Get live lobsters at Brittany-inspired surf and turf eatery

SINGAPORE — French food here is often viewed as an upmarket proposition, which made the idea of a French stall in the heart of Little India a popular concept in the early 2000s.

Eponymously named The French Stall, its charm was undeniable and the food authentic and affordable. Alas, much about how we like to dine has since changed. And after a decade and a half, chef-owner Xavier Le Henaff has permanently shuttered the bistro on Serangoon Road, citing a drop in popularity.

“Singapore is a very different city compared to 16 years ago when the pace of life was slower and eating habits not too fancy,” Henaff lamented, noting how the casual restaurant was one of the first to introduce the French bistro concept to Singapore’s masses.

“Now, most restaurants are ‘bistro-type’, sharing the same pie,” he said. “Recruiting young staff is also a challenge as The French Stall was not in a mall nor was it air-conditioned; most of our customers, in fact, urged us to be in a shopping mall for their convenience.

So, Henaff has decided to seduce a more mature, though still frugal, market with a new concept: Breton, a live lobster restaurant-bar located at the same address. “We needed to break from The French Stall image to change the menu,” said the 55-year-old, who became a Singapore citizen in 2014.

Being from Brittany in the northwest of France, a Breton-inspired restaurant, he mused, seemed like “a seductive idea”. Opened in August, it serves what Henaff likes to call “surf-and-turf Breton-inspired” cuisine. The term, he explained, is a literal translation of ar mor and ar goat, which means (in Brittany dialect) “the sea” and “the forest”, chosen to reflect Brittany’s reputation for great seafood and meat.

That said, the seafood here is not imported from Brittany as that would be “too expensive and fragile”, Henaff defended. To keep the restaurant affordable, he sources live lobsters from Boston or Nova Scotia, and cod from Iceland. But unlike The French Stall menu, where one could have signatures such as duck a l’orange for S$11.80, the star seafood here costs S$54 each and is served grilled with a side of rice pilaf. You could, alternatively, have the buckwheat galette with creamy chunks of lobster for S$39.

The key to Breton’s success, he affirmed, lies in maintaining a competitive and economical price-point. He admitted that S$54 is a lot of money to feed oneself, but stressed that the price for a live lobster (at an average weight of 500g) is a steal. “Are we below market price? I am not sure. What I am sure, however, is that we sell at a price we are comfortable with,” he said. At S$34, there is also good value to be found in a dish of wild king prawns, fished from the South China Sea, Henaff added.

Currently, a weekday (Monday to Thursday) surf-and-turf two-course menu is priced at S$39, and diners can choose to have a starter or a dessert and a main course of half a lobster paired with either grilled onglet (hanger steak) or pork ribs.

“(By) doing almost every dish from scratch ... We are trying hard to keep our prices low without depending on processed foods,” Henaff shared.

The new concept seems to be catching on. Lobsters are the bestseller at the eatery, while the grilled ribeye from New Zealand, priced at S$39 for 300g, comes a close second.

And while the majority of the foreigners dining here are French, with many from Brittany, 50 per cent of the regular crowd is made up of local diners. In fact, Henaff hopes its competitive pricing will lead to more diners eating lobster more often. Which should prove good value never goes out of fashion.