Bouillon by Les Ducs: Michelin-lauded spot’s fuss-free, lunch concept with nothing over S$50
It can be a struggle to find the sweet spot for working lunches in Singapore — the kind where the food is genuinely good, the room has personality, and you leave without that low-grade guilt of having blown your afternoon budget on something underwhelming.
Les Ducs, the French restaurant tucked into a heritage shophouse on Ann Siang Hill, is making a case for exactly that.
It’s helmed by chef-owner Louis Pacquelin, who cut his teeth on the classical French brigade system under chef Alain Ducasse (who has 21 Michelin stars under his belt), before his years cooking across Asia reshaped his approach to flavour.
The result is a kitchen that’s disciplined in technique, but genuinely curious — French in its bones, with the spice, brightness, and aromatics of the region woven in not as a novelty, but as a natural extension of how Pacquelin actually cooks.
What the bouillon tradition gets right
Its new lunch concept, Bouillon by Les Ducs, operates in a different register. The bouillon tradition runs deep in French culinary culture: These were, historically, the no-fuss, come-as-you-are dining rooms of Paris, where well-executed classics were served quickly, without ceremony, and at prices that didn’t require a special occasion.
Chef Louis draws on that same spirit here, with a lunch menu (from Monday to Saturday, 12pm to 3pm) rooted in the kind of food he grew up eating — comforting, unfussy, and made with care. Having opened in February, the original plan was to run it for three months only, but Les Ducs has since extended it with no planned end date.
Dishes start at S$8, nothing exceeds S$50, and there’s no service charge. Yes, you read that right.
For the CBD lunch crowd accustomed to choosing between convenience and quality, the Bouillon menu makes it an easy midday option.
Mangeons! (Let’s eat!)
While there’s plenty to work through on Bouillon’s menu, a few dishes make a strong case for being non-negotiable — at least in our books!
Start with the le bouillon Les Ducs (S$10) — a chicken broth with vegetables and French noodles that bear a passing resemblance to bee hoon.
It’s simple in the best, most intentional way: Deeply savoury, quietly addictive, the kind of broth that tastes like it’s been left to its own devices on the stove for hours.
The snails, garlic & parsley butter (from S$11 for six) are, frankly, a must for garlic lovers — and if that’s you, you’ll want to keep the plate to yourself.
Do yourself a favour and order a side of sourdough (S$3) alongside; dragging warm toast through the leftover herb butter is the kind of small, greedy pleasure that makes a lunch feel worthwhile.
Mains run the range from ham & Comte cheese coquillettes (S$16) — a short, elbow-curved pasta that eats like the most elegant mac and cheese — to an angus beef tenderloin (S$48) for when the occasion calls for it.
But the two that stayed with us were the confit duck leg, saute potatoes (S$22) and the roasted chicken leg, mushroom sauce, French fries (S$15). Neither are glamorous on paper, which is precisely the point.
The duck arrives with skin that gives way with a satisfying crackle, the meat beneath it yielding and rich — we stripped it clean without apology.
The chicken, meanwhile, was impeccably seasoned, its flesh pulling easily from the bone and pairing beautifully with a mushroom sauce that was earthy, glossy, and just indulgent enough.
To finish, save room for the chocolat liegeois (S$9). Technically a French dessert format, typically done with coffee, this version leans fully into dark chocolate: A generous pour of chocolate sauce over vanilla ice cream that lands somewhere between a considered dessert and a childhood ice cream sundae.
It’s unabashedly sweet, and a perfect send-off before the afternoon sets in.
The best way to do lunch
Les Ducs’ Bouillon lunch menu isn’t trying to reinvent the CBD lunch. It’s bringing genuine culinary intent to a meal that most restaurants treat as an afterthought.
In a dining landscape where “affordable” so often comes at the cost of either quality or soul, there’s something refreshing about a Michelin-recommended kitchen that’s willing to serve you a S$10 bowl of broth, and mean it.
It also says something about where Les Ducs sits in Singapore’s food scene right now. Chef Louis isn’t hedging; he’s doubling down, extending the same considered approach that defines his dinner menu into a format that’s historically been the most democratic expression of French dining.
No service charge, nothing over S$50, and a room worth sitting in. That’s a harder balance to strike than it sounds.
This was a hosted tasting.
For more ideas on what to eat, check out Skirt Restaurant’s new menu and Patchwork Kitchen, a fifth-floor bistro in Boat Quay.
Tue 12pm - 2pm
Wed 12pm - 2pm
Thu 12pm - 2pm
Fri 12pm - 2pm
Sat 12pm - 2pm
- Maxwell
Wani is a cat lady who loves a good sweat session in the gym, and is still tracking the lead to the elusive cure for wanderlust.
Read more stories from this writer.
