Housed in Central Mall on Magazine Road (which is not to be confused with The Central on Eu Tong Sen Street), The French Kitchen (TFK) is a cosy 40-seater fine dining restaurant that serves up classic French fare.

The elegant spot is headed by Jean-Charles Dubois, formerly chef de cuisine at Raffles Grill, the eponymous French fine dining restaurant at Raffles Hotel Singapore. Over the course of our lunch, it became clear that the menu and quality of the food easily lived up to our expectations. And from what we can tell, TFK has been drawing quite a few regulars - on our recent visit on a Monday afternoon, we were seated next to a lady who, while reading from the menu, announced rather emphatically to her partner that she often returns for the lobster bisque, braised angus beef cheek and crème brûlée.

To draw the lunch crowd, TFK offers a compact set menu reasonably priced at $36, which will get you an appetiser, a main and a dessert. But seeing that there are fewer choices that we could count with our fingers - there are three appetisers, three mains and two desserts to choose from - my voracious dining partner and I figured that it was not worth agonising over choices, so we ordered three sets and shared everything.

You might think that classic French fare is rich and heavy, but Dubois' cooking is uncharacteristically light-handed in a very welcomed fashion. This is best exemplified in the escargot Provencale - far from being greasy, gritty and unappetisingly earthy (as in some escargot I have tried), the flavours of Dubois' plump Burgundy snails gratinated in homemade herb butter were delicate and balanced. Following in the same vein, the traditional lobster bisque had a homogenous, velvety consistency that glides over the palate, delivering a satisfying depth of flavour without compromising on the texture inherent to a well-executed bisque. The warm goat's cheese sliced and served on artisanal brioche with spinach salad and walnut vinaigrette was evidently a carefully composed dish, balancing the distinctive flavour of the pristine white cheese with the peppery flavours of rocket leaves and subtle nuttiness of the walnut vinaigrette.

A dish of steamed barramundi with salad of fennel, lemon dressing and mushroom consommé was light, mild and refreshing. We appreciated how perfectly cooked the fish was, its firm, flaky flesh marrying perfectly with the lovely unami-rich liquid it was served in.

The braised angus beef cheek, accompanied by eggplant caviar with truffles, tarragon jus and French fries, was superbly tender, but unfortunately the seasoning seemed a little sparse. Even though we had the duck leg confit with truffle mashed potato and marinated cherries as our last course, it was polished off with much ease; we liked that it was moist, tender, flaky and full of flavour.

On the dessert front, we were less thrilled with the gratinated red berry sabayon with wild forest berries ice cream than with the supremely delicious and decadent dark chocolate crème brûlée with vanilla ice cream. While the former was a decidedly lighter (and less sweet) dessert that delivered an ethereal aroma of alcohol, the latter won our hearts with its rich but exquisite custardy texture and restrained and balanced flavours.

7 Magazine Road, #01-03 Central Mall, 6438 1823

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