Kampong Boy BLEW his usual budget at this french food adventure!!!! arghhhhh....

Lat wanted to try foie gras during previous night supper, hence KB did a quick search and THOUGHT that he found a "cheap" french foie gras place here. Alamak!!! KB and Lat ended up paying about $48 each for a satisfying meal in a not so flattering french cafe.

LET it be clear, KB and Lat thinks that the food here is Good, but the ambience is a very BASIC cafe (not atas in the least bit. A mix of wooden and metal tables, with a cinema style semi-circle pop corn counter. No cheap pop corns here though, its GOOD french food at prices way above KB's velcro and zip wallet! Its a pity that such competent french food is not complemented by good ambience. Orders are cook to order, hence it can be a wait for each dish to be served. Waiting service was friendly and good, server is engaging and informative. For example, lightly toasted baguatte in a basket was offered twice in between dishes at no charge.

The FOOD:
Escargot (1/2 dozen) at $10.90 - normal, with over cooked garlic leading to bitter taste.

Pan fried Foie Gras at $18 - Simly YUMMY! lightly seared, with custard like texture, that melts in your mouth. It tasted so well with the accompanying tangy sauce and wine infused berry!!! YUMMY!! MUST be eaten with the berries, berries are heavily soaked in wine(I think?? anyway its some kind of alcohol lah...KB too toot and mountain turtle to know the details lah). Oh there's a small side of green salad too, KB loves the sauce and was wipping it off with the greens and baguatte! Slurpppppppppppppp.....

Duck Confit at $28 - Interestingly NICE. Crispy skin, that lat said it reminded him of crispy pork lard (well what do u expect from Lat? lard of course, hahahaha...). KB agrees with him the crispy skin was indeed flavorful and tasted very much like pork lard!!! The meat is almost dry with just the right hint of moisture and tasted like WAX DUCK to KB! Very flavorful!!! yum yum... (aiyoooo...what do you expect from 2 kampong boys ...we only know how to relate it to what we know??? cheap and good kampiong food lah... LOng live pork lard and wax duck!!!! yeah!). Oh it also comes with small potato and mushroom with similar tangy sauce as the foie gras.

Boeuf Bourguigon aka. Stewed Beef at $18 - Beefily Yummy. Nicely stewed beefy stew, beef was not the melt in your mouth soft stew but competently cooked to a nice consistency where there is still some minimum resistance. Well Done to the chef. KB thought that the sauce was cooked with beer, but was corrected by the server that it was cooked with classy red wine ok! hahahah...not crude beer as suggested by crude KB...sorry lah! KB is a mountain turtle mah...kekeke... On the plate were soft carrots and moderately cooked potatos. The sauce was also polished off by KB with the baguatte, nuff said abt the sauce.

Creme Brule at $7.50 - Custardly soft and sufficiently sweet with caramelised top. However, the custard was not warmed up sufficiently as about half of it was still a wee bit cold. Otherwise a nice creme brule.

KB thinks that the food is good but it was not value for money due to the very basic ambience. This is not a place for 1st date, more for seasoned couples. KB is unsure if he will return, but who knows??? ANyway , this is KB virgin trip to NLB since it moved from stamford. KB is against the move, just for the sake to build a stupid tunnel??? KB has fond memories of Stamford NLB, like the RGS gals and the hawker food...actually more for the RGS gals lah...hahaha...

KB wonders if this new NLB and makarios will give him new memorable experience.....VERDICT = UNsure.

I wanted a quiet lunch on a sat afternoon, I also wanted to do some research for my coming assignment so I head down to National Library...Lunch think of Makarios; Research think of National Library...kill 2 birds with one stone.

Located at level 3 of NL, walked passed the Box Office of Drama Centre and you'll see Makarios. A mixture of greens and view of Hotel Intercontinental with the DHL Balloon going up and down...it's quite a good sight.

I ordered the Lunch Set - $15.90

Pumpkin Soup - Not a lover for pumpkin, nothing of it fancy me but this soup is decent. (I love Makarios tomatoes soup thou but they're not always available)

Corned Beef Pasta (mind u, the corned beef here is not your canned kind ok. Makarios make it themselves. It's yummy with good chewy texture) Pasta stir-fry with garlic, red and green capsicum and corned beef. I'm not a lover for capsicum either, I hate it on pizza and avoid it every time I see it in my food, but those capsicums here taste so sweet and nice that I wiped it all out. It's surprisingly yummy!

Bread & Butter Pudding - I love the aroma of the cinnamon dusted on the pudding. Not an expert in BBP but this one is pretty nice, IMO.

For the price, I think it's really a good deal, you got a decent serving portion.

My sister ordered a Strawberry Milk Shake w Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream - $9.90. Appreciate the premium ice cream shake but she said she rather have the ice cream without the shake.

Service is good...friendly and prompt. Definitely a good place to dine and have a serene afternoon....

I ate here with the family after a visit to the library.

Makarios is a little out of the way, and you may not be able to find it if you're not actively looking for it. As it is, I kind of blundered onto it when I saw the sign on ground level.

Makarios is situated on Level 3, at the Drama Centre. The food it serves it definitely not the usual light finger food you'd expect in a theatre cafe, but a little more ambitious (in a good way).

The cafe is situated in a light-filled, airy corner of the Library building. It's quiet and peaceful. They serve a variety of sandwiches, and a pretty good value-for-money set lunch.

The kids had the ham+cheese sandwich, and the club sandwich. Both came with a generous amount of salad - the veges were crisp, and the light sprinkling of balsalmic vinegar just nice. The addition of several chunks of apple made the salad a little more special. Sandwiches themselves were good - made with good ciabatta for the ham+cheese, and a lovely cheesy melt (I'm not a cheese expert, so I can't tell what went into it!). Kids enjoyed it.

My wife had the pasta carbonara with black truffle shavings. Definitely not the usual theatre cafe fare, but quite fragrant. I had the set, with salad (as above) & Cajun chicken. The chicken was a little heavy on the spices, but otherwise quite decent. The set lunch ended with a little muffin and coffee/tea. My wife had an Illy coffee (yes, they serve Illy!). They also serve Gryphon tea, so you know they do pay attention to their tea & coffee.

Service was decent - the server seemed new, but took pains to confirm our order and was responsive, helping to provide extra plates for the kids without asking (the acid test of how 'kid-friendly' an establishment is).

Overall, a very pleasant experience, with food of respectable quality. The natural light pouring in is delightful, and the open area next to the cafe gives rambunctious kids a place to run around in aircon comfort. What's there not to like? Must come back for tea here someday!

I've always been a fan of Makario's French cuisine, ever since they were Le Troquet at their Balestier restaurant. Among the favorites are their Duck confit & Foi grais, but this review is about a certain wine that was opened the day I was there for dinner! Being a fan of wines, I happened to notice that there was a bottle of 1997 Opus One in the wine chiller which was a private collection of Suzanne, the owner of Makarios.She offered to sell it to me at an undisclosed price if I was interested since she was also interested to try it herself!
I won't bore with the details but the wine was superb & was a beautiful end to a lovely meal and great company.
Its very encouraging to find that Makarios has a collection of beautiful wines that are both rare & pairs well with the French cuisine offered. Well Done!

I had the opportunity recently to attend an event organised by Roo's Cellar to promote wine from Vignerons de Caractere in the Rhone Valley. I've also known one of the prioprietors of Makarios for a long-time given that she helped coordinate a stay I had in France way back in 1995 so it was a surprise when I found out she had moved from educating the French language into the F&B line with the founding of Makarios Cafe. Another plus to the evening was having dinner with wine connoisseur John Chua from Chinelli Consultancy. Unlike many wine gurus, John is like a fatherly figure and he is like this favourite uncle that you love to chat with.

I started the evening by sampling the A l'ombre des Fontaines Blanc 2006 which was quite creamy and provided a light feel to open up the evening. I also tried the Terrases du Soleil 2005 (Croze Hermitage) which was also light and paired very well with Brie.

All this tasting made me hungry and I could not wait for the dinner to begin. I started with the Mediterranean Fish Soup which was thick feel and went well with the the Gigondas Chemin Oliver 2004 which was a very spicy and heavy vintage.

For the main course I had the Boeuf Bourguinon which was easy to eat with the tender beef cuts but unfortunately did not have a very strong distinct taste to it. At John's recommendation, I tried the Gigondas Domain de la Maurelle 2006 and the spicy cum heavy bodied wine complimented the dish well.

For desserts there were several mini cakes available and I paired this with the Chateauneuf du Pape Les Amadous Rouge 2004 which was a sweet and light red. One special mention on the dessert was the Blueberry Custard which had a nice sweet and sour contrasting flavour.

The way I would summarise the food is homecooked French food which is limited by the kitchen's capacity. Makarios makes a good place for either a simple quick bite or a place to chill out if one happens to be around the National Library.