TRUTH be told, I never did understand the concept of fondue - what is cheese fondue really, but a grilled cheese sandwich with the ingredients served separately? One can only imagine it must have been pretty boring up in the Swiss Alps with no cable or other kind of entertainment, so maybe the idea of dipping dry cubes of bread into a pot of melted cheese was the most socially acceptable way of playing with your food at the time.

Incidentally, fondue was not invented in the Swiss Alps as commonly thought, but by the Swiss bourgeoise back in 17th century Zurich. Fondue wasn't limited to cheese, but included other cooking methods like boiling broth, hot oil and possibly the best part - chocolate.

You can find fondue in Singapore on some menus, but for the first time, a restaurant totally devoted to table top dipping has opened in Dempsey Road, just beside Samy's Curry which is overdue to open after renovations later this month.

The idea is to create a kind of 'medieval castle-like setting' - which is quite a challenge in itself given its neighbours Samy and the soon to open Long Beach Seafood. But put your imagination into overdrive, try to ignore the construction activity outside the restaurant and settle down into this simply furnished tribute to all things fondue. To try everything, it's probably best to pick one of the sets which range from $70 for vegetarian fondue right up to $180 for a set that includes wagyu fillet mignon, lobster and scallops. All sets serve two and while the menu can look quite complicated, what it really does is serve you different kinds of fondue as your appetiser, main and dessert.

Regardless of which set you pick, you start off with a salad - either the decent caesar or the garden salad doused in a mouth-puckering dressing (it would be better to offer guests a choice of dressings), followed by cheese fondue to start.

Cubes of foccacia bread come with a pot of melted cheese - we tried the slightly spicy Mexicana herb version. The pots are kept warm on induction cookers fitted right into your table not unlike steamboat/teppanyaki joints. While the first few bites are interesting, the whole bread and cheese thing does get boring after a while, even with the side plate of sauteed vegetables.

The main course is probably the most interesting - you get to choose whether you want your marinated meats and seafood cooked in broth, grilled (no dipping involved) or in hot oil (this can get quite messy when the oil gets hot and the raw meat starts splattering). La Fondue offers a wide range of fresh ingredients be it venison, shrimp, chicken, dory fillet, lobster, salmon, etc. There's also a range of dips from home-made chilli sauce to caper mayonnaise. Our favourite was the chilli sauce.

The day we were there, we had fresh lobster in our $120 Fondue Feast, while the rest of the ingredients were of good quality and fresh.

Then for dessert, it's melted chocolate with a platter of canned and fresh fruit, brownies and even little balls of ice cream for dipping.

Pricing is a little on the high side - a minimum of $50 a head if you want meat in your meal - but perhaps it's attributable to the cost of the cheese and chocolate.

Overall, you get a pleasant meal at La Fondue - the quality and earnest service get the thumbs up. One wouldn't recommend this place for a business meal but as a casual, fun meal, you could pretend you're in the Alps somewhere and dip your bread with wild abandon.

La Fondue
25 Dempsey Road
(S) 249670
Tel : 6474-0204
Opening hours: 12 noon - 2:30pm, 6pm - 11:30pm (daily) and Weekend Breakfast 8am - 2:30pm.
Rating: 6.5/10

This article was first published in The Business Times on Oct 6, 2007.