Le Pont de Vie

le pont de vie, the bridge of life. such an inspirational name! (: once i stepped into this restaurant, it was like an oasis of romance and french elegance. it's set in a shophouse and is a lovely cosy place with few seats (sooo exclusive!), dimmed lights and fuss-free decorations. the staff there are really friendly! apparently there have been lots of reviews where the customers recommend not just the food, but also the service staff haha! so cute.

pretty lighting in the restaurant resulted in sad photos of the food :P cos it was too dim! haha.

our first dish was pretty interesting, a seared tuna steak ($35), something i've never tried before! it was seasoned simply with salt and pepper, which allowed the natural flavours of the tuna to shine through. it came with roasted potatoes which i felt were done beautifully! usually roast potatoes are rather soft to the point of being mushy, but these potatoes were still rather crunchy! i loved the texture. it was also topped with baby spinach and basil pesto.

according to the chef, the LPDV navarin of lamb ($34) was the idea of one of the partners of restaurant. it's pretty fascinating how the restaurant partners and chef play a part in the conceptualization of the menu. in this traditional french/modern european cuisine restaurant, you might be surprised to find out that the chef is a singaporean lady! ;) the lamb stew essentially comprised a casserole-type sauce that can be used for almost any kind of stew! it's just such a lovely homely taste. unfortunately i don't like lamb, so i didn't really touch that dish. but once again, i enjoyed the vegetables for the crunchy bite they had. seems like they don't overdo their veggies here. good!

probably my favourite dish of the day, the venetian pasta nero ($29) was the cleanest version of squid ink pasta i've ever eaten! lol. typically, when i eat squid ink pasta in spanish restaurants, the sauce is made of the squid ink, and this results in stained lips, teeth and clothes and till the next day...let's not mention it. anyway, my advice, don't eat it on a date. unless of course, you want to scare your date away O.O for the pasta here though, it is certified date-worthy, for the fact that the squid ink is actually infused into the pasta itself! such that the pasta is black, but it is cooked aglio olio-style, with garlic and olive oil. no staining at all (: and the grilled calamari that came with it? simply delicious. sometimes i find it difficult to eat squid cos it is soooo chewy i feel like im biting on rubber that will never give way. the grilled calamari here is a different story altogether. it had a little chewiness, of course, but it gave easily and could be easily eaten.

for dessert, there are a variety of souffles to chose from. we spent a long time deciding which one we wanted! haha. i wanted to try the bailey's, but des wanted the kahlua one. christine, simply couldn't decide haha. in the end, the chef, who looked rather amused at our discussion, suggested the lemon souffle ($18) and we naturally went along with the chef's recommendation (: this amazing souffle withstood the length of time christine took to take the perfect shot of it. such a photogenic dessert, it stood there long enough for her to snap a number of shots, without collapsing. phew! ;) i thoroughly enjoyed the puffiness of the pastry, and the tangy twist created by the lemon was rather interesting. there was also a small surprise in the form of a hint of alcohol in the souffle! but in the end, i have to say that i still prefer the savoury souffles more haha.

the chocolate molten cake ($20) was yummmmm. why so small though!!! while it was not particularly outstanding (i wish the molten chocolate would FLOW out!), this is one dessert that rarely goes wrong (:

Le Pont de Vie

26 Kandahar Street

Tel.: +65 6238 8682

Mon-Sat 12pm-2pm

6.30pm-10pm (bar is open till 12am)