Les Bouchons French Bistro in Chinatown: Free-Flow Fries

Les Bouchons serves every steak with a salad and free-flow homemade French fries, and it has done so on Ann Siang Road since 2002. The original outlet is at 7 Ann Siang Road, Singapore 069689, in a traditional Chinatown shophouse. Dinner runs Monday to Saturday, lunch runs Monday to Friday, and the restaurant is closed on Sunday. For a french bistro near me in Chinatown with a clear speciality, this is the steak frites house.

Les Bouchons calls itself Le Roi du Steak Frites, the king of steak and fries, and the claim rests on history. The restaurant says it was among the first in Singapore to serve French steak frites when it opened on Ann Siang Road in 2002. Outlets followed at Robertson Quay in 2006, Puteri Harbour in 2020, Rochester Commons in 2022 and most recently Jalan Mayang in Kuala Lumpur, but Ann Siang is where it started.

Chef Mickaël Cornac leads the kitchen. The wine list has a personal touch: the restaurant says every wine is hand-picked by the owner, who is a wine connoisseur himself. That makes the list worth reading properly rather than ordering the cheapest red. If you are ordering a big steak, ask the staff which of the owner's reds stands up to it, rather than defaulting to a familiar label from the supermarket shelf.

The restaurant occupies a traditional shophouse, and the official description promises a charming, vintage feel. The ground floor is the main dining room. Upstairs, on the second level, a cosy private dining room takes reservations and events, which makes Les Bouchons a natural pick for a birthday or a team dinner where you want your own space without leaving Chinatown.

Ann Siang Road itself is part of the experience. It is a one-way road over Ann Siang Hill, named after Chia Ann Siang, a wealthy businessman, and it is lined with restored shophouses like this one. Arrive early for a dinner booking and walk the slope before you sit down. Seeing the shophouses in daylight before dinner is worth the extra half hour.

The signature section is short. A 250g Australian Black Angus ribeye with shallot butter costs S$54. The 200g Angus beef filet with Bordelaise sauce is S$63, the 250g Black Angus sirloin with herbes de Provence is S$50, and a 250g Westholme Wagyu picanha is S$62. Every signature steak comes with a salad and a choice of side: homemade fries, sautéed spinach with garlic, or burnt roasted broccoli with almond flakes.

Take the fries. They are the free-flow part of the deal and the dish the restaurant built its name on. Be warned that not every reviewer loves them: one 2022 visit found the fries soggy and limp even though they were unlimited. If you want insurance, order a side of burnt roasted broccoli with almond flakes at S$15 or the cream spinach at S$13, and add a blue cheese or black pepper sauce at S$9.

For groups, the OP Rib is a 1kg Australian Black Angus prime rib at S$158, served with fries and salad, but it needs 20 to 35 minutes. The Butcher's Selection, a 250g ribeye, 250g Wagyu picanha and two Australian lamb chops, is S$138. Finish with the homemade crème brûlée at S$15 or the double chocolate lava cake at S$20, which takes 10 to 15 minutes. Le Colonel Bouchons, lemon sorbet in chilled vodka, is S$19.

A sensible order for two at dinner: share the snails at S$19, then one ribeye at S$54 and one cassoulet at S$48, with a side of truffle fries at S$15 if the free fries are not enough. That comes to S$136 before the service charge and GST, and you taste both the steak that made the name and the slow-cooked dish that shows off the kitchen.

Lunch is the cheaper way in. The set lunch costs S$31 for two courses, either starter and main or main and dessert, and S$39 for three. It runs from 12pm to 2pm with last orders at 1:45pm. It is not available at weekends, on public holidays or their eves, on special occasions, or for large groups of more than 15 people. Every price here is subject to a 10% service charge and GST.

The timetable matters at Ann Siang. Monday to Thursday, lunch is 12pm to 2pm and dinner 6pm to 10pm. On Friday, lunch is the same and dinner runs to 10:30pm. Saturday is dinner only, from 6pm to 10:30pm, and Sunday is closed. If you need a weekend lunch or a Sunday steak, the brand's Robertson Quay and Rochester outlets are the plan B.

From the bottom of Ann Siang Hill, walk down to Telok Ayer Street to see Thian Hock Keng, the oldest and most important temple of the Hokkien community in Singapore. It was gazetted as a national monument in 1973. It makes a calm stop after a big steak, and it is only a few streets away.

Bookings are made online through the restaurants.sg booking widget on the Les Bouchons reservations page. Maxwell station on the Thomson-East Coast line and Telok Ayer on the Downtown line are the closest MRT stops to Ann Siang Hill.

Address: Les Bouchons Ann Siang, 7 Ann Siang Rd, Singapore 069689. Hours: Monday to Thursday 12pm to 2pm and 6pm to 10pm; Friday 12pm to 2pm and 6pm to 10:30pm; Saturday 6pm to 10:30pm; Sunday closed. Set lunch: S$31++ for two courses, S$39++ for three, weekdays only. Charges: 10% service charge plus GST.

First visit plan: book a Friday dinner, share the onion soup, order the ribeye with fries and broccoli, and finish with Le Colonel before a walk to Thian Hock Keng.