Friday, March 23, 2007

Marche @ level 3 Vivocity

Everyone is familiar with the Marche dining concept where you get a card at the entrance, pick whatever food you like at the stations, and pay at the end of the meal when you leave.



This Marche is owned by the Movenpick group, and is different from the previous 2 Marche restaurants in Singapore (Suntec and The Heeren) where they were owned by a franchisee.



This franchisee has gone on to set up another restaurant with a similar concept called the Vil'age. It should be a breach of the franchise agreement somehow. I heard that a commercial settlement was reached between the parties though.



I came here with a big group of friends and found that they had ample seating for even large groups of people, and also lots of cosy little alcove seats. Nice.



Foodwise? It seems that they have chosen to focus only on swiss / european foods - spanish paella, italian pasta, their trademark rosti and sausages, german pork knuckles - which is different from the previous franchise -owned restaurant which served some asian food as well.



I had the mushroom soup (SGD4.80 for a large portion) - creamy and savoury. Not bad. It wasn't as warm as I would have liked though, and it was a pity that the croutons were stale and not at all crispy.



Then I had the lamb chops (SGD15.50) which came with mashed potatoes on the side. Not sure if the potatoes were a freebie or not, as not everyone who ordered the chops had them. Maybe the guy was just being nice. He certainly was very chatty, as he showed me his battle scars on his fingers from cutting meat and handling the hot pans. The potatoes were very smooth, almost tasted as though they were from a mix, not a single potato chunk in all 3 scoops (yes I finished it all). The lamb chops were quite fatty to begin with, so yes, they were quite tender.



The drinks were expensive, ranging between 3 - 5 dollars per bottle. I had a rootbeer for SGD3.90.



No service charge of course.



Overall verdict? Not bad, and worth a shot if you have a big group of people with diverse tastes.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You eat a lot leh!!!!

D said...

heya! I actually did read your post on the desserts and posted a comment for it as well. The only tricky bit with my recipe is getting the temperature right after stopped the milk from boiling. That's the critical part that affects the setting of the custard. I normally use about 2 teaspoons of ginger juice which gives me a very soft (almost drinkable) custard. The recipe is simple but not really easy per se =)

Chocolate Reindeer said...

DS: really? *surprised* I thought all girls eat the same amount as I do?

D: haha, i must have read your blog post before i saw your comment on my desserts post! I would like to try your recipe. what do you recommend if I prefer a firmer custard?