Claudine French Bistro in a 1930s Dempsey Chapel

Claudine serves its steak tartare from a trolley, mixed at your table for S$38, inside a conserved colonial chapel from the 1930s. The restaurant is at 39C Harding Road, Singapore 249541, on Dempsey Hill, and the dining room opens every day for lunch and dinner. It is the French neo-brasserie of award-winning chef-patron Julien Royer, and it is the most dramatic setting for anyone searching french bistro near me in Singapore.

Claudine is named after Julien Royer's mother, and the restaurant says everything about it centres on the flavours closest to his heart. Royer opened it with The Lo and Behold Group, and it arrived in December 2021, when City Nomads listed it among the month's new openings. The kitchen today is run by executive chef Julien Mercier and head chef Tyler Lai.

The cooking is home-style French with a fine-dining finish. That shows in dishes such as the chou farci, a stuffed cabbage for two that the menu describes as the 2024 world champion chou farci, at S$118. It also shows in the prices. This is a bistro in format, but mains run from S$48 to S$64 and the sharing dishes go much higher, so treat it as a special-occasion lunch rather than an everyday stop.

The building is the star. Claudine brings new life to a 1930s-era conserved colonial chapel, and much of the old interior remains: mosaic tiles underfoot, stained glass that catches the afternoon light, and preserved timber beams. The dining room is styled after a classic French brasserie, and its brass bar sits beneath the chapel's restored stained-glass window. Come at lunch to see the glass lit by daylight; one reviewer recommends lunch for exactly that reason.

There are two spaces. The Dining Room is the brasserie, and La Terrace is a glasshouse beside it serving French-inspired plates. A private dining room takes up to 10 guests. Reservations go through SevenRooms on the official website, and the same reviewer warns that a reservation is a must at weekends.

Who suits it best? Couples marking an anniversary, families taking a grandparent out for Sunday brunch, and friends who want a long lunch with a bottle of wine. It is less suited to a quick solo meal, because most of the menu's best dishes, from the moules to the chou farci and the crêpes, are built for two or more people to share.

Start with French snails in garlic butter, made with Nomade des Jardins snails, pink garlic and croûtons, at S$22. The caramelised onion tart is a vegetarian starter at S$24. The steak tartare à la Parisienne at S$38 is the one to order for the show, because it is prepared tableside from the trolley. Order it as a starter for two to share.

For mains, coq au vin with braised chicken thigh, Savoy cabbage and Gascon bacon costs S$48. Steak frites uses Macka's flank steak with French fries and béarnaise at S$64. The vol-au-vent, filled with sweetbread, morel, cockscomb and quenelle, is S$58 and is the most classic dish on the menu. Moules-frites for two cost S$48, which makes them the best value main if you are sharing.

Doing the sums keeps the bill in check. For two people, the tableside tartare at S$38, moules-frites to share at S$48 and one coq au vin at S$48, followed by the île flottante at S$24, come to S$158 before GST and service charge. That is far less than ordering the bouillabaisse, and you still see the trolley at work. Add the crêpe Suzette only if you want a second tableside moment.

The Dining Room keeps two timetables. On weekdays it opens from 11:45am to 3pm and 6pm to 10pm; at weekends from 11:30am to 3pm and 6pm to 10pm. Weekday lunch, Monday to Friday, has its own à la carte menu with lighter dishes such as a lobster roll at S$44. On Saturdays and Sundays, the lunchtime slot becomes a champagne brunch. The bar serves drinks until 11:30pm every night.

La Terrace keeps shorter hours: weekdays from 6pm to 10pm only, and weekends from 11:30am to 3pm and 6pm to 10pm. All prices are subject to GST and service charge. If you are celebrating, Claudine bakes cakes to order. A 10cm cake is S$48++ and a 14cm cake S$68++, and they must be pre-ordered at least 72 hours before your visit.

Dempsey sits on the edge of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, one of only three gardens in the world, and the only tropical one, to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The gardens were founded on their present site in 1859 by the Agri-horticultural Society. Spend the hour before lunch inside, and you can be at Claudine's door with an appetite.

Inside the gardens, the National Orchid Garden holds the largest orchid collection, with 1,200 species and 2,000 hybrids. Napier MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast line has exits serving the Botanic Gardens and Gleneagles Hospital, which makes it the easiest train stop for a combined garden and Claudine afternoon.

Address: Claudine, 39C Harding Road, Singapore 249541. Dining Room hours: weekdays 11:45am to 3pm and 6pm to 10pm; weekends 11:30am to 3pm and 6pm to 10pm. La Terrace: weekdays 6pm to 10pm; weekends 11:30am to 3pm and 6pm to 10pm. Charges: GST and service charge on all prices. Booking: SevenRooms via the official website.

First visit plan: walk through the Botanic Gardens in the morning, book a weekday lunch in the Dining Room, share the tableside tartare and moules-frites, and finish with the île flottante under the stained glass.