Had read good things about Nicolas Le Restaurant on BT prior to visit (always do due d!) but this really sealed the deal for me when a friend blushed guiltily and nodded vehemently when asked if I should check it out. She, however, had the luck to savour the degustation menu while I only had the short (but sweet) luxury of a quickie three course set lunch.

Food: Had the seafood options as usual, i.e. millefueille of cod for starters and seared hotate scallops, which were excellent! Light yet scrumptious for French food, which is rare. Nicely presented too. Nicked a sliver of foie gras which was quite good too. Went for the fruit option for dessert i.e. apple tartin, which I thought was quite innovative.

Service: Pretty good.

Ambience: Decent. Bit cramped though.

Definitely go back for the degustation some time. At 38++ for a set lunch, this is pretty great value.

(REVIEW BASED ON DINNER)
A relatively new restaurant in an impossibly inconvenient location is never a good sign. Evidently, it clearly isn't.
Strangely tucked away in a corner of Keong Saik Road, Restaurant Nicolas really stands out amongst hawker stalls, stripper joints, shady places, etc. There is even an isolated table right outside the restaurant -- on the path. It might as well been a punishment table of some sort.
Diners will first spend an inexorably long amount time finding a parking space, hawking it, and returning to the restaurant, then apologizing for a late arrival.
Then they will step inside the restaurant: a claustrophobic room with white washed walls, high ceilings, cheap hard-plastic floor, 80's looking lamps, and tables spaced far too close to each other. Oh yes, the acoustic nature of the restaurant will make it impossible for an intimate, let alone audible conversation. Do cross romantic dinner of your list and stop reading now.
The waiters will get to you after pretending to be flitting around slipping hot bread loaves into plates that literally scald you if you are not careful.

Be prepared to pay a prodigiously high price for eating here. Whoever devised the menu must have been quite intelligent -- there is no a la carte menu, just a prix-fixe set dinner menu (S$98) and an 8 course "suprise" menu that the chef devises, for a price of about $20 more (do not be surprised if you get odd, tiny dishes of questionable nature).
Fortunately, the food is just north of average: edible and occasionally tasty. The starter of squid ink taglioni with caviar has an interesting taste, albeit a tad undercooked (the pasta). Following the "amuse bouche" is a composed plate of langoustine, a frothy concoction, and a "leaf". (the chef was smart alecky enough to add the deep fried "leaf" in the dish descrption. Do not be misleaded). The langoustine was overcooked, dry, and had a slightly mushy texture. But at least it was flavorful. The 3rd course was a cod in lemongrass foam and ravioli. The distinctive lemongrass flavor overpowered the whole dish and had quite an unpleasant aftertaste. And there was a certain oddity about the ravioli.
The "main course" was the aged tenderloin of beef (the portion is as small as that of the previous dishes). It was certainly very tender, moist, and flavorful; however, the accompanying sauces -- a shallot reduction and a mushroom foam -- were quite cloying.
After waiting around 15 minutes for desert (expect at least a 15-20 min wait in between the tiny morsels they call "courses"), I almost wanted to leave. But I ended up eating the desert anyway. I am at difficulty trying to recall what dish if was, as it was quite un-memorable.
So that rounded up quite an unsatisfying dinner experience. The food certainly was not horrendously bad, but if the set dinner was half as expensive, I might consider the prospect of returning.

The devil who’s trying to redress herself I am not. Yep I return for a 2nd visit hoping to harvest good returns. I always believe in giving establishments 2nd chances if I see from the 1st visit, the potential for the better.

Since reviewers of this place don’t seem to put emphasis on the food, preferring to give really brief WOW-I-Am-WOWed scanty reviews, I shall follow the trend here since lengthy descriptions on whatever I eat don’t seem to interest readers. In summary, I shall only highlight some parts, later on which I really wish to touch on something else more critical.

1. Food is definitely better now than on 1st visit. It’s more robust and confidently executed and certainly not like those half-baked ones I had 4 months ago.

2. I’m quite impressed by Chef Joanny’s flair for using very flavorful emulsions (not sauces please), done so with natural jus sans the use of cream to combine excellently all the flavors in a dish together. Very typically French Provencal-style, so while the food is not light per se like Gunther’s, nor hearty like Au Petit’s, it’s very fulsome and flavorful and these combination of flavors is what makes any of his dishes stand out, especially so prevalent in my starter dish of Bavetine Pasta with Seared Hotate Scallop. Bearing in mind I’m not one who advocates the heavy use of sauces coz I repeat myself again, I always believe good food with straightforward flavors that have integrity needn't be masked or disguised by any overpowering sauces. That said, I’m happy to report Chef Joanny does a good job in balancing his food with flavors that complements well, and not overpowers it.

3. I ate Ibérico ham lol.

If you’re interested in a more detailed review of the food on the table at Nicolas that day, you may wish to pop over here for the full account and here for the full set of pictures.

Finally I shall bring out what still peeves me from the 1st visit. The Chronic Lack of Fine Dining Etiquette. Note: Fine Dining Etiquette. Not Service.

Not my choice here exactly but I was put to sit directly facing the kitchen. Good thing coz it was I glad to see Chef Joanny working hard in his kitchen. Whether or not he cooks, at least he is in there to oversee the modus operandi and overall doings in the kitchen. But it’s no use sending out artfully presented food or beautifully piped mousses in cute shooter glasses, or deck your waiters in ties and dappled starch suits while they, who bring the plates to you simply just haphazardly plunk them down then walk away. Hur Hur. Imo, at least in all the fine dining establishments I’ve dine in, this wasn’t the case. In fine dining etiquette, it’s almost a requirement to at least make a Herculean effort, pretentious or not, for the server to describe what is placed in front of you. Redundant it may seem, coz the lengthy descriptions are already very obviously and blatantly painted in the menu, but this is one basic fine dining decorum that is a necessity for any outfit which labels itself a fine dining restaurant. On this, I would like applaud the Les Amis Group, Saint Pierre’s Group and Buko Nero for their 1st rate and excellent deliverance in such very crucial decency of fine dining.

At Les Amis (other exemplars of fine dining restaurants included), and this is what make them the numero uno dining restaurant in Singapore, the servers not only meticulously explains to you your dishes, even how it’s done from raw to end, they are so thoroughly trained on etiquette, ingredients know-how and their attention on details is so focused it’s amazing how they are even able to account for each single pied de mouton mushroom, what goes into the chili nduja de monte poro in your crab, even before you drop jaws and gape at your roasted suckling pig or stare in wonder the beauty of your dishes or open your mouth to ask the server what-the-@#?! you are feeding yourself with. This is why I like going to such establishments. You not only get to feed good food; you feel so educated after and able to appreciate fine dining much better that you cannot help but return in the nearest future lol.

Ok I digress…but Point to Note: To all places who like to label themselves as a Fine Dining Establishment: Please please do train your staff to make efforts to let diners know what they are eating. Be it only an amuse bouche or just some palate cleanser sorbet, especially so important in a degustation where the diners sometimes get confused with the numerous no. of dishes. If I have to gawk cluelessly at my food any one second after it comes, you fail miserably.

Practice some fine dining propriety in your restaurant if you want to stay on the same level playing as your counterparts. I see diners adorned in singlet, shorts and slippers lol here. Oh so is this your fine dining protocol? Or lack of. Atas I may sound here but when it comes to fine dining, I expect a certain level of decorum which I really must say Nicolas is not anywhere there yet. There should be a form of respect to other guests, even to the proprietor of the restaurant for a diner to dress appropriately for the meal. Why doesn’t the Chef here mind I really don’t know. Even at Buko Nero (which I don’t see it to be as “so-Atas-fine-dining”), diners dress fittingly; Tracy has such superb politesse which makes every dining experience there so enjoyable. It’s not stressful or atas like it may sound. But these are the details which really makes any one establishment stand out from the rest. The people make you feel warm at home while still maintaining a certain space for privacy. Bravo to these places and their staff while some others really need to work hard on this.

Last point: Strangely I was served Chamomile tea at the end of my meal. Without a teabag too. At least here you see the brand of your teabag, and even at these places, fyi set meals too, albeit cheaper, I get a teabag with side of milk and sugar at my whim. But none of these here at Nicolas. It makes me question how many times the chamomile teabag has been reused in the jug. I’m not trying to nitpick here. But is there a need to even sting on this I wonder. Not to mention inducing sleep too after.

There you go, another take here on Nicolas. Verdict is out. Food at Nicolas pass muster. Then shoot and attack me, but I think this place is nowhere near fine dining yet. At least until our very talented Chef Joanny decides to invest some money in some staff training. Or maybe rope Mackie back to win over his customers. But in the meantime even if I do return, and I certainly hope so coz the food is indubitably quite good, I won’t even place this establishment anywhere in the same league as its counterparts. Hmm…maybe that’s why our local fine dining scene will never be on par or hardly even come close to the fine dining vista from over the world. Bleak.

If you’re only interested in eating good food and not appreciate fine dining, then this place will do just fine for you. Please ignore this review. Case closed.

I have been procrastinating my review for this place for really long simply because of one reason - NO PICTURES!

All I can say is that this place has the nicest, and perhaps the healthiest (irony?!), foie gras that I have tasted. Done to perfection, the foie gras was slightly crusty on the outside and soft (but not mushy at all) on the inside. The texture and consistency was almost perfect. And the most amazing thing was that it had close to NO oil. Unbelievable! I'm not sure how they did it but it seemed to defy logic and totally different from any foie gras I have tasted.

Its been a few months since I went back and I cannot remember exactly what I had on the degustation menu, save that I was definitely left with a really positive impression overall - beautiful displays, great service and nice ambience. Can't wait for my next visit so that I can take some GREAT pictures deserving of the food they serve!

This was honestly the best meal I have ever eaten! I didn't have high hopes for this place due to the lack of reviews but wow! it totally blew my mind away.

The restaurant is located on the narrow street of keong saik that feels almost a bit too squeezy. Inside, it is a small cosy restaurant with a nice window of the chefs buzzing around, whipping up dishes of heaven.

The thing that sets Nicolas apart is their SAUCES! they are so flavoursome and delivers a punch of goodness in every mouthful. it really beats all the other restaurants smack down! i enjoyed every single dish of the degustation menu which is very rare.

for the main course, the lamb rack was done to perfection - pink and juicy. the mashed potatoes came flavoured with truffle oil too! yum.

really. do NOT give this a miss. it is worth every cent.