Ms Skinnyfat

A Food & Travel Blog from Singapore

Restaurant Review: Le Chasseur

By Thursday, March 29, 2012 , , , ,

Whenever i go to Song Fa for dinner and hang around the area after, i have noticed this Chinese zi char (cooked food) stall-ish kinda place just farther down the road. It used to be pretty empty (at least my memory of it). Obviously i didn't pay much attention to this. Not really my idea of a zi char stall because the best ones usually don't have the best dining conditions-- non airconditioned, loud and dynamic and located in the most remote heartlands.

Was surprised when Will and S suggested this particular place to satisfy a claypot rice craving. We would usually go to Geylang Claypot rice (i swear that is heavenly) but we were in an adventurous mood that day. It was only then that i found out that it's called Le Chasseur (such a pretentious name for a Chinese zi char place). Reminded me of those regular Viet restaurants in Saigon that gave themselves French names but sell nothing remotely French. I don't really care about what they call themselves as long as the food is worth it.
The place was packed to the brim! There were no seats indoors or outdoors. Took us about 30minutes to get a table, mainly because there is absolutely NO SEATING SYSTEM! Trust me, it's ridiculous. Even the zi char stalls in the heartlands do better than them in terms of seating their customers.

While we waited, our eyes feasted on the pictures of the dishes that were displayed prominently on the glass doors. We were starving by the time we got our seats and were dying to try the "famous" claypot rice.
'
Apparently the Crispy Pork Knuckle, Claypot Rice and BBQ Live Prawns are the bestsellers. Despite our rumbling tummies, we decided not to over order in order to save space for desserts. BUT GUESS WHAT! It took another 40ish minutes for our dishes to be served! I'm not being unreasonable here. I understand and appreciate the time taken to cook a pot of claypot rice from scratch BUT 40ish minutes to serve our cold dish and drinks??!! How long does it take to slice tofu and chop century eggs?! Ridiculous. So anyway it took us an hour (after we got a table)to be served our meal, even though we placed the order immediately upon arrival. Extremely bad service. They need to hire more helpers if they are shorthanded.
The tofu with century egg was refreshing. Can't go wrong with this combination. The egg could be in bigger chunks though. Can hardly taste much of that.
The coffee pork ribs were nicely charred on the outside. Nice smokiness that went well with the bitterness of the coffee sauce. Like the touch of crunchy almond slices to complement the texture of the meat. The ribs were tender enough (didn't break my jaw chewing), though they required quite a bit of manhandling or i would say sporkhandling to get the meat off.
I could be sure that the rice was cooked from scratch in the pot because it took so long. I don't know if it's really worth that waiting time though. Nice burnt and crispy rice bottom of the pot. Flavorful Basmati rice that was simmered in chicken stock and cooked over charcoal for that additional taste and smoky flavor. Interesting choice of the long grains because Basmati rice doesn't stick to each other and are light and fluffy when cooked.

The chicken meat was tender but it wasn't deboned (troublesome to eat). Love the sweetness of the lup cheong (preserved chinese sausages) and saltiness of the salted fish. My main complain is that there isn't enough ingredients. :( I ended up eating more of the flavored rice than anything else. BOO.
The food at Le Chasseur isn't bad. But the bad service is enough to deter me from going back. I was so tempted to walk off to Song Fa which promises yummy BKT that is served promptly.

Food: 3.5/5
Service: 1/5 Really bad and slow service. Staff were unfriendly and hostile.
Atmosphere: 3/5 Average. Nothing to boast about.

Le Chasseur
31 New Bridge Road
Daily: 11.30am - 3pm, 5.30pm - 10.30pm
Cash Terms only

, , , ,

About the Author

C is a tiny food and travel blogger with a voracious appetite for life, a demanding eater who is on a perpetual holiday. expect her to intensify hunger pangs and exacerbate wunderlust. #MsSkinnyfat # TravelerinTransit

You Might Also Like

1 comments

  1. PegsFriday, October 04, 2013

    Hey C, they've relocated and I went to them at Eunos today. Quite the contrary, service was extremely good - Owner takes time to explain the "science" behind his food. Worth another chance maybe?

    ReplyDelete

Comments