Revisited Review: Le Bistrot du Sommelier at 53 Armenian Street, Singapore 179940

This French restaurant at Armenian Street has always been one of those places where you know and can expect no surprises, but good classic French food for that birthday or anniversary celebration. At least, that's how I thought of Le Bistrot du Sommelier ever since I tried their steak years ago. I went back again maybe 2 years back, and it was still good. So I was really delighted to be invited again to try it recently. 

One of the highlights of Le Bistrot du Sommelier (which you can't really tell from the name) is their dim sum style appetizer/snack ordering system. A selection of cheeses and rilette are available for your choosing.

We tried these for starters:

1) Duck Rillette, 100gm ($10.80): Super awesome. I always get this when I am there. 4/5
2) Rabbit, Pork, Duck, foie gras 'Ballotine', 150gm ($18.00), round patty in photo: Good combination. Would prefer it without rabbit though. 3/5


3) Mackerel Rillette, 100gm ($9.50): Also nice, surprisingly not too fishy but quite light. 3.5/5


Here's the menu for reference. Like I mentioned, a lot of classic French dishes. 





For starters from the kitchen, we had the Panaché de Fruits de Mer ($19) made with prawn’s ‘Babajuan’, confit trout, sautéed squid and Pourpier salad. It was rather normal, just a fresh seafood dish with light ingredients. 3/5


The highlight of our meal was actually the second hot starter - the Chataigne, Bettrave et Sabayon aux Cèpes ($19) made with two different types of beetroot, steamed, and dressed with chestnut mousseline and cèpes mushroom sabayon. I could rave about it the whole day, or actually go there and eat it again (when I am back)! 4.5/5


Then we move on to the heavy stuff. First with a Onglet de Boeuf ($32) from the beef menu. It is the pan-seared beef 'onglet' served with shallots and garlic confit and French fries.


The onglet was probably my favorite among the 3 meat mains we had. The mashed potatoes was out of this world crazily good (probably due to the large amounts of French butter used). The beef was tender, and the entire thing was chopped and marinated in a caramalized onion sauce (I think). While that's great, I wish there could be less sauce so we could appreciate the beef more. If not ordering steak, then I'd say go for this. 3.5/5


The other 2 mains I didn't like as much as they were too heavy handed for me in terms of taste. The oven-roasted French chicken, legs and foie gras in puff pastry and spiced chicken jus ($68 for 2) is just a tad pricey and boring for two people to eat unless you are a fan of chicken breast. The foi gras in the puff pastry was a good touch though but overall the chicken itself was lacklustre. 3/5

The Cuisse de Canard Confite aux Choix ($36++), which is Cassoulet-style white beans stew with streaky bacon, pork sausage and lamb shoulder was nice, but too much in terms portion and the taste could get quite boring quite fast. 3/5


I remembered their desserts to be good, and was not disappointed with the poached pear ($17) served with chocolate streuzel and Caraïbe 66% whipped ganache. You won't expect pear to taste so good! 4/5

We also had the hazelnut soufflé with dark chocolate ice-cream ($25 for 2) which looked amazing at the beginning before deflating into a somewhat watery souffle. Didn't really like this, and the price is also a bit steep. 2/5

Lastly, upon special request because I remembered them to be so good, we had the profiteroles ($15) which is choux bun filled with vanilla ice-cream, warm chocolate sauce and almond flakes. This time round I found it a little too sweet for my ageing tastebuds. Get the poached pear instead.



Overall Le Bistrot du Sommelier seem to have dropped a little in terms of my expectations, but do go for their duck rilette, beef onglet and poached pear for the complete quality meal. They are also offering a 3-course "TGV lunch" set for $35++ (menu here) that is good value for money!


Le Bistrot du Sommelier
53 Armenian St, Singapore 179940
+65 63331982
Daily 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 6:00 – 11:00 PM except
Closed on Sundays

Thank you Le Bistro du Sommelier and Food News PR for the invite!

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