Bistro Petit Salut

I've been sick. It started last week with an itchy throat, developed a flu over the weekend and then finally culminating in a dreadful cough these couple of days. I finally took the time to go to the Doc on Wednesday and he gave me medication for the flu and throat infection I have, and two days of MC. Bliss. I spent these two days basically doing nothing much but sleeping (strong strong medication). In fact, my head is woozy NOW (it's like a combo of heavy head and droopy eyes) cos of the medication and I think I better head to bed after I get this post up...

A month of so ago, we just wanted to have a simple lunch for three over the weekend, so I suggested Bistro Petit Salut. I had previously tried the sister restaurant Au Petit Salut at Dempsey and thought it was not bad, just a bit pricey. BPS is a slightly cheaper counterpart, and has equally good food at affordable prices.

Bistro Petit Salut - The menu

Bread basket

Entrées - Warm octopus salad with vine ripened tomatoes and aged balsamic vinaigrette; Mixed green salad with green asparagus, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and roasted capsicum; Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomatoes and garlic butter 

I love bread baskets. In fact, one thing I like about dining at Italian and French establishments is cos of the breads. Bistro served the warm breads with cold butter. This I do not like. Nothing puts me off trying to cut a slab of cold butter and attempt to spread it across the bread. I prefer my butter at room temp spreadable consistency. Either do that, or serve olive oil. You can't go wrong with good olive oil and bread. Next!

My entree of octopus salad was pleasant, the amount of octopus given was quite generous. Most places would give a few miserable pieces of octopus and call it an octopus salad. This was one octopus salad that I think had too much octopus. Haha. I prefer more salad greens. Maybe I should have ordered my Dad's mixed green salad instead.

Mains - Slow cooked pork knuckles and mashed potatoes; Oven baked mackerel, mixed garden vegetables and parsley coulis

Main - Button mushrooms risotto with light cream emulsion and parmesan cheese

I love my main dish. The mushroom risotto was simply fab. Rice was al dente, without being overly mushy or too undercooked. The shaved parmesan cheese complemented the creamy mushroomy rice. Love it. One day, I'll attempt to cook risotto from scratch at home. 

I tried a little bit of the other mains, they were equally good. The fish was tender and the garden vegetables were seasoned lightly. The pork knuckle was sort of like melt in the mouth tender, mmmmm.

Desserts - Gateau au Fromage Blanc; Blueberry Crème Brulée; Tart of the day

The desserts were average only, the best being the blueberry creme brulee. You can taste the blueberry flavour in the custard and the smooth dessert easily went down the throat. The cheesecake was quite nice, creamy, and can see the specks of vanilla bean they used in it, but I thought that the ice cream served alongside was nicer. I didn't particularly liked the pear tart much, and what's with that weird looking plating???

The food is seriously not bad for the lunch set menu price of $25++ per person. The place wasn't swarmed with people, as the area is generally quite quiet (as compared to Dempsey I suppose), which is a plus point cos sometimes I hate the noise that comes along with a crowd. Also, there's alot of baking supplies shops at that stretch - Phoon Huat, Shermay's Baking School and Pantry Magic. Nice to browse around after lunch I suppose if you have the whole day free. Then maybe even drop by for ice cream at the Daily Scoop branch there. Chip Bee Garden isn't over populated, just yet. So I can imagine spending a lazy day there if I want to be away from too many people. Just one down side, if you're driving, parking can be quite a hassle as there arn't a lot of parking lots available. Luckily we got a spot quite near our eating place. (:

And now, I think it's time for bed. Good night people.