Bistro Petit Salut, Chip Bee Gardens

 It's not often we get to try set lunches on weekdays, and even though Bistro Petit Salut does offer their set lunches on weekends, we wanted a relatively quiet chillout place with good food before I fly off to Korea for a short trip!

Chip Bee Gardens is home to quite a few nice restaurants like Da Paolo's, Michelango's, Original Sin, and of course Shermay's Cooking School as well. Nice place to lunch / brunch on a day off and so accessible now with the new Holland Village MRT station.

 Had good memories of their set lunches, so decided to revisit this place on our Friday off  :)

 Duly impressed by the options available for their set lunch, I opted for the safe choice of escargot in garlic butter - can never go wrong there! The tomatoes gave the otherwise oily and jelat starter a nice balance, and I was surprised I've never tasted this combination before. While not the best escargots I've had, these were still great.

 Snails were good, and I did enjoy the sauce. We actually ended up polishing off the sauce with complimentary bread, leaving the bowl clean. Mmm.

 

{ Burgundy Escargot }

Half dozed baked Burgundy snails with tomatoes and garlic butter

 I chose the sausage and rillette. While the sausage was a bit bleh for me, I really liked the pate-like rillette. It's sort of flaky and mushy with just enough richness of pork. 

 First taste of a proper rillette and it was good! Texture akin to slightly moist tuna flakes, salty and strong in porky flavour, it was great even on it's own. My only gripe is that the baguette was quite crap - cold hard and chewy, I read somewhere that they get all their bread pre-made from Delifrance now which is quite a pity :( What I would give for some of this rilette with the awesome homemade bread at Absinthe.

Pork sausage kinda tasted like spam / meatloaf to me.

 { Sausage and rillete duo }

Duo of homemade pork garlic sausage and rilette with mesclun salad, walnut dressing

 I've been craving good steak for at least two months now so without a doubt I ordered the minute onglet beef. Well it wasn't steak steak, but it was still great beef! Presumably grilled then oven roasted after marinating in mustard jus, the beef was tender and yet firm to the bite. And the SAUCE - holy crap. So extremely deep in flavour you just have to lick the plate clean.

The onglet or hanger steak wasn't really that minute - I guess it was around 100-150g which is enough in a three course lunch to be honest. And for the price it was really worth it!

 { "Minute" onglet beef }

With French mustard jus and mashed potato

 It had been a while since I ordered some form of seafood as a main course, so decided I should lean on the healthier side of the menu (ha). This was okaay. I mean it's probably 'boring' compared to the other options, and I did wish it was more bold in flavour. I liked the accompanying beetroots though, never had it with fish before.

We did not inquire into the specific species of fish until after I had consumed every bit of it. "Red coral trout," declared the waiter. It suspiciously sounds like a endangered/exotic animal. This is definitely a first for me! 

 { Catch of the day }

Red coral trout with marinated beetroots, Nicoise vinaigrette

 Having tried the not-so-nice profiteroles at Absinthe and being a little sick of creme brulee, I wanted some for comparison and boy did I make the right decision. First bite on the pastry and you'll notice, moist and soft, unlike the hard and powdery ones I've had before. Chocolate sauce was warm and slightly bitter and really generous, as are the 3 huge scoops of vanilla ice cream and sugar dusted almonds. Read some meh reviews of their profiteroles but this is epic win in my book - just eat quickly cos it melts too damn fast!

 { Profiteroles }

Choux buns with vanilla ice cream, warm chocolate sauce and sliced almonds

 While my dining companion battled with his rapidly melting dessert (which was excellent!!) with much determination, I slowly picked at my cheesecake. I'm usually not a gigantic fan of cheesecake, but again, haven't had cheesecake for yonks. This wasn't disappointing - very rich and cheesy, fills you up in the right way. You can tell it's got the good stuff in there. Just wonderful with black coffee to end a meal!

{ Gateau Au Fromage Blanc }

Homemade cheesecake with Madasgar vanilla beans

 Bistro Petit Salut to be a great quiet set lunch place to chill out on a day off. Weekends would be understandably crowded, so definitely make a reservation if you can. The choices available for their set lunches is one of the widest and most varied I've seen, with 5-6 choices available for starters, mains, or desserts!

HGW Link (63% recommended at time of writing) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/bistro_petit_salut_chip_bee_gardens/

Main website : http://www.aupetitsalut.com/main/mainbps.php

Rating (out of 4) :