Bistro Du Vin, Shaw Center

Another good one by the Les Amis Group.

Admittedly, these guys are a little pricey (1 Scotts Road, #02-12 Shaw Centre, tel : 6733 7763), but I'm did feel that the price tag was commensurated by quality of food here. I don't pretend to be an expert on what they do, but previous experiences appear to point out qualities where their restaurants tend to outshine others.

Fricassée de Champignons aux morilles et oeuf poché

The mushroom fricassée - couldn't find myself disagreeing with the dish. This one was enjoyable, especially the salty bits of morel paired with the flavour of bacon grease. Liquid yolks rule!

Foie gras de canard des Landes aux pommes et réduction de
vinaigre balsamique

The foie gras came with the balsamic vinegar reduction a little dried out on the sides. It was otherwise familiarly lip smacking with a thin crusty exterior and the quivery insides that one would expect. I did wish that it was served in thicker slices though. There were some poached apples on the sides.

Soupe a l’oignon gratinée au gruyère et croûton

I'll describe their French onion soup as warm and comforting. Broth was filled with soft layers of boiled onion and topped with salty gruyere cheese. Great for a rainy day and something that I can see myself wanting to order again if I come back

cured ham sampler (Sanchez Romero Carvajal Cintos Jotas & Marcos Iberico de Bellota)

I'm not going to wonder about Spanish ham in a French place. These thinly sliced bits of cured meat had a nutty smoky flavour enhanced by the slivers of fat along the edges. Minus the saltiness of Parma ham. With a couple of years of prerequisite ageing, one might understand why they cost so much.

Confit de canard

Don't eat duck confit very often. Then again, I don't eat French food that much. This was quite nice in my opinion. The duck came with a nice crispy skin and tender flavourful meat. A bonus came in a form of a little jug of what I had heard to be a duck based reduction that enhanced the flavours of the meat noticeably to another level of - erm.... duckiness. In a good way.

kurobuta pork cutlet

I've only had a couple of pieces of the pork cutlet and they were very good. Tasted much like a refined version of that kurobuta pork loin from Big D's Grill and possessed too, a very nice smoky aroma from the grill.

steak frites (ribeye)

This was surprisingly awesome. Surprising because I hadn't been expecting a fat laced piece of ribeye that had enough natural flavours in the meat that widened my eye. I was expecting a regular steak and this was definitely better than your average steak. Mileages may indeed vary but I thought this made the stuff down at Aston Prime look like an amateur's job. Unfortunately, it doesn't look very impressive on photo. At $42, it also wasn't exactly wallet friendly as.

Crème brûlée

Nice crispy top and a very eggy custard. I liked this.

Profiteroles

I kinda like profiteroles for some reason. Maybe it's because of the soft choux pastry stuffed with ice cream texture. Wasn't anything extraordinary but I liked them the same.

apricot tart

The apricot tart wasn't bad but it was the least interesting amongst the dessert. Did turn out to be how I imagined the taste to be. But at least now I know for sure. Won't be missing it.