40 Gemmill Lane, #01-03 | $68++ per person
The Concept: Radical Simplicity
There is a particular confidence required to open a restaurant with a single main course. La Vache! — the name a French colloquial exclamation, roughly equivalent to “holy cow!” — stakes its entire identity on this principle. It pays homage to the iconic bistros of Paris: unlike many modern steakhouses that focus on a range of curated, premium cuts, these bistros specialise in one cut, and one cut only. HungryGoWhere The Hong Kong original has four outlets there; Singapore is its first international expansion. Interestingly, it is opened by the same team behind viral gelato bar Messina HungryGoWhere — operators evidently comfortable with the cult of the singular, obsessively executed dish.
Arrival & Ambience
The location is deliberately counter-intuitive. La Vache is hidden in a back alley near Amoy Street, but despite the clandestine location, you won’t miss it — its facade is marked by an eye-catching neon sign cast in the silhouette of a cow, burning fiery scarlet — the same hue as its awning. These bold reds are set against a dark brown wall and pop with contrast against the stark whites of the Gemmill Lane alley. HungryGoWhere
The exterior thus operates as a kind of chromatic provocation: deep carmine and near-black browns against bleached alley stone. It is theatrical without being garish, precisely because it is controlled — two colours, confidently deployed.
Inside, the register shifts from declarative to intimate. A cosy 46-seater dining room welcomes guests with gorgeous red leather banquettes, checkered tablecloths, brass fixtures, and whimsical scenes of Paris plastered on the walls. Timeout The floors are a swathe of clay-hued tiles and the walls are plastered with rustic, off-white wallpaper, with chic checkered tablecloths lining every table and wooden accents adding to the elegance. HungryGoWhere
The tonal palette of the interior — oxblood leather, warm brass, ivory plaster, earthy terracotta tile — achieves a studied patina, the visual grammar of an old Parisian brasserie transplanted wholesale into Singapore’s CBD. The atmosphere is described by diners as moody yet lively, with a sultry, almost underground energy. Wanderlog One reviewer noted the moody lighting and low-slung leather booths with undisguised affection. Step inside and it does feel as though one has been transported out of Singapore entirely. The Ranting Panda There is also a bar counter available for pre-dinner drinks or a more casual steak-frites experience for those not taking the full set.
One practical caveat noted across multiple accounts: seating directly beneath an air-conditioning vent is a risk worth flagging to staff, as the food can turn cold quickly.
The Meal: Course by Course
The bread
The set begins with a baguette basket and French butter. It is a deceptively simple opening act — the quality of both signals the kitchen’s intentions. In a French bistro context, bread and butter are not an afterthought but an assertion.
The salad
A refreshing green salad with walnuts in a zesty mustard vinaigrette Wanderlog follows. The walnuts introduce a secondary textural note — their bitter, papery skin giving way to fatty flesh — while the vinaigrette, built on Dijon, cuts through the richness to come. This is calibration, not filler: the kitchen is priming the palate for fat and umami.
The steak
La Vache’s pride and joy is a 60-day wet-aged USDA double gold ribeye, 280g per guest, accompanied by unlimited frites cooked in beef tallow. HungryGoWhere The wet-ageing process is significant: over sixty days, enzymatic breakdown tenderises the muscle fibres while concentrating the beef’s inherent glutamates, producing a cut that is at once yielding and intensely savoury. The ribeye, as a cut, is already predisposed to intramuscular fat; reviewers noted great marbling and a rich, beefy flavour Wanderlog consistent with this specification.
The steak is flanked by a boat of La Vache’s house-made béarnaise sauce — done in the classic French style, which is unapologetically rich, and may not suit palates that lean towards the milder end. HungryGoWhere The béarnaise — an emulsion of clarified butter, egg yolk, tarragon, and shallot reduction — is technically demanding; a house-made version speaks to kitchen discipline. Its colour should be a pale, warm gold; its texture, a thick ribbon that coats a spoon cleanly without breaking.
The only decision a diner makes is the level of doneness. This is, one suspects, partly philosophical: the restaurant has done the hard work of sourcing a specific cut, aged to a specific specification, for which it has its own recommended cookpoint. Most accounts suggest medium-rare is the canonical choice, yielding a warm, crimson-to-rose interior fading to a caramelised, mahogany-brown crust at the sear.
The frites
If the steak is the primary argument, the frites are the one that lingers. Throughout the meal, La Vache staff pay frequent visits to tables, huge metal bowls in hand, to top up the fries. The satisfying light crunch of each piece, plus the richness of the seasoning and tallow-fry, make these just as much a highlight as the steak. HungryGoWhere Beef tallow frying is not merely a culinary affectation — animal fat has a higher smoke point than most vegetable oils and imparts a deep, savoury backdrop to the potato’s starch. The result is a fry that is golden-amber on the outside, fluffy within, with a flavour that doubles down on the beefy character of the main plate. Several reviewers independently ranked the frites as the meal’s most memorable element — remarkable, given the competition.
Dessert: The Trolley Arrives
While La Vache’s menu is superlatively simple when it comes to its savoury items, guests have plenty of options when it comes to sweets. HungryGoWhere The dessert trolley is wheeled tableside — a gesture that is explicitly theatrical, turning the end of the meal into a small ceremony. Options include mille-feuille, lemon meringue tart, profiteroles, prune tart, and raspberry mille-feuille. The raspberry mille-feuille has proven a particular standout — and the prune tart earns praise for its balance of sweetness against a hint of sourness. Wanderlog
The mille-feuille, if executed correctly, is a study in textural contrast: shattering, caramelised puff pastry layers interspersed with cold, smooth crème pâtissière. The lemon meringue presents a different geometry of texture — torched meringue giving way to sharp citrus curd and a crumbling, buttery base.
Service & Value
With premium ingredients, upbeat music, and warm, attentive service, every meal at La Vache! is framed as a celebration of simple pleasures done exceptionally well. Chope Staff have been praised for warm, thoughtful gestures — including singing birthday songs in French (apparently sonically proximate to a Chinese birthday tune) Wanderlog — though some reviewers flagged occasional slowness during peak hours.
At $68++ per person for a three-course set with unlimited frites, the value proposition is notable. The Ranting Panda scored it 4.5/5 for taste and overall experience, with Honeycombers placing it confidently among the best steak restaurants in Singapore. A Google rating of 4.7 across over 100 reviews within weeks of opening suggests that the consensus is not merely enthusiastic early-adopter noise.
Final Assessment
La Vache! is a restaurant that has identified one thing it does exceptionally well and refused to apologise for it. The single-dish model eliminates decision fatigue and concentrates both kitchen effort and guest anticipation onto a single point of delivery. The 60-day wet-aged USDA ribeye, the béarnaise, the tallow frites, the dessert trolley — each element is individually considered and collectively coherent. The space is visually literate, its chromatic palette deliberate and disciplined. What might read as limitation is, in practice, precision. That is the bistro tradition La Vache! is drawing from, and it has imported it with considerable fidelity to Singapore’s Gemmill Lane.
Reservations strongly recommended. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 12pm–2.30pm and 6pm–10pm.