Ma Cuisine

A small French bistro with a cellar the size of a library, and the Rhône and Burgundy at its heart.

Ma Cuisine is the place for a long evening of French wine with friends who care about it, and the rare wine bar that holds a Michelin star (it has one in the 2026 Singapore guide). Go with three or four people, order bottles to share, and let the staff steer. The compromise is the obvious one: a list this deep makes it very easy to spend more than you meant to, so set a budget before you open the book.

It sits on Craig Road in Tanjong Pagar, with candles in wine bottles and tables made from wine barrels, and a terrace. The effect is a small French bistro that happens to own a very large cellar.

The cellar is the reason to go. The list was once a leather-bound book of more than 600 labels and around 3,000 bottles; the restaurant's own website now talks of more than 1,000 rare French wines, so the book has not stopped growing. The Rhône and Burgundy, Gevrey-Chambertin included, are the heart of it. Past lists have included growers such as Domaine Gramenon in the Rhône and Domaine Tessier and Domaine Duroche in Burgundy; those exact bottles will be long gone, but the approach holds – producer-led French wine.

You don't need to know any of that. The owners say they want to share their enthusiasm with novices and experts alike, and the room is casual, so describe what you like, name a price, and let them do the work. That is a better use of the list than reading all of it.

The owners are Anthony Charmetant and Mathieu Escoffier, with Escoffier, formerly of Saint Pierre, in charge of the kitchen. The cooking is classic French made with local ingredients, with plenty of dishes designed for sharing. Ask for the house terrine and the lamb shoulder with root vegetables if they are on; the menu changes, and Escoffier has also served a surf-and-turf beef tartare with geoduck and oysters.

It works for a long table of friends working through bottles, and just as well for two people and one very good one. Prices range from approachable bottles to the kind you remember for years.

How to do it well: book ahead, directly with the restaurant. It opens from 6pm Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sundays; on Friday and Saturday nights the Bonsoir after-dinner wine club runs from 10pm if one bottle has turned into a plan. Tanjong Pagar and Outram Park MRT are both walkable, which is the right way to leave.

Good to know Booking is advised and handled by the restaurant directly. Open Monday to Saturday from 6pm; closed Sundays. Tanjong Pagar and Outram Park MRT are both walkable.

Ma Cuisine | 38 Craig Road, Singapore 089676 | Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar, Outram Park