THAT FRENCH FEELING: PAUL Review

One of my guilty pleasures is going (faux) parisienne in Ngee Ann City. A meal in Paul followed by a macaron or two from Ladurée transports me back to the city of love even if just momentarily. I've gushed about Paul here before so I thought I'd start the "proper food reviews" with it. Unfortunately though, this particular visit wasn't as good. Let's just say our love affair had a slight hiccup. I was second guessing whether I should still write about it but at the end of the day, reviews have to be honest. Evaluations are done so as to foster improvement. So here goes..

Food wise, I feel like the quality isn't consistent. Clam chowder was soup of the day and it was really weak compared the the mushroom soup. We were expecting it to be as thick as the previous and frankly, they should've just called it vegetable soup.

The Caesar salad with chicken was okay. The croutons were neither here nor there but parmesan cheese shavings more than made up for it. The portion of chicken was also rather generous but I'm not sure if it would've been the same had I ordered the chicken before they served the salad (I forgot to add on upon ordering).

The biggest disappointment was last January's heaven on earth that was the seafood gratin. It could've used more time in the oven; the crust lacked the oomph from the previous and the inside was too runny for my liking. If I had the same dish last month, I don't think I would've come back to order the same thing.

Service wise, I'm not really that observant when it comes to the proper way of serving. For me, all is good as long as it doesn't take forever to get the food and the server isn't rude. However, I can't say the same for Mr. F&B Extraordinaire. I don't call him that for nothing. Utensils were set haphazardly and no thought whatsoever was given on whether it was aligned or not. Plates were put down with bowls sliding to one side. And to make matters worse, it takes almost forever to get someone to come to your table. 

On a whole, the experience was the total opposite of what I thought I'd be writing about when I first decided to make a review on Paul. 

Would I come back? If I hadn't been there before, I probably wouldn't. However, I know how good it can get, so the answer is yes. Hopefully, this disappointing visit will be the first and last of its kind. And if the food still sucks, there's always the bakery side. You can't go wrong with fruit tart and hot chocolate (side note- their hot chocolate tastes better in store than to-go).

Rating: 3/5

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