A Taste of France at PAUL, Marina Bay Link Mall

Established in 1889, French boulangerie, PAUL, has grown into a worldwide presence with 500 boulangeries in 31 countries, including 5 in Singapore with one more branch opening in this coming December. 

The 125th year old French brand, well known for its handmade traditional and artisanal breads, offers a true taste of French traditional culinary heritage.

 

  

This season, PAUL refreshes its breakfast and main dine-in menu with 26 new dishes, desserts and beverages, meant to whet your palate.  The new menu will be available in all PAUL restaurants in Singapore.

 

 

Before the meal starts, we were served complimentary basket of sliced baguette with in house brand butter imported from France. We all love the rich taste of the butter, and I especially love the baguette slice with sesame seeds which gives an extra oomph!

 



How can we not have a cup of coffee to go with the baguette? There are a number of choices and I ordered Cappucino Parfumé (S$7.90) which I can pick my choice of flavours, ranging from hazelnut, butterscotch, vanilla and caramel, and to choose among milk, skimmed milk and soy milk.  My pick is hazelnut flavour with skimmed milk. Love the aromatic hazelnut flavoured cappucino. Frankly speaking, while latte art is a trend, but if the craftsmanship is not desired, then I feel that it will be better off without.  The taste of the coffee can easily make up for the lack of latte art, which in this case, I would dare say so!



We started off the meal with a lighter, low-carb Salade de la Mer (S$20.90). The salad, tossed with balsamic dressing, consist of sautéed prawns, mussels and octopus topped with creamy avocado, grapefruit and slices of red radish. Each mouthful is an explosion of flavours, it is so tasty that I can have it all for myself as a main course.

 Salade de la Mer - S$20.90

 

This season, PAUL introduces two quintessentially French classics, freshly made on order - duck confit and longe de thon (or loin of tuna).

Confit de canard (S$28.90), is a classic French dish.  The duck leg is rubbed in herbs and cured in its own fat for up to a day before spending four hours of slow-roast in the oven.  It is no wonder the duck meat is so succulent and aromatic.   The savoury duck meat, accompanied by roasted vegetables is tastefully done.  The seasonal cranberry sauce adds some zestiness to the flavour of the meat.


Confit de canard - S$28.90

Confit de canard

The Longe de thon (S$29.90), is a seasoned loin of tuna grilled to moist and served with roasted vegetables and seasonal cranberry sauce. Seeing the pinkish colour of the tuna, it is obviously on the raw side, there is a bit of "fishy" taste, maybe it's just me due to I'm not used to having raw dishes.

 

Longe de Thon - S$29.90

Tartines, a French-style open-faced sandwich, with a rich or elaborate topping is one of PAUL’s classic favourites.  Of the four new tartines introduced this season, we tried the Tartine boeuf (S$19.90), which I believe, will be lovable by most, even for someone like me, who seldom eat beef. The sirloin steak sits on top of a bed of herb cream cheese and caramelised onions, drizzled with a rich balsamic glaze, with side salad. Initially, I hesitate trying out the Tartine boeuf upon seeing that it is of medium-rare; as mentioned earlier, I do not fancy raw dishes.  Moreover I seldom take beef and don't fancy onions too. However, surprisingly, there is no distinctive "bloody" taste from the steak and it is very tender and juicy, neither is there any distinctive taste from the caramelized onions. I would highly recommend it to anyone who fancy beef.

Tartine boeuf - S$19.90

A meal is never complete without dessert.  We end our meal with two new desserts - Éclair Paris-Brest ($7.50) and the Gaufre avec glace ($13.90). The hazelnut-flavoured Éclair is of an almond-flaked choux pastry with hazelnut cream and caramelised hazelnuts.  The hazelnut cream is rich in taste and of moderate sweetness,which is important for people who have a sweet tooth yet are health conscious at the same time.  It is a pity that hazelnut on our plate of Éclair is slightly over-roasted, otherwise, it will be the perfect dessert for a hazelnut lover like me.



 Éclair Paris-Brest - S$7.50

The Gaufre avec glace ($13.90) is a great indulgence for dessert lovers!  The two buttery waffle slices leaned against each other like a tower, laden with fresh berries and soft vanilla ice-cream, drizzled over with a rich homemade chocolate sauce. While some may prefer the more fluffy type of waffles, these crispy waffles are perfect for my liking.  It is very seldom that I come across cafe that offers such crispy waffles, love them to the max.  The creamy vanilla ice-cream goes well with the waffles and the berries added a citrus punch, so that one won't get sugar overloaded.

 

Gaufre avec glace - S$13.90

After a heavy meal, it will be good to a some refreshing beverage, so I ordered the Lemongrass Iced Tea (S$7.50). The taste of the lemongrass is slightly faint for me, I will prefer a stronger taste of the lemongrass though.

Lemongrass Iced Tea - S$7.50



With Christmas coming, Paul will be bringing in their house brand fruit jams, which will be available for sale from 20 Nov 2014, do check them out! 

 

 

 

 Last but not least, thanks Samuel for extending the invitation to me.

 

 

 PAUL Outlets

• Marina Bay Link Mall, #B2-07. Bakery Tel: 6509 8339, Restaurant Tel: 6509 8329

• Takashimaya Shopping Centre, #03-16/17.  Bakery Tel: 6836 1914, Restaurant Tel: 6836 5932

• Tanglin Mall, #01-16/17.  Bakery Tel: 6736 3205, Restaurant Tel: 6736 3257
• Ocean Financial Centre Basement 1, #B1-01.  Bakery Tel: 6634 8580
• Ocean Financial Centre Level 1.  Bakery Tel: 634 9068, Restaurant Tel: 6634 7686
• Westgate, #01-05.  Bakery Tel: 6369 9082 and Restaurant Tel: 6369 9080
• Changi Airport Terminal 3, Departure Transit Lounge Central, #02-36.  (Opening in Dec 2014)