The first time I went to this place was about a year ago and have been back several time since.
Love the ambience, service and food.
From my several visits to this restaurant, the starter has never failed to impress my friends and me.
However, for the small eater and beans hater, I don't recommend their signature baked duck dish (can't remember the name), which is cooked with loads of beans. The portion is huge and i shared it with a friend.
The beef tenderloin is delicious! Been ordering the same dish since.
Remember to book ahead for dinner on weekend.

Took the day off and decided to join my wife for a nice cosy lunch at Au Petit Salut. Being a somewhat cool day, we made our reservation for a table outside for 1pm instead.

Arrived and was surprised to see the restauarant was actually fully occupied (doesn't anyone need to work???). We ordered a pitcher of sangria and though it was on the drinks menu, the bartender was nice enough to made oen for us. However, maybe due to the absence of regular practice, the sangria did come across more as a non-alcoholic frunit juice then actual sangria. Nonetheless, we did come here for the food and did not want the poor sangria to spoil the day especially after seeing the best effort made by the staff on hand.

Both of us had the lunch set menu which seem really attractive at that price. For starters, I had the escargots and wifey had the duck. The escargots were great. You could taste the herbs and tomatoes used, not just garlic as per most other places. The duck was also expertly done and not too dry.

For the mains, I had the sea bass and my partner had the onglet of beef. The sea bass was about just right with the outside nicely brown and crisp and yet with sufficient natural taste of the sweet sea bass retained. Not to worry about the butter emulsion as it was not too heavy either.

The pan seared beef was served with confit shallots which was really thick. Unfortunately, the beef came across as a tad dry though in truth we had ordered it as medium. Maybe for other diners who might prefer it jucier, medium rare might be the safer option.

Fro the desserts, I had the choux buns with the vanilla ice cream while my partner had the "Mont-Blanc" vanilla ice cream with chestnut puree. The choux buns were great and especially with the chocolate sauce though the almond slices were a bit too much and all over the place too. The chestnut puree on the other hand was rather disappointing as it tasted rather flat and un-spectacular. The cream on the dessert also masked a large part of the individual taste of each of these items.

However, I have to say the service was impeccable. The staff were on hand throughout while not appearing as overly crowding. They were accomodating to our request and gave decent recommendations and suggestions too.

Generally, with the breezy light patter of the drizzle, combined with the cool alfresco dining, it was just the type of lazy afternoon luncheon I was expecting after stealing a day off from work. I only wish all of us could have more days like this......

My wife and I decided to celebrate our wedding aniversary at Au Petit Salut. We arrived at the new location and we were met and quickly seated inside.

After an apertif we enjoyed excellent starters; smoked french eel with caviar & sour cream for my wife and I enjoyed lobster & crab salad. The eel was exceptional with just the right balance of sweet and salt. For the mains my wife chose the Kurobota pork cheeks and the beef tenderloin plus some sides. Both dishes were fantastic !! The pork was moist and tender and the beef worked perfectly with white peppercorns and mash. After a pause and some good conversation we delighted over the dessert menu. My wife quickly chose the apple tart and I could not go past the vanilla creme brulee. A fine end to an excellent meal !!!

Overall the service was good but there were a few kinks. No amouse bouche (??) and they forgot my wine for the entree but overall the experience was good and they resolved each problem with a minimum fuss.

Au Petit Salut is a chain of two French restaurants, one located at Holland Village and one at Harding Road (Dempsey Road). They have also a 'private dining' restaurant on top of the Harding Road branch for a private dining experience facing the Chef.
My lunch was at the Harding Road branch, which has a relaxed and bright 'al fresco' atmosphere. There is also an indoor dining area, with wide glass windows looking onto the surrounding patio.
There are two lunch menus, one 'executive' menu priced at $58++, and a regular menu priced at $30, which is the one we chose. The menu includes a starter, main, dessert and coffee or tea. Ice water is offered at the end of the meal.

I started with a 'Homemade duck rillette with mesclun salad and walnut dressing', which tasted like tuna-like textured flaky lean meat. Slightly on the salty side, but that's how it's supposed to be.

The 'Quail salad with Romaine lettuce, yogurt and cucumber dressing, croutons' consisted in a lightly seasoned and tender half quail laid on top of a typical Caesar-like salad. The quail was simple but nice, while the salad was a bit boring.

My main was a 'Braised beef cheeks Hungarian “Goulash-style’’, polenta and carrots'. I found this polenta style very interesting and gnummy. It is rather different from the traditional Italian style I am used to. In comparison, this is creamier and fluffier, probably smoothened by some dairy ingredients. The beef cheek was quite lean and tender with a clear and rich flavour enhanced by its red wine sauce.

The other main was a 'Oven baked sea bass fillet with fresh mixed vegetables, light herb butter emulsion'. The sea bass was superbly cooked, with a crispy surface sealing the subtle flavour of its juicy and firm meat. The foamy butter emulsion added that extra richness to the dish, while the bed of carrots and fennel slightly lacked of a distinguished flavour.

The 'Crème Brulée infused with fresh Madagascar vanilla beans ' is a classic French dessert, served in a very classic version. It was well prepared, with a visible quantity of flavoursome vanilla beans and a thin and crispy surface. The smooth flavour had quite a distinct bitter aftertaste, probably due to the caramelised surface.

I was very excited about this dessert. The '“Mont-Blanc” vanilla ice cream, chestnut purée and meringue' was absolutely phenomenal. I must warn you that this dessert is not very sweet, so in order to appreciate it, you must be someone who likes mildly sweetened desserts. I had Mont-Blanc before, and it was always extremely sweet and heavy. The intriguing thing about this version is that it's not purely a mountain of chestnut puree'. They have filled it with ice cream and topped it with whipped cream and chestnuts crumble, and more chestnuts and meringue chunks at the bottom, creating a well balanced harmony of textures.

If you like 'home style' French cuisine rather than 'Nouvelle Cuisine', Au Petit Salut is the place for you. Even if the lunch menu isn't breathtaking , it is certainly a quality meal that's excellent value for money. The bill came to a total of $70 for 2 people, including a bottle of water and charges. Au Petit Salut provides a relaxed ambiance in a superbly quiet and natural setting, accompanied by very friendly and attentive service and classic, simple and well prepared food.

Full review with pictures: http://foodieah.blogspot.com/2008/11/au-petit-salut-set-lunch.html

the boy and i had a late lunch at au petit salut today. i reserved a 2 pm slot in order to have enough time to consider our choices before the last order at 2.30pm and to avoid being 'chased' out when the kitchen closed, if they really did so.

reservations were made without a hitch (well it was a table for 2 only after all), and i requested for inside seating to avoid perspiring in sweat during what was meant to be a chill and relaxing lunch. APS also called the day before my reservation to confirm the slot.

weather was fairly cool today but we decided to sit inside the restaurant. the restaurant was emptying out by the time we had arrived, which allowed for an even quieter lunch and pleasant ambience.

we had the $30++ regular set lunch menu, since we are both not fans of foie gras which was available on the executive set lunch menu (at $58++, almost twice the price!). i had read about the braised beef cheeks from many reviewers here and was looking forward to trying it out, but alas, it was not available. probably due to my late reservation :( so i suppose you have to go early in order to ensure you get what you want, especially for the popular dishes!

in the end, we had the following:

starters: Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter AND “Vitello Tonato” thin slices of roasted veal with light tuna sauce, rocket salad

mains: Pan-seared “Onglet” beef served with confit shallots and French fries AND
Oven baked seabass fillet with ratatouille and tomato coulis

desserts: “Petit Pot” dark chocolate ganache 70% with whipped cream
and chocolate shavings AND Choux buns filled with vanilla ice cream in warm chocolate sauce, sliced almonds

starters. the snails were pretty good regular sort, but wasn't particularly fantastic nor below average. maybe i just can't tell good from bad snails since there's so much garlic and butter and oil all around it. but all the same, we used our bread to wipe up all the garlic and oil :) the veal carpaccio was quite good on its own, though i think there was too much sauce on it, which overpowers the taste of the veal.

mains. the beef onglet was good. we ordered medium rare and it was done very well, a very good medium rare. i'm often wary about ordering medium rare because it often comes out medium/medium well, so sometimes i pre-empt by ordering rare which really defeats the purpose when you're at a good restaurant and you really want to get what you order. anyway (see pic below) it was good. moist and tender and juicy. yums. i had previously tried their beef tenderloin and it was good, and i must say the beef onglet didn't disappoint.

the seabass was a little on the fishy side, especially since the boy is more sensitive to "fishy" taste. however, when eaten with the gravy and ratatouille, it tasted good but not fantastic. he felt that the gravy (which was supposed to be tomato coulis) tasted a lot like curry actually, or curry mixed with pumpkin. it definitely looked like pumpkin colour at least. i thought the mixture was nice, but i think the beef was a better dish.

desserts. the choux bun was good (i love ice cream chocolate almonds so it was a heavenly combi) and it's not all that commonly found on menus (that or i'm very ulu). i liked it a lot though i like erm a lot of desserts in general. the chocolate ganache came with a whole load of whipped cream (which we don't normally eat) so you may wish to request for without whipped if you're like us. but in any case it was creamy-ish and pretty good for a chocolate fix, since it's just all pure chocolate, though more mousse and creamy than fudgy.

we ended off with coffee and tea, and i was rather amused at how the waitress took pains to rotate the 'illy' cup with the logo facing me directly. we left at around 3.45 pm (last table to leave after everyone else had just left as well) and was happy and satisfied. the bill was $70 for 2 of us (after heeding advice on specifying tap water as well) for a 3 course french meal well done.

because of the missed out braised beef cheeks, we might head there again for another nice chill lunch. but personally i think the late lunch ambience was a lot nicer than the dinner i had previously which was noisier due to a fuller patronage at that time.

contrary to the past few reviews, service was good. our glasses were topped up constantly. we had requested for serving plates since we shared the dishes, which caused a little mix up in the cutlery (we kept on receiving extra cutlery when extra had already been given) but that was more likely due to our own special circumstances. they served us extra bread when we had finished our initial basket and the bread was freshly warmed up / toasted. food was served with good timing, just awhile after each course was finished. they also allowed photography of food, which always makes me happy :)

however, on a final note, there is a sign that no strollers and prams are allowed. not the friendliest of policies and questionable as to whether wheelchairs are allowed. so for those affected do take note.