Dinner at Merci Marcel French Restaurant @ Tiong Bahru in Singapore

I almost forgot to blog about my dinner at Merci Marcel in Tiong Bahru until I was going through the notes app on my iPhone! Thankfully, it was only about three months ago and not as backdated as some of my travel posts, which can go into 7-8 months.

Nice setting for French cuisine; not as formal and with elements of Balinese design. I do like the high tables and chairs although they might not be as well-liked by other diners. Oh well, it's hard to satisfy everyone! 

At the back, near the washrooms, would be the glasshouse patio which would be even more comfortable. Only issue was that it can get pretty dim when night falls. I am happier in the main dining area. 

Friendly service staff brought us the above board to ask if we would be keen with the selection of the day. I am not that keen with the red and white wine but the cheese did interest me! However, out of the eight types of cheese, ignorant me knew only one; the raclette! 

Check out the menus via the QR; segregated by breakfast, lunch, afternoon, dinner and even brunch (latter of which was applicable on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays)! Order wasn't online though; please do so through the service staff. 

Marcel Cheese (Any 5) - with so many of us, it would have made sense to go with a cheese platter (came with a basket of bread) to start the meal. Problem was; which artisanal cheese should we choose to make up the five?!

I am going to spare myself the mistake of typing the wrong words for the cheese names that we had chosen. You may refer to the photos as above. Stilton is the renowned blue cheese that you either like or dislike! 

The blue cheese was insanely strong flavored yet so palatable as a whole with the bread and homemade chutney! Chutney was made of onions, apples with a dash of cinnamon. Out of the five cheeses, the two I didn't enjoy were the chevre fermier (goat cheese) and raclette (usually served in the melty form).

Seeing how much I loved the chutney, the waitress brought me another saucer so that she can indulge in my blissful expression whenever I took a bite of the bread spread with cheese and chutney!

Tarte Flambee #1 - "thin crust pizza, asparagus, apple, blue cheese, organic bayonne ham"; thanks to the description as I would have assumed incorrectly that this would be the typical dessert tart.

Despite the facts that the edges lacked the crispness, and there were too much garden rocket (contributing to bitterness), this pizza was strangely delicious; the weird combination of blue cheese, ham and apple must have worked. p.s. easier to roll up and munch through. 

Buckwheat Noodle Salad - by any explanations, I wouldn't consider a noodle dish to be salad. Taste wise, nothing to complain about even though I would also associate buckwheat to be Japanese rather than French. Likely the salad was added to make it fusion French; a weak excuse nonetheless.

French Ratatouille - any animation movie lover would remember Remy, the rat, from the movie, Ratatouille, who impressed a strict food critic with a simple French dish made of stewed vegetables. 

Served with flatbread and organic eggs, the vegetables used in this Ratatouille were just bell peppers and onions.  Not the best I had but flavorful enough for us to polish up everything! I thought it was a bit too wet though; is that supposed to be the case? Noob here.

Duck Parmentier farcon Marcel - in essence, this was like mashed duck! While easier to manage (and eat), the meat was on the salty side and personally, I prefer the conventional duck confit which allow me to savor the crispiness of the duck fat, following the gaminess of the duck meat.

Ravioles de Royans - "French dumpling pasta filled with Tete de Moine Cheese"; the whole dish looked cheesy enough yet there were additional three large pieces of cheese garnishing the top! 

This was so heavy although I can imagine this could have been the holy grail for many cheese lovers! Sadly, I may love cheese but my level of love had yet to reach the level of fanatics! 

Raspberries - frankly, any desserts with crumble are likely to get my buy-in! Raspberries were too sour but balanced out by the sweetness of vanilla cream custard. Not bad, I liked! 

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I didn't realize they had beers on tap until I was leaving!

Guess it's another excuse for me to visit Merci Marcel.

Address

56 Eng Hoon St, #01-68, 

Tiong Bahru, Singapore 160056

Map

As above.

Website

https://mercimarcelgroup.com/by-venues/tiong-bahru-venue/

Pricing

Marcel Cheese (Any 5) - S$38.00

Tarte Flambee #1 - S$27.00

Buckwheat Noodle Salad - S$18.00

French Ratatouille - S$23.00

Duck Parmentier farcon Marcel - S$29.00

Ravioles de Royans (S) - S$20.00

(Subject to Service Charge and GST)

Additional Information

Like any of the cheese from the selection of the day? You can buy blocks of them for self indulgence, in the comfort of your own home!