Dinner at Balzac French Restaurant @ Rendezvous Hotel (revisit)

9 Bras Basah Road #01-01 Rendezvous Hotel, Singapore 189559

Tel: 6336 0797

Website: http://www.balzacbrasserie.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/balzacSG

Having been to Balzac Bar and Brasserie before (read review here), enjoying the food, ambience and stumbling upon their Christmas menu,  it was not hard to see why this was the chosen venue for dinner on the last night of the Bestie's visit in Singapore.

It was quiet that evening, close to Christmas. They loved the faux grass-walls near the entrance of the restaurant because it was made to feel / look like an outdoors seating area. The usual bread basket was served, with butter and another un-decipherable dip.

We started with some Escargots de Bourgogne (SGD$14.00 for a dozen) of gratin-baked styled land snails with garlic, butter and parsley. Needless to say, the escargots were soft, juicy and chewy at the same time, tasting deliciously of garlic butter amidst its natural "seafood-like" sweetness.

For mains, both the men (The Bestie's Hubby and The Beau) had the Beef Cheeks a la Cuillere (SGD$36.00) - 48 hours braised wagyu beef cheeks, bordelaise sauce and mashed potato. The beef cheeks were so tender they nearly wobbled in their form, yes, melt-in-your-mouth tender! The flavor was divine as well - softly saccharine as how red meat goes, with a slight tinge of savoury (the Bordelaise sauce).

*Feith aka the Bestie had the Duck Confit (SGD$36.00) - duck leg confit served with orange sauce and mashed potato. A deceptively-simple dish that actually takes very long to prepare, according to *Feith the food engineer cum chef. She was impressed with the crispy exterior with the succulent interior of this dish, cooked to a flavor just lovely enough not to toe the lines into being "too salty".

I had the Cod Fish Et Bacon (SGD$34.00) - slow cooked black cod with ragout of white beans and French bacon. The black cod was luscious and buttery-smooth the way I love it, and the bacon was crumbly the way I love it too, hence score two points for this dish. The ragout was rather unique, and had a chewy flavor cooked in slightly-sticky sauce, a good accompaniment to the bacon and cod.

Overall, we enjoyed the peaceful, unhurried dinner with good, reasonably-priced food here at Balzac.