The French Stall @ Macpherson

After a full day of activities, we were rather worn out by evening. So we decided to have dinner at The French Stall where is very near to the birthday's girl home at Macpherson. The French Stall is a cosy al fresco cafe serving rustic and home style French cuisine and has an outlet located in neighbourhood area under the HDB flat. The other branch is at Serangoon Road where I visited once and liked it. Though it's in a neighbourhood area but the pricing maintain at restaurant standard. However this branch at Macpherson was not as good as expected and didn't impress us so I don't think I will be back again. Anyway, I like the idea of French restaurant right below your flat! Cool... Total bills came up to about S$110.00 for the 3 of us so approx S$36 plus per person. Let's take a look at our orders...

Garlic Bread

Quite oily and herb didn't taste very fresh.


Escargots

The sauce tasted weird so we didn't manage to finish up.


Carrot Soup

Not bad, light and refreshing.


Lamb Chop

A bit too gamey for my liking but the bd's girl didn't complain.


Sirloin Steak

Though done at medium but the steak quality was not very good so the meat was a bit tough.


Pork Gordon Bleu Loin

The pork loin was overdone, quite dry and hard but love the sauce.


Tiramisu

This was quite good, light and moist.


Chocolate Cake

Pretty ordinary and a bit dry for our liking.




The French Stall
83 Macpherson Lane
Singapore 360083
Tel: 6746 0183
Opening hour:
Tue - Fri 12noon to 10pm
Sat - Sun 3pm to 10 pm
(Close on Mon)

La Petite Cuisine

7th Mar 2010

La Petite Cuisine - a little cafe tucked in a corner of Serene Centre that serves affordable and rustic French fare. As there's no service charge and GST, order has to be made at the cashier and ice water is self service too. Anyway I find it a fair deal since they don't charge any service charge. Plus, almost all the mains are less than 20 bucks so it's really quite cheap for the kind of food they serve! We ordered 2 entrees to share with 5 mains and total bill for 5 was S$99.50 nett. One advantage of dining with close ones are you get to try everyone's order. We decided not to have any dessert since reviews on them was so far not fantastic. French food that cost about S$20 per pax, we really can't complaint much though portion was quite small for some of the dishes but still was good enough to fill us.

Overall was a happy meal as the sense of humor of the crews and chef was rather entertaining! Maybe some may not think so... While we were making orders, my cousin asked the lady chef for recommendation, she caught us by surprise and said nothing was nice! When we looked at her shockingly then she laughed out: "Aiyo girl just joking la...!" When I placed my order for salmon, she asked me how old I wanted my salmon to be? This year or last year? I replied with a "ha???" and was thinking what's the difference as I thought is fresh salmon. Innocently I asked her which was better and she replied: "If you want the older one, I can clear my old stock la...!" Then she laughed again: "Aiyo I'm just pulling your legs! Lol!" We all ended up laughing! Quite funny right! After our meal, the chef still came out to greet us and hope that we enjoyed the food!

Entree
Escargots (6pcs) w/croissant & salad - S$12.00

Escargots cooked in a very tasty sauce and served with a warm and soft croissant. A dish worth trying and good enough to be ordered as a main if you want something not so heavy!

Ravioli of prawns & foie gras in light lemon creme - S$14.50

One of the signature dish and never disappoint us too. The whole dish was done up nicely, the cream sauce was not overly creamy complimented the ravioli quite well.

2 big ravoili was served and each filled with a piece of foie gras and prawn. Another must try!

Main

Sirloin steak w/gratin potato & salad - S$13.50

The steak was quite thinly cut but surprisingly was done perfectly at medium rare as requested. Nicely grilled with a smokey flavour and the gratin potato was delightfully creamy and fluffy too.

Confit de canard w/gratin potato - S$15.00

Aunt had this and she didn't complaint except the potato was too creamy for her liking as she don't like creamy stuff. I find that the sauce was too little and the duck was a bit dry.

Fillet of fresh salmon w/baby spinach - S$14.50

This was my order and I liked everything from the not over cooked grilled salmon to the sauteed spinach and butter rice.

Pork Cutlet w/pasta - S$11.50

The spaghetti was nicely sauteed with olive oil and the pork cutlet was juicy and tender.

Choucroute Alsacienne - S$18.50

A stewed dish with pork cutlet, sausage, ham & fermented cabbage. This looked rather homely and not so appealling. I think this was the only one dish that we don't really enjoy. The pork cutlet was dry and bland so was the sausage though the thick cut of ham was quite nice.

Complementary warm hard roll w/butter

Nicely toasted!

La Petite Cuisine

10 Jalan Serene

#01-05 Serene Centre

Singapore

Tel: 6314 3173

Opening hours:

Tue–Sun: 11.30am–2.30pm, 5.30pm–9.30pm

The French Stall

The French Stall serving authentic down to earth french cuisine at reasonable price. A cosy open air restaurant located at a corner shophouse along Serangoon Road and it's must be good as it's been around for years. Some may have notice this place when taking bus or driving. The restaurant is usually packed during dinner time and they don't accept reservation. So the best is to be there early. Haha... this was also my first real french meal.

Starter:
French Onion Soup

This was quite tasty but I'm don't like the bread soaked in it. If ordering set meal, need to add $2.80 to upgrade from soup of the day to this.

Pan Fried "Foie Gras" - S$22.80

My first time tasting "Foie gras". It's rich and melt in the mouth but I don't really know how to appreciate it. So ex... for such a small little piece of liver. My aunt loved it and she said the chef has done it quite nicely.

Chicken Liver Pate

If having the set meal, you can choose this instead of soup and just need to top up $3.80 for this. Nothing special, taste like chicken liver spread and would prefer it to be more flavourful as I find it bland.

Garlic Bread - S$4.20

Is a side order. This was so yummy. One of the best garlic bread that I have so far. So much butter, garlic and herbs...really good!

Main course:
Each of us ordered different entrees, so I get to try all of them.
Grilled Beef Sirloin Steak (200g) - S$19.80

I had the steak. They served nice steak and the sauteed potatoes that came with it was delicious. Even the creamy sauce was yummy too.

Grilled Pork Chop (Set dinner - S$16.80)

One thick chunky slice of juicy pork chop served with 2 croquettes with brown sauce. The pork chop was not overcooked and no tenderizer was added but still quite tender and juicy. Nice!

Pork Gordon Bleu Loin - S$16.80

Ham and cheese were sandwiched in between the pork loin to pan fry. The gordon bleu sauce was so good and complimented the loin really well. The meat was tasty, juicy and tender. This was served with sauteed potatoes too. My next visit I'm going to have this all by myself...lol! This is a must try!

Dory Fish w/Mashed Potatoes (Set dinner - S$16.80)

The fish was nice too but can't steal my love from the steak & pork. The mash potatoes tasted creamy and cheesey, not bad too.

Dessert:
Giant Profiterole

A giant size cream puff with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream drenched with delicious chocolate sauce. This was heavenly and satisfying. Best to be shared as it was quite a big portion. Added S$4.80 to upgrade to this for set dinner.

Tiramisu

Many reviews I read commented that the tiramisu has no liquor in it. True, tasted none but was quite nice too. The whole cake was light and chocolatery. To top up S$3.20 to change to Tiramisu from dessert of the day.

It was a satisfying and enjoyable meal and service crews were friendly too. A nice and cosy place to chill out with friends on weekend's evening provided the weather was not so humid as it's an open joint. They have quite a good list of wine and value for money set dinner starting from S$16.80. They don't serve free ice water but you can order a large ice mountain @ S$3.80 to share.



The French Stall
544 Serangoon Road
Singapore 218166
Tel: 6299 3544