Cafe Name: L'etoile Cafe

Pricing: $$$/5

Food: ♥♥♥/5

Ambience: ♥♥♥/5

Service: ♥♥/5

Website: http://letoile.com.sg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letoilesg

Location: 160 Owen Road, Singapore 281953
Tel: 6298 2872
Operating Hours: Monday to Friday, 11:00 - 22:00; Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday, 09:00 - 22:00

We chanced upon L'etoile Cafe in a bid to find the most romantic dining place as we were going to do our own list of recommended romantic dining places for dating (refer to our previous post for more information: http://musings-of-a-rabbit.blogspot.sg/2013/12/singapores-20-most-romantic-restaurants.html).

I was first attracted to this place when I saw my ex-colleague posting this photo on her Facebook wall:

Bathing Panda

Guess I simply have a soft spot for cute stuff :)

Hence we drove to L'etoile Cafe in quest of this romantic place along Owen Road.

Sweetie Muffin Drives to L'etoile Cafe

View from the Car's Window
Parking our Car in a nearby Neighbourhood Carpark
Crossing the Road to the Cafe
Free Wi-Fi Provided

Introduction

According to the website, L'etoile Cafe was inspired by indie cafes in Japan. It is a lifestyle shop cum cafe with Japanese-French influences.

Le' Ambience

The first impressions we had of the cafe was that it looked clean with simple decor. Also, as it was located along the roadside, we could see the bypassing vehicles from inside the cafe through the glass panels. The concept is somewhat similar to cafes in Paris where you get to see the roadside from inside the cafe whilst sipping a cup of hot coffee.

The couch area which was cordoned off...

Simplistic interior - there are cracks on the walls and ceilings (might appear to look shabby)

The decor of the cafe was simplistic and humble, nothing flashy but it looked pretty decent for you to spend an afternoon / evening there lazing around, surfing the internet on your iPad / Notebook, reading a book (there are books / magazines on the shelves) or chatting with your loved ones. The cafe was indeed really quiet - perhaps there wasn't any crowd due to the rainy season.

Some Craftwork hung on the wall

Looks like lots of junk...

Our Table :)

The lightings in the cafe was rather dim and hence I do not advise you to read a book there in case you'll spoil your eyes... Dim lightings do make us feel quite sleepy though.. Perhaps its time they fix the lightings to make it more conducive for reading :)

The Counter

Cupcakes in Santa's Hat...

Cakes and Pastries

Le' Menu

We can see the cafe putting in lots of effort in designing the menu. Every word and illustration was hand-written / drawn. I was very pleased with the handwriting and drawings on the menu actually.. Saves cost and yet able to display one's artistic flair in it~ Brilliant!

Christmas and New Year Menu 2013/2014

Beer, Wine and Mineral Water

Other Drinks...

What We Ordered

There wasn't much under the desserts selection. Hence we decided to try their Butter and Sugar French Crepes for desserts instead. For the drinks, we ordered a cup of Mocha (just to see their latte art) and a pot of Lemon Ginger Mint Tea.

From our bad experience at PS. Cafe previously, we decided to order one main course - Chicken a la Cordon Bleu to share first as we were afraid that the portion might be too big for us.

Le' Drinks

Mocha (SGD4.90++)

YAY! The mocha arrived first~ It looked really lovely with that nice looking heart-shaped on it ♥~

Mocha

The Mocha was aromatic with a sweet chocolatey taste and Da Rabbit is in love with it totally!

Heart-Shaped Latte Art

I think we can all fall in love again after drinking this Mocha ♥♥♥

Sweetie Muffin and Da Rabbit 4eva ♥

Lemon Ginger Mint (SGD5.90++)

Herbal Tisane of Peppermint and Lemon Myrtle

Lemon Ginger Mint Tea

Teabag spotted inside...

The tea was served in a small teapot with a matching white cup. Nothing fanciful about this actually.. The presentation was plain and even the tea was made using teabags... But nonetheless, it tasted great with the brown sugar which we added afterwards. Love the spicy taste of the Ginger and Mint totally ♥♥♥

Le' Food

Chicken a la Cordon Bleu (SGD17.90)

Classic Fried Chicken Breast gives way to succulent Cheese and Ham filling on the first bite. Greens on the side!

Chicken a la Cordon Bleu

Close-Up

Yummy but not as succulent as Aston's Fried Chicken

We enjoyed the main course here better than PS. Cafe's. The chicken was really crispy but the chicken breast meat tasted kind of tough (but still somewhat acceptable). The pricing is reasonable as you get to chill around the cafe whilst eating and drinking without being 'hinted' to make was for new customers by the staff... However, we did not really taste the ham filling in the dish - is there really ham in that dish?! Nonetheless, I loved eating the steamed vegetables as they tasted naturally succulent and sweet ♥♥ ~ it tasted as great as the vegetables from Yoshinoya's (if you have tasted them before).. Yes, Da Rabbit loves carrots!

Animated Rabbit hugging Carrot

Butter and Sugar French Crepes (SGD6.00)

Sweet French Crepes served with cubed fruits

Butter and Sugar French Crepe

Butter & Sugar French Crepes - Sweet French Crepes served with cubed fruits

Close-Up

OK, this dish looked cheap somehow. The portion of cubed fruits were pathetic. The crepes tasted soggy but still acceptable with a good spread of Butter and Sugar. I would still prefer the traditional Coffeeshop way of consuming Butter and Sugar with toasted bread (because it tastes better with a crispy texture). Plus this dish tasted pretty plain - should at least add a scoop of ice-cream or whipped cream.. MEH~

So this dish is considered a great disappointment in short.

Overall

We would say that the pricing is rather reasonable, the service, food and ambience were acceptable but somewhat average and lack the *WOW* factor. Will consider dropping by this place again to chill out as this cafe is located near where we stay since the pricing was reasonable... However the service was not really attentive as there was no staff there to show us around - we didn't know that there was a 2nd storey available till we saw some lovely wedding photos taken there from the website!!