Birthday Celebration 2014 : La Petite Cuisine
My birthday is just a few days away and just like before, the celebration starts days before the actual day and it can go on and on weeks after that. This year, it began exactly a week in advance and I'm seeing that I'll still be celebrating my birthday up until the end of June. A month-long celebration, I like the sound of that. :)
I'm really excited to celebrate my birthday this year because not only my family is coming over but even my dear MIL and FIL are flying in too! I'm so excited for our family dinner and the days that I'll be able to spend with them. Given that I'll be busy this coming weekend, I decided to have an early birthday lunch with the NKids at La Petite Cuisine last Sunday. This restaurant has been on my list for a few months now after my French colleague I told me about it. Well, a French restaurant recommended by a French lady, that says a whole lot about its authenticity, doesn't it?
La Petite Cuisine is located a few blocks away from the Botanic Gardens MRT station. I tried to give them a call to make a reservation but I was told that they don't accept reservations but it was still very nice of them though to set aside a table for our party of 6. This allowed us to sit inside which was perfect as the heat outside was definitely not al fresco dining friendly. The chef and owner is French who would go in and out of the kitchen to say hello to the guests. Such a friendly man, he is! Wish his friendly spirit would rub off onto his waitstaff though. Save for one who was very accommodating, the cashier guy and the lady server could definitely use some happy pixie dust sprinkled on to them.
Don't you agree that when dishes are written in French, it just makes everything sounds so delicious?
This is why it took us quite a while to decide on our order. The process here is for you to queue at the cashier, give your order, pay and wait for your food to arrive. This obviously is not your typical fancy French restaurant as even the plates are plastic and the cups are disposable. If you want some drinking water, you'll have to help yourself at the water station.
Here's what we had at La Petite Cuisine:
Complimentary Bread and Butter
Delicious warm bread and lightly salted butter is definitely a no-fail meal starter in my opinion.
Cream of Broccoli
We had the option to add S$4 to add soup/dessert/coffee or tea to our meal. We all got soup which was a choice from: Cream of Carrots, Cream of Broccoli and Cream of Potato. We love the creamy soup but I would have preferred it to have more broccoli, maybe some bits of it to make it more chunky.
Sirloin Steak with Gratin Potato and Salad (S$16.50)
♫ It's my birthday and I'm eating steak if I want to!♫ I normally wouldn't get steak but I don't know why I was just craving for a good slice of beef that day. La Petite Cuisine surely didn't disappoint this birthday girl as I enjoyed my perfect medium well steak with creamy potato gratin and fresh arugula salad. Okay, maybe if I can swap the potato gratin with Paul's fragrant rice then that would have been more than perfect.
Filet of Chicken with Cepes and Rice (S$14.50)
My husband, on the other hand, wanted to go simple and chose the chicken dish instead. For a while there, I thought there was a typo on the menu that the "cepes" may actually mean "crepe". Although it still sounded weird, it can be possible right? Well, I was wrong. Cepes is actually a type of mushroom that was added into the dish. Paul gave me a slice and I loved how tender the chicken fillet was. It wasn't dry at all and the creamy sauce was just too addicting for me not to ask him for a spoonful of rice and some sauce to go with it.
Around the table, here are the other dishes our friends got:
Dory in Basquaise Sauce & Rice (S$14)
Filet of Fresh Salmon with Baby Spinach (S$16.50)
Confit de Canard with Gratin Potato (S$17.50)
I was able to try a slice of the duck confit which O had and I noticed the skin was very crunchy and the meat was quite tender. I'll try this next time.
To share, we also got the 4 Kinds of French Cheeses with Crackers (S$15) which was quite disappointing. We got 4 wedges of soft cheeses which looks like Brie, Camembert and two others we're not quite sure of. It was good but it failed miserably in presentation. Furthermore, the price tag got me expecting a lot more perhaps a bigger slice, better quality crackers, some nuts and honey? Definitely something way more than this.
Over-all our dining experience at La Petite Cuisine was pleasant and the food was really good and authentic. This is your no-frills French restaurant that surely delivers what is expected of them...and that is top quality French food. I can't wait for my next visit!
La Petite Cuisine is located at 10 Jalan Serene, 01-05 Serene Centre, Singapore. (MRT Station: Botanic Gardens) Call them at 6468-8850.
I'm really excited to celebrate my birthday this year because not only my family is coming over but even my dear MIL and FIL are flying in too! I'm so excited for our family dinner and the days that I'll be able to spend with them. Given that I'll be busy this coming weekend, I decided to have an early birthday lunch with the NKids at La Petite Cuisine last Sunday. This restaurant has been on my list for a few months now after my French colleague I told me about it. Well, a French restaurant recommended by a French lady, that says a whole lot about its authenticity, doesn't it?
La Petite Cuisine is located a few blocks away from the Botanic Gardens MRT station. I tried to give them a call to make a reservation but I was told that they don't accept reservations but it was still very nice of them though to set aside a table for our party of 6. This allowed us to sit inside which was perfect as the heat outside was definitely not al fresco dining friendly. The chef and owner is French who would go in and out of the kitchen to say hello to the guests. Such a friendly man, he is! Wish his friendly spirit would rub off onto his waitstaff though. Save for one who was very accommodating, the cashier guy and the lady server could definitely use some happy pixie dust sprinkled on to them.
Don't you agree that when dishes are written in French, it just makes everything sounds so delicious?
This is why it took us quite a while to decide on our order. The process here is for you to queue at the cashier, give your order, pay and wait for your food to arrive. This obviously is not your typical fancy French restaurant as even the plates are plastic and the cups are disposable. If you want some drinking water, you'll have to help yourself at the water station.
Here's what we had at La Petite Cuisine:
Delicious warm bread and lightly salted butter is definitely a no-fail meal starter in my opinion.
We had the option to add S$4 to add soup/dessert/coffee or tea to our meal. We all got soup which was a choice from: Cream of Carrots, Cream of Broccoli and Cream of Potato. We love the creamy soup but I would have preferred it to have more broccoli, maybe some bits of it to make it more chunky.
♫ It's my birthday and I'm eating steak if I want to!♫ I normally wouldn't get steak but I don't know why I was just craving for a good slice of beef that day. La Petite Cuisine surely didn't disappoint this birthday girl as I enjoyed my perfect medium well steak with creamy potato gratin and fresh arugula salad. Okay, maybe if I can swap the potato gratin with Paul's fragrant rice then that would have been more than perfect.
My husband, on the other hand, wanted to go simple and chose the chicken dish instead. For a while there, I thought there was a typo on the menu that the "cepes" may actually mean "crepe". Although it still sounded weird, it can be possible right? Well, I was wrong. Cepes is actually a type of mushroom that was added into the dish. Paul gave me a slice and I loved how tender the chicken fillet was. It wasn't dry at all and the creamy sauce was just too addicting for me not to ask him for a spoonful of rice and some sauce to go with it.
Around the table, here are the other dishes our friends got:
I was able to try a slice of the duck confit which O had and I noticed the skin was very crunchy and the meat was quite tender. I'll try this next time.
Over-all our dining experience at La Petite Cuisine was pleasant and the food was really good and authentic. This is your no-frills French restaurant that surely delivers what is expected of them...and that is top quality French food. I can't wait for my next visit!
La Petite Cuisine is located at 10 Jalan Serene, 01-05 Serene Centre, Singapore. (MRT Station: Botanic Gardens) Call them at 6468-8850.
