entrees are interesting. The beef bourguignon was very good — super tender morsels of beef in a super rich stew. But why are the mashed potatoes so gummy? The duck and steak frites looked delicious, while the salmon looked good but a bit small.
Overall, Verre has a lot going for it. I would definitely go back for some wine and tarte flambes. There are a few miscues, such as bottles being refrigerated too much and the gooey mess of a mashed potato. But I applaud them for their ambitious menu, and with a few tweaks, they could be even better.