Duxton Hill has a bad rep, and understandably so. But for Parisian-style bistro L’Entrecôte, we were willing to look past the seedy bars and head over for some of their signature steak frites.
We won’t bore you with the history lesson about the origins of this French culinary tradition (although it’s a charming one), but we will tell you about the only main dish on their menu.
Before we got to that, a lightly chilled glass of Kir (a divine marriage of white wine kissed by crème de cassis) christened our evening—on the house, which was a truly lovely touch. The battle of the entrées was eventually won by the foie gras terrine and duck rillettes. The former was a homemade triumph of duck fat goodness that was firm under a knife, but also yielded lusciously in our mouths. Coupled with sugar-glazed onions and grilled Poilâne bread, the combination of textures and flavors—creamy and crunchy, sweet and savory—balanced each other wonderfully and made for a satisfying nibble. While the rillettes were also scrumptious, we found ourselves fighting over the terrine.
The arrival of our lightly-dressed salad announced the impending grand entrance of our steaks. Served as a two-parter, the first portion of beef comes sliced (which should please you lazy ones), revealing the right amount of pinkness to match our saignant (medium-rare) order and doused with their zealously-guarded, super secret 20-odd ingredients sauce. Our beef was well-executed and succulent, although the mountainous heap of thin-cut, golden brown fries (undoubtedly twice-fried) threatened to dwarf it.
Despite the exceedingly hearty meal, we succumbed to temptation with their waffle, accompanied by salted butter caramel and vanilla bean ice cream. Heavenly. We’re already planning our next trip back.
Eat this at L’Entrecote: Mousse Chocolat. It’s one of I-S Magazine’s 50 things to eat before you die (2013).
