Le Cuisson: French food at Holland Drive

Sometimes the eating experience is affected by one's expectations of the meal. Quite often, a person who has high expectations of a meal will find himself having feelings of disappointment with the food.

I have experienced that enough to now consciously lower my expectations whenever I am feeling excited about a meal.

It was a week of differing opinons between me and Dear when we checked out two new places and felt differently about the food. Both times, Dear did not really enjoy the food while I find the food to be of reasonable standards.

The first of this place was Le Cuisson at Holland Drive. This stall, which started in Queens Street, and became famous for serving French food at affordable prices, had recently moved to the hawker centre in Holland Drive.

Since it is pretty near my place (and they have a signature foie gras salad at $10?!), I decided to check it out with Dear for dinner.

The first sign that something was not very 'right' was that no one at the coffee shop was eating from the stall. That's always a bad sign, especially if the stall is supposed to be good.

But I put it down to the coffee shop's clientel of Uncles who were there drinking beer and chatting away.

We started with the foie gras salad. The foie gras was quite big for a serving of $10 but it was too charred on the outside and not fragrant enough. Decent but no satisfying enough  for a foie gras fix.

The augus steak ($14) is another popular dish at the stall. Dear was not asked how he would like the beef to be done but it felt it suited my tastes. The steak was done at medium well and tender because it had a good mix of fats and lean meat.

The mushroom cabonara pasta is a comfort dish. I like the fresh mushrooms that was used and the poached egg was a nice touch. At $8, this is pretty value for money. 

Our bill came up to nearly $40 and Dear felt it was too pricey for the food quality. I think the prices are cheaper than eating in restaurants and the food is decent enough. After all, it is a stall in a coffee shop, so it's hard to expect high quality food at cheap prices.

But if you just want a French fix and don't want to pay too much for it, this might be a good place to visit. So, it's all about expectations. Adjust it and this is a pretty good place for dinner.

Oh, one more thing, the menu is rather limited here. : (

Le Cusisson
Blk 40 Holland Drive