W39 Bistro & Bakery - 1st Jan 2016
Tired of the local canteen near our office, Autumn, Eddy and I ventured to a quaint bistro just off West Coast Road in a quiet neighbourhood. W39 bistro occupies the corner in a row of shophouses that are adjacent to landed houses. It is a near my office and having been here for brunch, which is good, I decided to go try their lunch menu. The bright colours and nautical style décor gives this place a friendly and charming atmosphere.
For starters, we shared the baked Caesar salad and crab cakes. The modern interpretation of Caesar salad was interesting. Instead of yolks in the sauce came a poached egg, instead of bacon there was chorizo and along with shrimps, croutons and parmesan cheese, the whole salad was baked briefly and came warm. The flavours were fine but I still prefer my salads cold so that it feels fresher. The crab cakes came in a pair and served with a side of mesclun salad. The side salad came with dressing which is always good however the crab cakes could have been a little more moist. The coating was crisp and the shredded crab meat with capsicums tasted fine but more moisture could have been better.
For the mains, Eddy ordered the beef tenderloin. I thought it was suicidal as rarely do you find fillet steaks for $30 anymore so I was expecting either a small miserly piece or frozen low quality meat. Out came not one but two pieces of fillet steak that were about one centimetre thick. I estimate that the two pieces are at least 100g each so in total 200g of meat which is a healthy serving. Eddy ordered medium rare which we thought would be easier to cook with one piece of thick steak however one bite into the steak and we had no complains. The meat was ultra tender, done to medium rare and the accompanying mushroom brown sauce kept the steak moist. The only problem was they couldn’t quite brown it enough due to the thickness. The steak came with a side of fries which were thick cut and they were crispy and well seasoned.
Autumn was more adventurous and went for the baked lamb ribs. The lamb ribs were marinated in bbq sauce and served with cucumber yoghurt salad and fries. The ribs were tender and moist and had a good amount of gaminess. I liked it but Autumn preferred to eat the meat with the yoghurt which killed most of the gamey taste. Being the one writing this article, I had to taste the various dishes so I opted for a fish dish instead. The chillean miso seabass came on top mash potato and with a healthy serving of broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots and grilled tomato. This fish has very similar properties to cod fish. Its white meat was moist and broke apart easily. There was additional miso dressing for the vegetables and mash potato although I wish the potato would have been creamier. Maybe they didn’t want to add so much butter to make this a healthier dish.
It is easy to be critical of W39’s quality however I have to remember that this is a neighbourhood bistro that is serving food at least 20-30% cheaper than others. For the price I have to say that the quality of food and service here is above acceptable. They are very popular for their weekend brunch so make sure to book early.
W39 Bistro & Bakery
Address: 39 Jalan Mas Puteh Singapore 128637
SMS 9646 5372 for reservations
~ Andre Huber
Executive Director
