Bistro du Vin

U wanted to give mom a treat and was collecting suggestions from me as to where would be a good place to bring her. She suggested dim sum and I was like 'no way', mom would run a mile away in the other direction. Prior to this a friend of mine had raved about his dining experience at Bistro du Vin and since I hadn't been there before, we thought it would be perfect.

Bistro du Vin is a French Casual Dining establishment under the Les Amis Group. It's located at Zion Road which is beside Shaw Centre. We reservations for dinner and were excited about finally bring mom to dine out after what seems like an eternity.

We parked at Shaw Centre and walked to the restaurant. Once inside, the decor has very Parisian feel. The paraphernalia on the walls include menus and prints in french, posters with chef cartoons and so on.

Interior of Bistro du Vin

 We had a look at the dinner menu and it was quite extensive. There was coq-au-vin, pork chops, rabbit, beef, lamb and sea bass. Very traditional french recipes. The specials for the day included burrata. U and R had had that before at an Italian restaurant and recommended it. So after a few minutes of browsing and discussing we finally ordered the burrata and a nicoise salad for starters, coq-au-vin and braised lamb shanks for mains and walnut tart, creme brulee and a marron dessert to end our meal.

Freshly made bread with butter

The bread basket came swiftly and I love that the butter was room temperature. Me and U were commenting on how it is impossible to spread cold butter on soft bread unless the bread came steaming hot from the oven. The bread was soft and had a good crust on it, so thumbs up.

Burrata with tomatoes, basil and olives

 When the Burrata came, it reminded me of mozzarella and I later found out that it is in fact mozzarella but differs slightly as  it encases a mixture of mozzarella curd and cream. It was divine. When we cut into it, the cream oozed out together with the curds but the cheese still maintained most of its structure. The taste was clean, fresh, milky and paired well with the tomatoes and basil. Double thumbs up.

Coq-au-vin , nicoise salad and braised lamb shanks

 The Nicoise arrived with the mains and we got a side of truffle fries as well. When the dishes were served and their lids removed, they looked and smelled amazing ! Very rustic looking and inviting. I tried the Coq-au-vin first and it was delish ! There was a good background of wine flavour in the dish that was not too strong. The poultry was literally falling of the bone and moist. There were mushrooms, carrots and I'm pretty sure there was lardon in it but I kept that information from my mom. The dish was accompanied by mashed potatoes and they were velvety smooth. So good !

The braised lamb shanks were equally good but had a strong lamb flavour. I personally welcome that flavour but I know a few who could be put off by that. The meat was also falling of the bone and the braise had a good hearty tomato flavour as well. This was accompanied with broken potatoes and these were swimming in butter. I've heard the saying the three most important ingredients in French cooking is butter, butter and yeap BUTTER ! And there were lots of it in these potatoes. The serving size was perfect as if there had been any more potatoes swimming in butter, I think I would have got sick of it.

The Nicoise salad was ok. I was expected seared tuna in the salad but it was served with the canned variety. So it was a decent salad and that's all. The truffle fries had a good truffle flavour to them but personally I prefer the shoestring type of fries. These spuds reminded me of British chips.

All in all we were pretty satisfied with our dishes. Mom was enjoying herself and the conversation was rolling and rolling. At this point we had to end the evening with dessert.

Walnut Tart

 U and R shared a Walnut Tart which was the special for the day. The base was too thick and the filling was too hard. The ice cream was ok. The only plus to this dessert was the caramel sauce that managed to hit that bitter note that is still inviting and bring out the sweetness of the caramel.

Creme Brulee

 Mom had the creme brulee. She likes to test a kitchen's ability to produce a good brulee and sadly this did not make the mark. The brulee was overcooked and so instead of producing a velvety smooth custard, it was a little curdled. Sad. Tasted fine but the texture let it down.

Marron Dessert

My dessert was a complete shocker. When I ordered a Marron Dessert, I was expected more of a traditional chestnut tart with the spaghetti like cream around it. Instead, I was presented with this and I was taken aback. It looked more like a sundae and was constructed like one too. There was a mound of whipped cream, vanillia ice cream, whole marrons, some kind of meringue and as I took my final scoops there was a shot of whiskey at the bottom. Whoo ! Totally confusing dessert. I didn't like it and would probably not have it again.

I've heard that Bistro du Vin does a good brunch as well and I would love to try that. The food is truthfully well executed and delicious. But their desserts fail to live up to that standard.

The dinner for four without wine cost us S$170 ++

Bistro du Vin
56 Zion Road
T : 68366313