While the rest of the tai-tais, poseurs, expats and fashionistas were caught up in the decidedly hipper PS. Café on a Sunday morning upstairs, we found ourselves at Heart Bistro on the basement level of Palais Renaissance, the quieter new joint in the posh shopping mall by William Tan (COO of Tung Lok Group and ex-president of the BreadTalk Group) and Alice Low-Ang (business partner/director and owner of Au Petit Salut French Restaurant and Bistro Petit Salut). Having previously been here for a fabulous regular tasting, our second visit here didn’t disappoint. In fact, there were even more items in the menu, like its new Sunday Brunch, boasting dishes like poached eggs with chicken hash and French banana pancakes—the latter which was utterly delicious. And since we were just in time for brunch, we decided to try the new stuff, although we did order some of our regular favorites, too. The new brunch items were mainly a hit—like the Valrhona chocolate French toasts with strawberries and balsamic, which was chockfull of choc flavors and toasted to perfection; and the poached eggs with chicken hash and Hollandaise was just as indulgent as it was yummy. But the same can’t be said of its Nutella waffles with mixed berries compote and vanilla ice-cream, which was as bland and flat as a boring piece of pancake (Where was the Nutella?). Thankfully, staples like the pickled tea leaves with ripened tomatoes and mung beans and roasted black cod with wild mushrooms, aged balsamic and apple grape coulis were top-notch dishes in keeping with the restaurant’s philosophy of serving healthy, great-tasting food that won’t put your heart in danger. And rounded off with healthy freshly squeezed juices like the Botox (watermelon, red grapes and mint) and Detox (red grapes, apples and Chinese pear), and our Sunday was made.Have you tried the sashimi poke? It’s one of I-S Magazine’s 50 things to eat in Singapore before you die (2011).
