Steak frites and nothing else at La Vache!
The new eatery on Gemmill Lane aims to prove that no choice is a good thing
NEW RESTAURANT La Vache! Singapore 40 Gemmill Lane, #01-03 Singapore 069269 Tel: 8972-0042 Open for dinner only Tues to Sun: 6 pm to 10 pm (10.30 pm on Fri and Sat)
[SINGAPORE] From being whipped into submission by exacting chefs demanding you eat their food in the precise order and proportion as dictated, comes a new form of tyranny in restaurant dining: the one-dish wonder.
Of late, the buzz and rising rebellion against multi-course, overpriced tasting menus have succeeded in getting restaurants to offer shorter options, or even a la carte menus. But along comes La Vache!, with its own version of French imperiousness that insists you eat only one dish or none at all, ooh la la.
If you’re up for some take-it-or-leave-it Gallic dogma, or have reached a mental breaking point where one less decision a day makes you happy, head to this Parisian parlour of kitsch and chips.
This Gemmill Lane eatery revives the art of steak frites, a Parisian bistro classic. It does it with the ebullience of a young upstart that thinks it’s bringing something new to the market – years after L’Entrecote and the like started a French bistro wave and served the same thing – till it’s become taken for granted.
Cue the word “revival” and La Vache! is doing it while tapping into the current zeitgeist of accessible luxury. Here, it’s dangling the price point: a flat S$68 per head for a 280 g steak, salad and unlimited fries.
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At no extra cost, you have the ambience. No minimalists were spared in the making of this boudoir-red, French maid-filled, red check tableclothed recreation of a Champs-Elysees tourist trap. Much thought has also gone into curating the playlist, designed to evoke heart-stirring emotions and deep-seated longing for the city of love – with an exceptionally moving rendition of Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head with French lyrics.
It is also warm and welcoming, with friendly servers who genuinely seem to want you to have a good time. They are a little too keen in offering you cocktails or wine at every opportunity, but the cheerful way in which they do it makes you more forgiving. Almost.
There’s no menu at all, apart from a drinks list. You start with some satisfyingly warm, crusty baguette and foil-wrapped pats of butter. The house salad is just that: organic leaves and radish slices dressed in a sharp vinaigrette and garnished with walnuts.
The steak is the star of the show, and it appears with a flourish – done to our preferred medium rare, sliced and thoughtfully served over a warmer so it doesn’t cool off and harden.
At S$68, it’s not far from what you get elsewhere as an a la carte option (other restaurants also include salad and fries). The meat here is wet-aged USDA Double Gold ribeye – with a good bite and clean beefiness, served with house made bearnaise sauce.
Then there are the free-flow shoestring fries: skinny and long supermodel spuds, painstakingly fried for an optimum crisp. They’re “well-seasoned”, which means very salty. If that’s not your preference, they will happily make you a fresh batch that’s unseasoned. Good as they are, there’s only so much you can eat.
There is a dessert trolley of sorts. They roll out an assortment of cakes and pastries, but you can’t ask for a bit of everything. Which negates the purpose of a trolley in the first place.
You’re supposed to choose, and each serving costs S$16. We pick a rich lemony cheesecake with blueberry sauce drizzled over it, and chocolate gelato from Messina – the currently hip Australian brand that draws queues to its little store just around the corner on Club Street.
Both La Vache! and Messina have the same owner, Black Sheep Restaurants. The ice cream is smooth but too sweet, not rich enough (hence gelato) and passable but not worth lining up for.
La Vache! is a great place if you want to bond with friends and need a polite way to exclude the pesky pescatarian or Thunberg-loving vegetarian in your group. The menu is basic, but it does it well. If you’re a steak lover looking for something that you can eat on repeat, this is it. But – we really want to eat other things as well.
So – too many options or none at all? The choice is yours.
Rating: 6
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