PUBLISHED April 22nd, 2016 06:35 pm | UPDATED July 22nd, 2024 02:52 pm
Wine. Red meat. Paris.
If any of these sound great to you, you might want to head down to L’Entrecôte Wine Bar – sister bar of the Parisian steak frites bistro L’Entrecôte – soon.
Having just opened last week, the same unit was previously known as L’Entrecôte The Annex, which offered a separate menu from the original L’Entrecôte and opened for weekend brunch. In keeping up with the competitive local F&B scene, the folks at L’Entrecôte have decided to change tack and rebrand it as a wine bar with a strong focus on affordable French wines.
Wine with a platter of cheese or cold cuts is pretty much an unbeatable combination, so we opted to try their more substantial sharing plates instead for a different dining experience. The Smoked Salmon Tartine ($16) didn’t impress. These fancy French open-faced sandwiches were decent enough to fill the belly, but it’s not a must-order.
The Fondue ($59.90) arrived with more fanfare due to the chunky, beautiful 350g of beef striploin, golden French fries, and green salad. Depending on where you’re sitting, the fondue comes in Vigneronne (spiced red wine sauce, available indoors) and Bourguignonne (boiling oil, available outdoors).
Given that we live in Singapore, the “fondue” we’re used to is Chinese or Japanese hot pot; so the Vigneronne was our very first European meat fondue we’ve tried our hand at. The spiced red wine sauce had a slight tartness that reminds me of Christmas mulled wine. There wasn’t much fat on the striploin, so the beef took on a fair bit of flavour from the red wine sauce. If you prefer more of a robust, red meat flavour, go for the Bourguignonne.
By the way, fondue etiquette requires no double dipping and no eating from the long-stemmed dipping fork…which we all violated since it takes a few tries to determine how long to leave the meat in, in order to achieve the desired doneness.
Another interactive sharing item you can get at L’Entrecôte Wine Bar is the Raclette, where cheese is melted on a tabletop grill with small pans. The Classic ($29) comes with small, firm baby potatoes and gherkins while The Deluxe ($37) comes with an extra selection of cold cuts. Potatoes, cold cuts, and greens are mixed together and topped with melted cheese – taters, meat, and creamy melted cheese on one plate, what else can we ask for?
You know you’re in a French-owned establishment when the dessert menu comprises of no less than 12 options. We went with the house signature, Salty Butter Caramel Lava Cake ($16) with ice cream. The rich salted caramel that came oozing out of the crispy shell was plentiful and at the right temperature; however, texture-wise, it’s neither as thick nor as gooey as that of chocolate lava cake. That’s a good thing (at least for me!) since I get actually finish dessert!
L’Entrecôte Wine Bar is located at 37 Duxton Hill, Singapore 089615, p. 6690 7561. Open Tue-Thu 5pm-11.30pm, Fri 3pm-1am, Sat 12pm-1am, Sun 5pm-11pm. Closed Mondays.
Read more at More Than Steak Frites: L’Entrecôte The French Brasserie and Tasty Food and an Introduction to Natural Wine at Anarchy Wine + Brew Bar