Dining

Marché Restaurant – Swiss Haven

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After closing its two franchise outlets here and being briefly absent from the Singapore restaurant scene, the Swiss chain of Marché restaurants is back! It has returned with a spanking new restaurant at VivoCity. Unlike before when it was run by a local franchisee, this new branch comes directly under its Swiss management, ensuring that quality would be kept in check.

Marché has often been compared to The Vila’ge, a local restaurant that pretty much rips off the entire Marché concept. The two share astounding similarities. Although both managements have denied any links, we don’t really know for sure.

Marché Restaurant

But for now, this post would simply be about Marché. Just for the record, I love the new place! The overall feel is refreshingly different from before. I’m very happy to say that it trumps the Vila’ge in all aspects.

First of all, the restaurant has scored an awesome spot on the rooftop of VivoCity. One side of the restaurant is made almost entirely of glass windows, allowing ample skylight to pour in. It gives the feel of alfresco dining even though you’re really dining indoor. Best of both worlds!

Of course, its signature bull (or cow) mascot is back!

Bull mascot of Marché Restaurant

Like its previous flagship restaurant at the Heeren, this one also has segregated eating areas with each area sporting a different look. One area has double-seaters with red and white checkered tablecloth. Another has chairs with fur-printed seats. Then, there’s also a room that resembles a cottage.

Cottage theme of Marché Restaurant

The lines drawn between these separate themed areas are pretty blurry. To the people that don’t pay much attention, the place would simply appear as one large eating area. For one, large amounts of 500 year old wood taken from an actual Swiss log cabin is used throughout the entire restaurant. How’s that for authenticity?

Every order of food and drinks is recorded onto a card

The “cashless” system has also been retained, where every diner is given a card that records the purchase for each item ordered. In the past (as well as at the Vila’ge), a large flimsy card made from paper was used for this purpose. People who lost the card would incur a $100 fine. If I lost this card now, at least I would be paying $100 for a proper card made from plastic rather than a piece of paper.

Okay, let’s get on with what really matters — the food! What you will find here is predominantly European. Besides miso soup, I didn’t spot anything particularly Asian.

Small salad with lettuce, cheese and baby potato

Salad (small)
SGD4.80+ + 1% CESS

At the salad station, you can select your salad size and choose from various ingredients. We had a small salad with lettuce, baby potato and cheese. Yum!

Rösti station at Marché Restaurant

Marché’s signature dish is rösti, a food made from potatoes. Don’t the potato shreds resemble pasta?

Rösti with Premium Smoked Salmon

Rösti with Premium Smoked Salmon
SGD11.80+ + 1% CESS

I have the rösti with smoked salmon. Cooked al dente, it is light and sort of fluffy on the inside. I like it!

Rösti with Premium Smoked Salmon

But most of all I love the two large slices of nicely flavored salmon. Very delicious! This is one dish I would recommend to all Marché visitors.

Grill station at Marché Restaurant

For the meat lovers, you can get your fix at the grill station. The food is barbecued only after an order has been placed.

Grilled Chicken Breast

Grilled Chicken Breast
SGD6.80+ + 1% CESS

I have — what else — grilled chicken breast. It is, rather disappointingly, a tad on the dull side. The sauce has such little flavor, I have to dump a lot of chili sauce onto the chicken! For a relatively simple dish, they really should have gotten it right.

However, there is an unexpected find at the grill station — the yellow cream sauce. It has the distinct taste of wasabi and adds an interesting dimension to what is otherwise a boring dish.

Assorted buns and breads

An assorted range of buns and breads is available. These catch my interest…

Swiss cross buns

Swiss cross buns! Each one is marked with a cross like the Swiss flag! Cute!

Swiss Cross Bun

Swiss Cross Bun
SGD1+ + 1% CESS

Of course I must have one! I am already stuffed, but that cute little bun is irresistible! I love the way the butter glistens under the light! It tastes a little sweet, and goes pretty well with this…

Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Mousse (small)
SGD4.50+ + 1% CESS

Chocolate mousse! I know it doesn’t look great here, but chocolate mousse is one of my favorite desserts! We don’t really get it much around here, do we? At Marché, we can simply grab a bowl and scoop as much of it as we want! Smooth, creamy, and sinful. Ooh la la, what a sexy little dessert. It needs not necessarily be eaten from a bowl, if you know what I mean.

Tea and coffee station at Marché Restaurant

Lastly, the drinks section. There are the usual tea, alcoholic beverages, and soft drinks such as snapple. I neglect to check out the beer. Would someone please let me know what’s the main brand of beer sold in Marché? At the Vila’ge it’s the German brand, Erdinger.

Cappuccino & Mocha

Cappuccino & Mocha
SGD3.80 & $4.80+ + 1% CESS

And since I am currently in a cappuccino craze, that is what I have. In fact, I must have at least one cuppa joe everyday! Over the past few weeks I have had the ones from Coffee Bean, Starbucks, tcc, McDonald’s and now Marché.

While we’re still on the subject, what’s your favorite place to get cappuccino? I need good recommendations! For now it’s tcc. But because there isn’t a tcc outlet at my workplace, I tend to buy it at McDonald’s. Cheap, cheap cappuccino from McDonald’s! Yeah, yeah, shame on me.

So anyway, if you don’t find yourself scampering off to Marché yet, this ought to do it:

Marché Restaurant boasts the "7 Point Freshness Programme"

Not only does Marché boast of delicious European food that is prepared on the spot, they also guarantee their vegetables to be fresh and healthily cooked! They have even come up with a “7 point freshness program” to show for it.

I wasn’t actually a fan of Marché before when it had two franchisee outlets in Singapore for years. But after its reentry with this refreshing new restaurant falling directly under its Swiss management, I find it highly promising and definitely much trendier than before.

Yes, I’m a fan now!

Marché Restaurant
VivoCity
1 Harbourfront Walk
#03-14 Singapore 098585
(65) 6376 8226
www.marche-restaurants.com

By the by, speaking of Switzerland, its influence does go far doesn’t it? Here there are Swiss army knives, Swiss rolls, Swiss chocolate, and now Marché! What other Swiss products can you think of?

For more on Sparklette:

About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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31 responses

Leave your comment

ida
May 2, 2007

veron. its really depressing not to know if we (the muslims) can eat at marche! the foods are really delectable-looking. maybe i should go down there myself and find out. (=
Reply
- truevegan
  May 25, 2010
  
  What is really “depressing” is that people though well educated and informed still look for “halal” or “kosher” products. It is quite obvious that the halal way of killing is the most pathetic,painful and gruesome way of killing innocent animals. Why cant we all evolve into a vegan society? Is it asking too much or is it about making a simple choice? There are numerous videos on the net that show how animals are slaughtered for food and how unaesthetic the concept of eating meat is. A lot of restaurants dont even have vegetarian items on the menu these days! The greatest sin in this world to me is killing. Killing innocent animals for food is despicable
  Reply
Veron
May 2, 2007

Sorry honey, but I don’t think the food here is halal!
Reply
mervkwok
May 2, 2007

compared to the village, which one kicks ass? hehe
Reply
Veron
May 3, 2007

Definitely Marché! No competition man.
Reply
hucks
May 3, 2007

swiss cheese? swatch watches? highly discrete banks? :P
Reply
Veron
May 3, 2007

Good ones!
Reply
leafie
May 3, 2007

OMG!
ROSTI WITH SMOKED SALMON!!
this is new!! i have to try!!!
anyway, never been to vilage.. but i dunno if it’s me or what, but i think suntec’s branch is not as nice as heeren’s? anyway, time to head for marche again.. have to try the rosti with smoked salmon!!
Reply
Veron
May 3, 2007

You should! This new branch is great, and distinctly different from before.
Reply
nick
May 3, 2007

Hi, was just wondering, what kind of camera do you use? I have an old ass canon ixus camera but my pictures look kinda grainy when i blog.
Reply
Veron
May 4, 2007

Many people have asked this before. I’m using the Minolta DiMAGE X50. It’s a small 5-megapixel digital camera that I bought two years ago.

Pictures that are taken in the day look great, but the ones that are taken at night or when there’s insufficient lighting turn out horrid!
Reply
Thomas Sjamsul
May 6, 2007

Dear Veron,
thanks for the nice review, we always try to improve on our Food and Service quality and are happy over any Feedback we can get.
For the chocolate mousse we already improved the recipe and looks,as for the brown sauce (we know there is , was a problem ) so we expanded our backarea in order to make 2-3 times a day fresh brown sauce from scratch.
I think this will improve the Taste a lot.We serve Koenig Ludwig Weissbier (Draught) also Dark (Bottle)and Warsteiner Pils (also Draught) Mexican-Corona,Phllipines San Miguel (Bottle) merci vielmals and uf weder luege @marche’VivoCity Thomas Sjamsul GM
Reply
Veron
May 7, 2007

Hello Thomas,

Thanks for dropping by to leave a comment! Obviously I enjoyed my visit to Marché very much. I am glad that you and your team are working continuously to improve the quality of the food!

The chocolate mousse was great, and I am glad I can look forward to enjoying an even better version of this wonderful dessert next time!

I am already planning my next visit to Marché. I would be sure to say hello to you. Hope you would remember me!
Reply
Phyllis
January 5, 2008

I like the photo you took, looks great and tempting. I dare not walk around to take photo when I dine there, worried someone staring at me. Great review, keep it up.
Reply
Jared Lim
February 23, 2008

Hey can any1 tell me how is the decor there??

i’ll need it to make a better choice..
marche?? or vila’ge

tks
Reply
yulius
April 4, 2008

Vegetarian?
Reply
Yan Sai Wah (Mr.)
April 21, 2008

April 19, 2008 at about 1941 hrs I ordered 1 pork knuckle and 1 half chicken (at the same time) + other items. The person who attended to me suggest that I take half pork knuckle which I agreed. I was billed 1 pork knuckle at $18.90
The details on bill are
117 Cashier
CHK 9688 103765
APR19″08 11:49
Reply
Michelle
June 16, 2008

I came to Singapore for a holiday from Australia and just happened to stumble across Marche- let me tell you it was an experience myself and my partner couldn’t get enough of! The concept is so different from anything we have ever seen in Australia, we had such an amazing time we had to go back the very next day for more! Loved it!
Aussies love this sort of dining experience =)
Reply
Veron
June 16, 2008

Marché does offers a one-of-a-kind dining experience, so much so that it has spawned a couple of copycats!

If you’re ever in Singapore again, you may wanna check out the two other restaurants with a similar dining concept. My reviews are linked above :)
Reply
Joy
August 2, 2008

Can i know how much you spend on this meal?
Reply
Priyanka Kapoor
April 15, 2009

Veron, you are an absolutely fabulous writer!! I have already read your reviews before heading off to any new restaurant I want to try out …. and sure as anything, I’m thinking of exactly the same things you observed during your visit there!!
Its kinda become a bit of a habit now, coz now I need to see pictures and description and reviews of every new place I visit ………..
……… lol …… Seriously!!!!

Anyway – love your pictures, detailed reviews and most of all the attitude of this website! You should really start a daily column in the newspapers … Seriously!
Reply
- Veron
  April 15, 2009
  
  Thank you for such wonderful and appreciative comments! You have no idea how happy that makes me feel :)
  
  I meant to write a lengthier reply, but it’s turning out to be rather sappy. So just a big thank you from the bottom of my heart for appreciating :)
  Reply