My girlfriend (whom I shall address more affectionately as IGGF in my future entries. IGGF being InstaGram GirlFriend cause that’s how I got to know her!) texted me one night to ask if I heard about Bistro Du Le Pin and if I wanted to check it out with her. To which I replied saying “Let’s do it!”

I have actually learnt about Bistro Du Le Pin from instagram a month back. But it got pushed down on my list of resturants-to-try as I got to learn of more eateries. o_O Ha. So I was glad when my IGGF texted and reminded me about it.

And my IGGF assisted to make reservation for 9pm. We decided on 9pm prior to making the call because we thought they were only open at 9pm. However, we were informed that they open at 6pm. We decided to stick to 9pm cause I wanted to go for my 6.30pm crossfit class. Haha. =p So yeah to eateries which operate till late! And yeah to my IGGF for accommodating my request to eat late. Keke.

Locating the eatery wasn’t too difficult. It’s a 5 to 8 minutes walk from Somerset MRT station. And one should take a left turn after taking the escalator (within Orchard Plaza) to level 2.

And from the menu (pages 1, 2), we ordered:-

1) Omakase, $60 comprised of:-

(A) Dish #1 (above) – Potato salad.

(B) Dish #2 (above) – Burrata cheese.

(C) Dish #3 (above) – Grilled salmon steak served with asparagus, salmon roe, truffle and miso-butter sauce.

(D) Dish #4 (above) – Crab cake with mentaiko sauce. And this was really good. It was made with chunks of crab meat.

(E) Dish #5 (above) – Tuna tartare. Chopped tuna was mixed with spicy mayonnaise, flying fish roe and topped with spring onion and fried garlic. I liked the addition of fried garlic. It added a nice crunch to the overall texture.

(F) Dish #6 (above) – Miso black cod served with spinach-shiso-miso sauce.

(G) Dish #7 (above) – Sauteed scallop with sea urchin sauce. It was unfortunate that ours came without the tongue of sea urchin which we saw many had from their shared instagram pictures. I guess we came on the wrong day. Sob!

(H) Dish #8 with options of:

i) Miyazaki beef (above) – Our pace was the same as another group of customers who had also opted for omakase. However, from our third dish, we noticed when we were given fish dishes, they were served beef dishes. But that’s really because at the start of our dinner, we told the staff that my IGGF don’t take pork while I don’t take beef. So every time we saw the group having meat dishes, we couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. So imagine our delight when we were given meat! And my friend said this was good!

ii) Iberico pork steak Japanese style (above) – And of course, while my friend was given beef, my non-beef dish was pork! So nice!

(I) Dish #9 (above) – Our request for an additional dish. We were prepared to pay for our a-la carte order, but were surprised when we called for the bill and saw that this was not charged. And this was ordered because I really wanted to try his pasta. So while trying to decide which pasta to go with, chef recommended his sea urchin pasta. However, what was served looked (and tasted) more like aglio olio. There’s wasn’t any sea urchin. However, this was a simple yet wonderful dish. We meant to take a few mouthfuls since we were pretty full, but ended up finishing the entire bowl.

(J) Dish #10 (above) – Ice cream. With options of yuzu and strawberry, my girlfriend and I decided to get a flavour each so that we could share and try the different flavours.

My girlfriend and I really liked the place. With just a chef at the kitchen and 2 helpers, it felt as though we were dining at his house with the intimate setting of the eatery. So it comes as no surprise when different groups of customers ended up talking to one another. We witnessed one group asking another after they overheard their conversation of “where to get good deals of Rolex.” o_O Ha.

And of course, as we were eating our big bowl of spaghetti, the pair who were also eating the spaghetti initiated a conversation by asking if it was our first time at Bistro Du Le Pin. They asked because they wanted to know if we were too struggling to finish the gigantic portion of pasta. Haha. But I did feel bad towards them. They came in much later than us; They were at dish #3 when we were having our dish #8. So when we requested for our additional pasta, chef cooked a bigger portion and gave it to them as dish #4. I would rather have my pasta last cause I would want to save my stomach for my proteins first.

Will I recommend Bistro Du Le Pin? Certainly! But one must make reservation to avoid disappointment. They were packed at peak hours (6pm to 9pm) since it’s a small unit with only 7 counter seats and 2 high tables which could accommodate no more than 3 people each. And chef do close earlier than 3am if there’s no customers.

Related posts:

Dinner @ House of AnLi Bistro Dinner @ Donpachi Sake Bar 本家呑八 Dinner @ Katayama Dinner @ Kakure Dinner @ Nobu-ya