La Brasserie at Fullerton Bay Hotel – Revamped Menu and Interiors

For a luxury hotel complex, I’ve always thought the F&B outlets at both Fullerton Hotel and Fullerton Bay Hotel offered good value for money. At Jade, the Chinese restaurant, the weekend dimsum brunch is always booked out well in advance due to the reasonable pricing while the picturesque Clifford Pier enables one to dine with marvelous views of Marina Bay for below $20 before tax.

Similarly, the French restaurant, La Brasserie seems to look far more opulent than the prices in its menu suggest. I’ve dined here a few times and even came for breakfast once during a staycation at Fullerton Bay Hotel and found the food to be of high quality and the prices to be affordable for a high-class French restaurant in the CBD.

I was recently invited to head over to La Brasserie for dinner to check out the venue. The French restaurant underwent a revamp recently – both in its physical appearance and menu. The memorable 10 meter high ceiling is still there and it is now accentuated by a new greyish color scheme as well as drapery from Jim Thompson.

We started off with the Traditional Onion Soup ($19) which came unbelievably sweet. It was a wonderful comfort food to start dinner with – something warm to tease the palate.

This was followed by the Aubergine Caviar Tartine ($19). The presentation gives off faint reminders of the Arabian mezze, especially with the chopped eggplant dip that it comes with. What I particularly loved about this appetizer was the Poilane bread which was simply on point when it came to toasting that I almost forgot to slather the mezze on it.

One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is the Lobster and Scallop Carpaccio ($33). A marvel to look at, the star of this dish is undoubtedly the fresh and succulent scallops. Cut into thin slices, it’s dressed with a hint of truffle oil and fresh lime juice for a slightly zesty finish.

Another cold starter is the Hot Smoked Balik Salmon ($21). To prepare it, the fish is cured with salt, then smoked in-house over Japanese binchotan charcoal, sous vide and then torched. It’s quite a complicated process and while the salmon was indeed tender – I thought that there was not much that distinguished the taste from regular smoked salmon.

My favorite dish during the dinner was undoubtedly the Cote de Boueuf ($99, good for 2). One serving consists of 500 grams of Thyme butter-basted Australian A4 Wagyu rib-eye with bone. We had ours medium rare which was unbelievably fragrant. All beef steaks at La Brasserie actually come with Béarnaise, Champignon and Bordelaise Sauce but the beef was so good on its own that the sauce became almost an afterthought.

The Supreme de Canard Confit ($39) was another crowd favorite. A hearty affair, the duck came especially savory with the 4 hours curing it went through evident in the soft texture. Don’t forget to eat it with the beluga lentils side dish.

The Lobster A L’Americaine ($68) was wonderful as the carbohydrate dish. It reminded me a bit of the lobster noodles at Jade (which was excellent!).

In contrast, I did not really enjoy the Galette ($23) that followed. I thought the buckwheat crepe was too thick and not as crispy as I had hoped.

We ended the meal with two desserts. The first was the especially creamy Profiteroles ($13) which went well with warm chocolate sauce and Tahitian vanilla ice cream. I recommend mixing the ice cream and chocolate sauce together for a heavenly experience.

The Tarte Tatin ($32) is an interesting alternative if you prefer something more acidic. It comes with large slices of Granny smith apples that were baked together with caramel and topped onto a housemade millefeuille.

Overall, La Brasserie exceeded my expectations as a French restaurant. With the revamped menu, it’s plain to see that the venue is not merely relying on its looks to get by. Together with Jade and Town, La Brasserie solidifies my view that the Fullerton precinct has one of the strongest F&B ensembles among Singapore hotels.

La Brasserie
Fullerton Bay Hotel
Reservations: +65 6597 5288