I don't always look forward to Mondays. Pulling myself out of bed to go to work after a weekend of rest & relaxation isn't particularly high up on my list of enjoyable activities. What
is on that list, though, is
Mondays in Lyon over at
db Bistro Moderne, one of Marina Bay Sands' Celebrity Chef Restaurants!
db Bistro Moderne is, of course, opened by
Chef Daniel Boulud, a restaurateur who is probably most well known for his eponymous place
Daniel in NYC, a 3-michelin starred restaurant which has been on Restaurant Magazine's list of
The World's Best Restaurants for a remarkable
eight years running.
The Singaporean outlet is helmed by
Chef Stephane Istel, who's previously cooked across France, Savoie, the Côte d’Azur, from the Caribbean, New York and British Columbia. He's an affable, jovial chap who seems to have settled down in his Singapore kitchen pretty well.
The
Mondays in _______ menu rotates every few months with a focus on the cuisine and ingredients in a particular town/city/region in France. For now up until the end of the year the focus is
Lyon, which incidentally is where Chef Daniel grew up.
The menu comes with a choice of three starters, main courses and desserts. The first starter, one of Chef Daniel's signature dishes also available on the restaurant's regular offerings, is the
Plateau de Charcuterie - a platter of delightful assorted cured meats, terrines, and pickles eaten with bread.
Soupe a L'Onion is a Classic French Onion & Beef Consommé with a liberal dosage of Gruyère cheese.
Too liberal, perhaps - I thoroughly enjoyed the soup, but I ended up with several mouthfuls of chewy, chewy cheese that took a while to chew and swallow.
The
Salade Lyonnaise is a frisée salad with chicken livers and bacon with a mustard and carrot dressing. Personally this was the starter that I enjoyed the least; maybe it's just me not being much of a salad person.
If you're into wine, a wine pairing option is available, with
Les Vins de Vienne, Côtes du Rhône Blanc and Rouge 2010. The red is pretty strong and dry; unfortunately my wine nose and palate aren't mature enough to give you more information than that :)
The fish option for the mains is my favorite dish of the night. The
Cabilleaud Poche - Poached Cod in a Nantua Sauce (a classical French Béchamel sauce with crayfish) - is delicious, with the cod being poached to perfection and nicely paired with the strong shellfish tastes of the sauce.
For vegetarians, or those of you avoiding meat, the
Gratin de Cardons Dauphinois (Cardoon & Potato Gratin with Mushroom Fricassee) is a pretty hearty dish. I'm also a newcomer to the Cardoon, which is a vegetable which feels and tastes sort of like celery, only not as pungent.
Poulet au Vinaigre - Vinegar Braised Chicken served with Tarragon Rice Pilaf. The chicken was delicious, if not
quite as moist and smooth as the breast we had at
Petrus. Gravy was superb, though, especially when eaten with the rice.
Moving on to desserts, the
Apple Tarte Fine would be my dessert of choice. The Apple Pie compote and Puff Pastry were pretty nice by themselves, but it was the accompanying Cognac Ice Cream that made the dessert simply sublime.
Coupe Chocolat et Marron is a selection of Valrhona Chocolate Ice Creams & Candied Chestnut with touches of edible Gold leaf. If you were wondering why the choice of Valrhona, it's because Valrhona actually does originate from Lyon.
Sadly I didn't much care for the third choice of desserts - the
Ile Flottante - steamed meringue wedge floating in crème anglaise, with sugar-coated pink pralines. I thought that the meringue in itself was rather bland both from a texture and taste perspective, and the pralines were perhaps a bit too sweet.
The dinner finishes up with your choice of coffee/tea, and Chef Daniel's signature mini madeleines. I enjoyed these hot mini morsels a lot; too bad I couldn't stomach more than a few of them thanks to all the food I had throughout the night.
The
Mondays in Lyon dinner goes for SGD68 per person (add on an additional SGD32 for the wine pairing), which in my opinion is a fair price for the ingredients used and the amount of love put in to the cooking. As its' name suggests, it's only available for dinner on Mondays, and only til the end of December (after which Chef will come up with a new Menu with focus on a different town/region). Non-halal.
** Please note that this was an Invited Review. Many thanks to Philicia and Elzena for the invite, and to Keropokman, Camemberu, My Food Sirens II and The Hungry Cow for the company :) **
