L’Entrecote is a small rustic French Bistro restaurant located in the pub district at the Duxton Tangong Pagar neighborhood. The neighborhood in the Tanjong Pagar area comprises of rows of five foot walkway styled shop houses. Tenants here range at night comprise mostly of Food and Beverage outlets, such as Pub, Italian, French, and Japanese restaurants.
The restaurant sits along a long alley way with the Pinnacle Duxton HDB estate in view. The ambience of the restaurant is reminiscent of small European eateries. The restaurant is not overly crowded, has mostly an expat crowd and has available seating even on Saturday evenings.
Moreover, inside it has very closely packed tables in a tight small space, very European indeed. Also, there is a combination of indoor and outdoor seating. You are served a complimentary glass of sparking juice upon seated.
Menu choosings
Being a French restaurant, L’Entrecote does offer quite comprehensive selection. It is run by the local Déliciae Hospitality Management group who runs the &made burger distro and Sabio tapas bar.
Their appetizers comprise of typical European selections such as smoke salmon, herring, as well as cold cut platters (like fish platters). Notably, there is duck too. Prices for appetizers can be pricey and can cost as much as main course. Soups start at $10 and up to $24 for homemade Duck Foie Gras Terrine.
A recommendation will be their Foie Gras Terrine ($21). It is essentially whole duck raw liver. The preparation process is quite painstaking, which can take up to 2-3 days. The dish is packed into a porcelain pot and slowly steam cooked at low temperature.
The Foie Gras is paste-like looks like a bland pinkish salmon spread in colour. It is traditionally served cold on bread. Their Foie Gras very smooth and has a very mild and consistent creamy taste. So if you are one who is usually afraid or disgusted by the earthy flavor of offal and gizzards. Entrecôte Foie Gras might change your mind.
Furthermore, no Eurpoean restaurant is complete without sharing platters. On offer are three different types of platters, comprising of an assortment of classic cheese and Duck Rillette platters. Selections in their cheese (La Planche De Fromages) platter includes Comte, Sainte-Marie, Camembert and Roquefort. They are served with Walnuts, Dried Apricot and consumed with staple Baguette bread. Prices range from $22 to 38 a pop.
Steak and Fries Mains
The most sellable dish in the French Bistro is their steak and fries main course. Called the Entrecôte Steak. The dish is the staple on the restaurant main course offerings. You guessed it right; it is essentially heaps of Steak and Fries.
You will love Entrecote steaks if you are a meat lover. Their steaks are pretty good. On my visit, I was pleased to find their steaks cooked well to a doneness you specified. A recommendation is to have your steaks prepared medium-rare. The slab is pretty thin; you get a pinkish-red center core with little blood after cutting through the meat. The steak is chewy at the center though tad hard on the outer edges.
Steaks in two serving sizes
For the dinner menu, your steak and fries set comes in two servings’ sizes depending on your appetite. It starts at $34.90 first and their up-sized XXL portions costs $54.90. Both options come with a small bowl of walnut green salad as a starter. With fries being free-flow, the only difference you are paying for this the amount of Steaks you get. I will recommend the cheaper $34.90 option for more value unless you really crave their steaks.
Moreover, notably when browsing their promotional signs, the establishment offers “lite-sized” variants of their steak and fries meals as day0time set lunches for an affordable $20. Also, it also comes with a side drink.
Furthermore, if you order their up-sized beef platter, you will be served a regular sized plate, but the servers will top up your plate with excess steak when you are done with your initial servings. Free-flow of fries is available on request and the servers will come out routine with large pots of freshly fried fries to top up your plates.
However, I found the combination of just steak and fries being pretty oddly strange and quite monotonous, not to mention in variety. After finishing your portion of steak, it is just heaps of oily fries, fries and fries. Notably, I it will be good if vegetables or a salad can be served together, instead of a starter. Alternatively, you can always order an additional salad out of their menus.
Desserts
Additionally, to top up the offering, their desserts offerings are much limited in varieties. If you are still able to stomach any more food after your buffet of fries, you could consider the Tarte tatin and tartlets. Prices range from $12 to $15 a piece. Also, their signature dessert comprises of Coulant carmel Au Beurre Sale at $16. Also, wine corkage fee starts from $35 per bottle and $55 per bottle of spirit.
If you crave steaks and a nice quiet chill-out at an authentically themed French restaurant, I would think no further and recommend L’Entrecote at Duxton. It has the quirky minor imperfections which just makes the restaurant feed more authentically European, such a cramped seating, well-dressed severs in contrast to their faded dinner plates. For everyone else, there are many other better options around for steaks at a much lower price point, such as the Mariners Corner around the block.
In conclusion, L’Entrecote at Duxton is not a bad establishment tucked in a quiet corner of the Central business district otherwise known for their night life. The place is not packed and offers good steaks at a reasonable above-average price point. Though the option to pair steaks with fries does seem to cheapen the deal abit, I find it hard to recommend the place given several alternatives in Singapore with more value and quality. It is nothing to scream home about, though it is still a fairly reasonable offering as a whole, considering good service and portions of food offered.
Verdict:
Must Go! | Worth Trying | Shortlist Optionally | Should Avoid
L’Entrecôte The Steak & Fries
Address: 36 Duxton Hill, Singapore 089614
Opens daily with split shifts,
Opening Hours: 12–3pm, 6–10:30pm
Fridays and Saturdays: 5:30–11pm
