The revamped Bistro du Vin 2017 – affordable French food in Singapore

Bistro du Vin at Shaw Centre is high on our list of restaurants for affordable French food in Singapore.  They had closed for a couple of weeks in April 2017 for a makeover. We dropped by recently to try their set lunch in the newly renovated premises.

At first, it looked like the interior designers had taken a page out of a German car designer’s playbook.   The 2017 model did not look that different from the outgoing model. It was time to play spot the differences.  The main difference was that the place was brighter.   The wooden wall panels were replaced by white walls.  There was less decorative clutter on display.  A more modern logo and menu layout. The result is that the place for affordable French food in Singapore had evolved from a distinctly traditional French bistro into a contemporary restaurant with French nuances.  Whether that is a good thing or not is a matter of taste.

Menu

Fortunately in the midst of change, Bistro du Vin still remains a place where we can find affordable French food in Singapore. At lunch time, they offer 2 or 3 course set lunch menus at $29 and $35++.   Several new items have appeared, some familiar favourites remain.  Here are some pictures of the Bistro set lunch menu,  a la carte menu and a portion of their wine list.   One new feature is their “In Chef We Trust” option. Like a omekase menu, the diner only needs to indicate the budget – $58, $78 or $98 and the chef will take care of you.

For starters we had the mushroom soup and salmon rillettes.  The mushroom soup was mellow and creamy. The pieces of mushroom were finely ground but coarse enough to provide texture to the soup. The salmon rillettes were also very good.

Our main courses were boeuf bourguignon and chicken blanquette.  The beef was a classic and hearty dish. We can eat this any time. The chicken was something new to us. It seems from my internet research that chicken blanquette is a kind of slow cooked chicken stew with a creamy sauce.   It was certainly less flavourful than the beef.  The chicken combined well with the pilaf rice.  Not bad, but not as good as the beef.

We only had one dessert – the warm thin apple tart with vanilla ice cream. It was a delightful dessert.  Enough to be shared by two people.  Coffee was included as part of the meal.

We have mixed feelings about the revamped Bistro du Vin. We prefer the old traditional look which had more character. But we also appreciated the brightness of the place.   The important thing was that the food remained at a high level. It is still the place to go for affordable French food in Singapore.  You can see the old look of the bistro in our previous post here.

Ratings:

Food: 4

Service: 3

Value: 5

Atmosphere: 4

Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

1 Scotts Rd, #01-14 Shaw Centre,
Singapore 228208
Tel: +65 6733 7763

Open Daily
Lunch  12:00pm – 2:00pm
Dinner  6:30pm – 10:00pm

Website