More Bistros Please

On a worrying-but-nothing-to-panic-about day at the hospital when I forgot about lunch, it was good to sit down for a 9pm dinner at La Maison Fatien. ICU kicked me out at 8pm. BAH. So glad that the friends took care of reservations and all. I had a ride to the venue, and needn't think about the nitty-gritty.

There's a more than presentable winelist, not a surprise considering that the bistro is inspired by the actual 2-hectare wine domaine in Burgundy. So I guess the wine to drink here would be a bottle from Maison Fatien. Don't ask me about the wine. It's all either 'nice' or 'not nice' to me. It's from Burgundy, it'll be fine if you ain't too prissy about it.

Excellent escargots and a slightly-too-sweet French onion soup began the meal. For our mains, most went for the lamb shank. I took its cod, which was surprisingly decent. Skip the skin. It was over-salted. But the salt didn't run into the flesh of the fish. The food isn't mindblowing. But it's dependable, like something from the kitchens of our aunts and grandaunts. Comfort food. Good enough! The bistro, is well...casual and very noisy. If you've the misfortune of sitting next to a table of humans who are highly unaware of how shrill and grating their voices can be, then like us, you'll have to suffer their possibly boring (subjective) conversation topics.

I like these little bistros popping up all over the island housed in quaint neighborhoods, some lasting longer than the others. More please. I've had enough of crap food at nonsensical prices served up at rubbish cafes. At these mod-ish European-style bistros, they hire a proper chef, think about customers and keep the prices rather reasonable. At S$30++ for a main, it's a decent quality of ingredients and cooking. Nothing adventurous, but the menu lists dependable offerings not unlike Europe's cafes, in many instances, offering better fare even.