One of the biggest joys in life is discovering new places to enjoy good food, even better when spent with great company. I’ve been lucky to be enjoying a lot of good food recently, from family birthday lunches to catch up dinners with friends and discovering a few new places to add to my favourites.

Speaking of good food, I was kindly invited to dinner at Alkove Bistro, a casual restaurant serving French-inspired food located in Kovan, opened by renowned Singaporean chef Haikal Johari. Its bright and happy colour theme from the branding to the restaurant’s interior design gives off happy vibes that I appreciate in a restaurant!

I’m keen to try sharing more food posts on this blog so for today, here’s my experience and food diary at Alkove Bistro!

Alkove Bistro, which opened recently in November 2022 is now open for dining from morning to night, so you can pop by for any meal of the day! I came by early for dinner on a Thursday evening around 6pm and was seated at a lovely window seat. :) The bistro is spacious and bright, with both indoor and outdoor seating and it was nice to see that even on a weekday, Alkove got pretty busy with the dinner crowd around 7pm.

For dinner, my sister and I chose to try an appetizer, mains and dessert along with their famed croissant and some tea. :) We started with the French Onion Gratinee ($12.90) as our appetizer and decided to share it, because we ordered so much food for this meal!

The French onion soup was very rich and strong in flavour, and came with a piece of bread inside topped with a layer of cheese. This is great for diners who enjoy rich flavoured soups, but if you have a preference for lighter taste, the salad or croquette seemed like popular options too!

My sister and I both picked chicken for our main dishes, despite dining logic telling us that we should try different things haha! But you know what? It’s your dinner and your meal, pick whatever you want! We were glad to see that our mains arrived with a good presentation and came in huge portions. :) I got the Chicken Cordon Bleu ($22.90) and my sister got the Chicken Vin Blanc ($27.90). I was happy with mine, the chicken crispy on the outside and stuffed inside with cheese and ham, with the side fries and salad going well with the chicken too.

However, in full honesty here, my sister’s Chicken Vin Blanc was unfortunately undercooked and still pink in some parts, but was tender in other parts. If the chicken was cooked well, we imagine that it would have been a perfect pairing with the egg pasta it was served with.

To go along with our meal, we both ordered tea (which are by Singapore tea brand Ette Tea, $6 each, served in a pot) and got the Pandan French Earl Grey and the Singapore Breakfast. We love drinking teas and were delighted at Alkove’s pretty tea sets. :) The teas were delicious too, perfect pairing with the food and pastries!

To finish off our meal, we ended it by trying some of Alkove’s popular desserts and pastries! I’m a dessert enthusiast, so I was looking forward to this and it lived up to expectations. :) I really wanted to order some yuzu madeleines but they were not available that day, so we ended up ordering the financiers instead ($2.50 per piece) and the bread pudding dessert which almost every table seemed to have ordered ($12.80) and a piece of baklava croissant ($5.90). Compliments to the pastry chef because the bakes and dessert were delicious and a great way to end off the meal!

Overall, this was an enjoyable dining experience for us – with good food, a warm and bright dining space, the friendly Alkove team and delicious bakes! If you’re in the Kovan neighbourhood or want to explore a new place for casual French dining, do check them out and remember to order dessert!

*Getting to Alkove Bistro: The Kovan MRT station is less than 10 minutes away. If you are driving, there is limited street parking opposite the restaurant and the nearest HDB car park is about a 10 minute walk away. Parking at Simon Plaza is for season parking only. 

*Note: I was invited to dinner by Alkove Bistro. Thank you very much to the Alkove team for having me!

This is not a paid post. All opinions, as always, are my own.

Alkove Bistro
Website & Menu – Instagram – Facebook

Address:
2 Kovan Road
01-10 Simon Plaza
Singapore 548008

Opening Hours:
Weekdays: 10am-9pm
Weekends: 9am-9pm
Closed on Tuesday

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Tags : Collaboration