Merci Marcel Club Street

Merci Marcel's Club Street branch fills a pair of conservation shophouses between Chinatown and the CBD. The room mixes blue velvet banquettes with rattan chairs and mosaic floors, and it runs from breakfast straight through to late evening, so the crowd shifts from laptops and lattes to office groups sharing wine.

Dinner starts at 6pm. Order cured meats such as coppa and lonzo, a French cheese platter, crab croquettes with chilli crab mayo, or ravioles de Royans topped with Tête de Moine. The tartes flambées come in four versions, including duck confit with green peppercorn sauce, and mains run from a hanger steak with maître d'hôtel butter and fries to a grain-fed ribeye and oven-baked seabass.

It suits after-work drinks, casual dates and weekend brunch rather than a formal dinner. Book through SevenRooms for evenings and brunch. The group also runs Merci Marcel in Tiong Bahru (the original), Orchard (Palais Renaissance), Robertson Quay, East Coast and Serangoon Garden, plus the French Fold crêperies.