A member of the Les Amis group of restaurants, Bistro du Vin sets out to serve traditional French food like the ones you would find in a family-run bistro in Paris' Ile de la Cite. Chef de Cuisine, Dalton Fong, visited restaurants throughout France to learn to cook honest-to-goodness French dishes. Of the restaurants he worked in, was La Regalade where he understudied Chef Maria Goncalves, a close friend of the Les Amis group. On returning to Singapore, he tweaked some of the recipes to suit the local climate although he tries, as far as possible, to keep close to the roots of French bistro cooking.
Its ala carte menu includes French bistro staples such as Assiette of pork pâté, duck pâté & duck rillette; French onion soup; duck leg confit; Coq Au Vin; slow-cooked lamb shank; freshly baked Madeleine; and Mont Blanc.
For me it was an extremely tough choice between the duck leg confit, Coq au Vin and the lamb shank - three of my favourite French meat dishes. After much vacillation, I opted for the Coq au Vin, a decision made with the help of the knowledgeable waiter. I was happy with my choice - half a chicken braised in red wine with carrot, mushroom, pearl onion and bacon, served with mashed potato.
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Coq au vin
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Coq au Vin is a French braise of chicken (originally rooster or any tough bird), slow cooked with wine, lardon and mushrooms. The most commonly used wine is Burgundy although there are variations using Jaune, Riesling, Beaujolais Nouveau and even Champagne.
Everything about the dish was 'honest-to-goodness' except for one slight deviation. Chef Dalton has substituted bacon for lardon. The French version of lardon is actually cubes of pork fat cured with salt and this is used in French cooking for larding in meat braising or roasting. The dish would have tasted much richer had lardon been used.
The preparation of Coq au Vin is, in fact, very similar to that of beef bourguignon. The chicken is first marinated in wine, then seared in fat and slowly simmered until tender. The usual seasonings are salt, pepper and a bouquet garni comprising thyme, parsley and bay leaf. The juices are thickened either by making a small roux at the beginning of cooking, or by adding blood at the end.
Darling wife and Laura ordered the pan-roasted Berkshire pork chop topped with caramelized shallot, garlic and mashed potato on the side. Although it did appear a little pink (a sign of under-cooking), we realised later that this is actually one of the characteristics of Berkshire pork. Its taste was sublime.
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| Berkshire Pork Chop |
Berkshires are very sought after especially now when there are not more than 300 breeding sows recorded in the world notably in the UK, New Zealand and in Kagoshima prefecture, Japan. The Japanese breed is more well known as Kagoshima Kurobuta. Berkshire pork are prized for their juiciness, flavour and tenderness due mainly to its high fat content. It is pink-hued and heavily marbled which makes it perfect for slow cooking over high temperature.
For appetizer, we had one portion of baked Burgundian escargot in garlic herb butter and French onion soup served with cheese and croutons.
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| Baked Burgundian Escargot |
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| French Onion Soup |
Our meal befittingly ended with a Creme Brulee and Tarte au pommes with vanilla ice cream shared between the 3 of us. The apple pie was outstanding.
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| Creme Brulee |
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| Tarte au Pommes |
Bistro du Vin
1 Scotts Road
#02-12 Shaw Centre
Ambiance: 8
Service: 8.5
Food: 7.5
Pricing: $$$$
Recommended dishes: Coq au Vin, Berkshire pork chop, Tarte au pommes with vanilla ice cream
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