Mod-European dining without the frills

NEW RESTAURANT

Sprigs

12 Purvis Street #01-01

Tel: 6338-5844

Open for lunch and dinner Mon to Sat: 12pm to 2.30pm; 6pm to 10pm

IT'S 6.30pm. In restaurant-speak, it's that awkward hour where you are technically open for dinner but are surprised when someone actually shows up. Unless you are the budget French eatery Saveur in Purvis Street, which is packed with people chowing down like they are going to ban food before 7pm.

We like a bargain as much as the next person, but the sight of people hunkering down in tight, canteen-like surroundings for the sake of assembly-line $5 pasta and $12.90 duck confit convinces us that the perception of value is really in the eyes of the beholder an…