PUBLISHED January 1st, 2014 03:08 am | UPDATED April 17th, 2016 09:43 pm
It has to be said, dining out in Singapore when you’re a fan of quality French cuisine is not exactly a wallet-friendly hobby. Happily, La Cuisson – occupying 2 floors of a shophouse on Princep Street – is doing that rare thing, offering a combination of top-notch dishes at affordable prices that certainly left us feeling like this could easily become a regular hang out.
Those in the know may have come across Chef-Owner Kenneth Lin’s previous hawker-stall offering at Holland Drive, part of the Youth Hawkerprise scheme serving up authentic, uber-affordable French-inspired food. Having now moved on to a bistro setting with La Cuisson, the prices have inevitably also increased but what you get certainly still constitutes fantastic value for money.
Granted, the décor doesn’t do much to create the ambiance of a French bistro (more clean lines, strong lighting and shiny surfaces than informal and intimate) and could do with a bit of tweaking, but we soon forgot about that once the dishes started to roll out.
The Duck Rillete, at $8, is quite simply a bargain. Rich, perfectly shredded and seasoned duck sitting alongside a pile of pickled vegetables which offered the perfect counterbalance, as well as crisp delicately dressed salad leaves. With the basket of warm crusty rolls accompanying it, this dish felt like a little piece of France all by itself.
The Grilled Tiger Prawns ($15), subtly spiced with cumin and served with a corn & pomegranate salsa, and herb & chilli dressing could have done with a hint more kick either from additional citrus or chilli but were nonetheless beautifully cooked.
We also tried the Eggs and Onions ($10) – incorporating an egg cooked sous-vide at 63 degrees – had a wonderfully gooey, unctuous texture, perfumed with truffle, and whilst it certainly needed the pickled onion accompaniment to cut through the richness, it was a fun if messy (plenty of slurping and spilling involved) sharer.
Mains excelled. The Sous-Vide Pork Chop ($33) was a more-than-generous portion, perfectly succulent, and with thoughtfully combined accompaniments of earthy yam puree, a juicy roasted tomato, apple sauce still with some bite for texture, and a refreshing corn salsa.
The Angus Beef ‘Tender’ ($28) was again superbly cooked to the medium-rare we had requested, and showcased an abundance of well put together, high quality produce (crunchy baby asparagus, celeriac cubes, fresh parsley sauce and creamy mashed potato). Our only gripe was not having enough of the delicious jus!
In the dessert stakes, Crème brulee ($9) was delicious in terms of flavour although slightly missed the mark due to an over-stiff consistency. The cinnamon spiced Poached Pear ($10) with beetroot puree however worked a treat, particularly with the excellent, velvety ice-cream it came with.
All in all, this is a great find – the perfect place to go with a group of friends for quality French-inspired fare, enjoy every morsel and not break the bank in the process.
Written by Cazerole
On this occasion the meal was compliments of La Cuisson