Poulét @Bugis+
Recently, I keep hearing about this casual french place from friends around me and a search online on Poulét is also abuzz with rave reviews. As I was looking for an accessible and “out of the usual Chinese chain” restaurants to celebrate my dear friend’s birthday, this somewhat fits the bill except that I am worried about making the bday gal queue as it does not take reservations!
Poulét is opened by the Thai Express chain group and is the first French casual dining concept in Singapore. Poulét means chicken in french and the main draw of this bistro is the roasted chicken. Thank goodness the queue was not too long when we arrived. There were only about 6-7 couples before us and we were given a seat after a 20min wait.
View of the interior while we were queuing. It has a very open concept seating area which makes you feel like you are dining alfresco with the high ceiling and “street lamps” surrounding the restaurant.
View of the signboard and the kitchen as we approached the head of the queue!
Some of the recommended food.
This is something new on the menu which tempted me a fair bit 😛
The simple 2 page Poulét menu.
We ordered quite a fair bit of food to share. This is the Country Side Mushroom Soup, $5.80, something that we both love!
Close up of the cream of wild mushroom and Idaho Potato. My friend said she tasted a hint of cheese in the soup. I felt that it is a nice but very rich soup and we made the right choice to share it. Having one full portion by oneself may be too filling and overpowering. There were people who were nodding when they tasted the soup so I guessed you will have to try it yourself to find out whether you like it or not.
The side we ordered – Mashed Potato, $3.80.
Close up of the very smooth and creamy mashed potato. We found it a little rich and though smooth on the tongue, it kinds of stick as it went down the throat. We felt it was a little too salty too.
The Les Entrées – Escargot de Bourgogne, $8.80, half dozen of Burgundy Snails served with Tomato Fondue and Almond Garlic Butter. What is french dining without some “exotic” food? LOL
Close up of the the bubbling butter when it was served. Please be careful when eating it as it is really hot!
Close up of my mouthful of escargot. The taste of the snail is not very strong. Non snails eaters (like me! :P) can give it a try though this will not be the authentic taste you will get if it is prepared with herb and butter.
An artistic shot of the bday girl’s main course – Poulét Roti. ;D Quoted from the menu: “Our restaurant’s star dish deserves every thumbs up it has been given. The poultry is brined for a full day in a traditional recipe and then placed in the rotisserie for a slow roast till the skin turns to a golden brown. Lastly, we added oomph to the dish with our home-made Mushroom Chardonnay Sauce to create the perfect combination“
Top view of Poulét Roti (Half-$15.80, Whole-$28.80). I find that the presentation looks a bit pathetic. The chicken seemed to be drowned in cream sauce with no mushrooms in sight and the few baby spinach leaves scattered on the plate made the beautifully roasted chicken looked so neglected.
Top view of my Poulét de Cranberry (Half -$17.80, Whole-$30.80). This is a new signature dish of their house chicken with freshly made cranberry sauce and double mustard. The waiter cautioned us that beef is used to make the sauce while we were ordering and checked if we are okay. I was a little puzzled – how did beef come into the picture? Nevertheless, we proceeded with the order.
Close up of the beautifully roasted chicken and lovely presentation. After tasting the cranberry sauce did I realised that it was not the fruity, tangy, cranberry sauce that I was expecting. Instead, it was a slightly sweet and heavy sauce with bits of cranberry in it.
Close up of the chicken breast. It was still soft and juicy and does not require a lot of effort to put apart. The meat got saltier with each bite and I had to us the cranberry sauce and double mustard to try and cover the saltiness.
We find that the size of the chicken seems to vary. Our chicken was petite while the lady beside us had a “not so nicely roasted but bigger” portion. Parts of my chicken drumstick was a little dry though the skin was nicely roasted.
We ordered Banana Bread Pudding and Panna Cotta when we placed our orders but they seemed to have forgotten about it after clearing our plates. We waited for a while and decided that it was just as well since we were too full after all the rich food we had. The picture above is their Tiramisu (served exactly as shown) which most of the customers ordered but we did not as my friend does not take coffee.
Overall, a nice place to chill (non-peak hours). The food is on the rich, creamy and salty side and it would be good if they can adjust the saltiness level for a better eating experience. The plates used for the main course is too big for the small tables in the bistro which leaves little room to place the side dishes to be shared. Due to the limited seating area, it is not a place where you can dine and then sit and chat in leisure as the eyes of the people in the queue will be looking at you! haha.. A tip to skip queuing – go after 8pm as that was the time when we saw that there was no queue and most of the first round diners would have finished their meal and vacated their seats! 🙂 Alternatively, try the 2nd outlet located at Great World City.
Poulét ~ Amazing Frech Roast Chicken
Bugis +
201 Victoria Street
#04-12 Singapore 188067
Tel: 65099411
Opening hours: 11.30am – 10pm
Website: www.poulet.com.sg
*Do pardon the different colour hues in the pictures as I probably max out the shutter count in my Iphone4S and it is not functioning as I would like it to be and I do not like to edit my photos
