St. Pierre is one of the most expensive restaurants in Singapore but since I will pretty much bankrupt myself by going there, I went to French Kitchen, St. Pierre’s subsidiary. It’s like if I cannot afford Prada, I’ll buy Miu Miu; if I cannot afford Polo Ralph, I’ll buy Polo Sports. Don’t need to break my back; these things are not necessities; they are for fun.

The decor is a bit strange, just a long narrow strip, although I do like its exclusiveness, allowing about 30 people at most. The service was wonderful and it helps that one of the Malay servers–the more polite one–is cute!

Dinner costs about $100 per person but we had the set lunch for $36 each. Such a steal, it feels like I’m robbing the restaurant. I ordered a glass of wine because I think people should always, always have wine when they go to a classy restaurant even if they don’t drink. Just display the red wine there! The cute waiter recommended Pinot Noir and I said sure why not – and it was the most expensive glass at $17 a glass. It’d better be from the year 1968 or something. (It is from the receipt 2007 faiveley-clos des cortons.)

It was a 4-course meal. The gratis and not-warm raisin bread and grain-coffee bread came with butter and salmon pate. I dislike restaurants not serving warm bread although the bread tasted fresh and soft and it was better on its own without any condiments. We had amuse bouche (appetizer), which is a nice way of saying a surprise from the chef using leftovers from last night. KIDDING. It was a cod-fish ball with one sauce or another with a thin waffle (tasted like delicious lard) and buttered, fried bread. I like this dish because it is the most delicious fishball I have ever eaten in my life.

My sister had lobster bisque and I, scallop and mussel gratin. She didn’t quite like the soup, which came with a leek custard (quite unique) and prawn tempura, because it was too creamy and rich. I liked my scallop but it couldn’t hold a candle to Prive’s in terms of freshness and taste. Below the shell, there was heated salt; this was thoughtfulness. By this time, I began to feel full! And by this time, I was also thinking perhaps the chef needed to take art lessons? Come on, a leaf beside the scallop?! The scallop is shy?

You see what I mean by the chef needing art lessons? three pathetic lettuce leaves surrounding the duck leg?! What was that?! For the mains, my sister had boeuf bourguignon, which is a pretentious or French way of saying beef stew, stewed for 36 hours! She liked it very much, saying it was very favorful. My duck confit was a bit too salty but since I’m recovering from my flu, not able to taste anything for days, the confit was good for my taste buds.

I had a champaign sabayon, which simply means custard, with pear marmalade. It was ok, nothing to shout about. The biscuit (biscotti?) that supports the purple ice cream was quite yummy though. My sister had something chocolate with caramel ice cream, which, she said, tasted better with every spoonful.

Quite a hunky-dory experience overall. I don’t like French food but this turned out to be satisfactory. However, it lacks the WOW effect that Prive and Xin Li Yuan have, so it couldn’t get 5 stars.

French Kitchen
7 Magazine Rd
#01-03
Central Mall
T: 6438 1823

Rating: 3.947/5 stars