14th best restaurant in the world according to S. Pellegrino. Interesting design-- the kitchen is surrounded by an oversized bar, which are the only visible seats. Maybe there's a secret room somewhere else.
This is an obvious advantage of the bar seats only design. Another more subtle but equally important advantage is that you don't look like a complete loser when dining alone.
The mens' bathroom is like a clubhouse, but minus points for not having terry cloth towels handed out by a butler.
I ask for the tasting menu (160 €!) and rather than solving my dilemma over choice, immediately creates one... I have to choose between lamb, quail and veal. Panicking slightly as the waiter hovers behind the bar, I take the lamb... Hopefully I have chosen wisely... I ask about whether there is a wine pairing option and he says no set pair for each dish, but they will serve the wine as I drink it, and make the pairs on the fly.First amuse bouche is a crab cream with creme de "chou fleur". A bit of an in-your-face opener... Strong crabby taste, stringy texture. Interesting pair with the anonymous white wine that has been served to me unsolicitedly.
The dish is sliced lobster meat on a bed of sliced lobster meat.
Ok, the bed of lobster is also mixed with the most delicately sliced chives and olives. And topped with baby basil leaves. Very very good. The wine becomes apple-y, more tart.
Next is soup, fava beans and green peas.
Next is the seared foie gras with candied cherries and hibiscus juice.
Comes with a beautiful honey colored white. Nose is light, hints of lemon and granite, ocean. Taste is crazy light, like water.
Foie gras has a hard exterior, not in a bad way though. inside is like a cloud, fluffy and not liquid at all, but just riding the edge. The candied cherries explode with flavor, as does the hibiscus sauce and peppercorns. Now I understand the wine.. It's a blank canvas on which to present some very powerful flavors. The wine is not at all competing with the food, which is great.
Next is a soft-boiled egg with morels, light cream and mashed parsley on the bottom. The waiter chides me lightly to not forgetting the parsley; perhaps this is a common pitfall of most patrons.
Again I am thankful for the wine's cleanness-- this is a super rich dish. The parsley helps break it up a bit, but if it wasn't for the wine I'd be drinking plenty o' water.
Next is the trout. Skin side up, topped with tomatoes, croutons, capers and small leaves that look like sage.
Skin side up turns out to be a total disaster! Especially with these knives that seem to have come from the local prison. Everything is a mess. However, the fish is perfectly cooked, the croutons are a total hit, there is a slight sweetness to the sauce. The wine takes on a honeyness and becomes more dry.
So the first wine was a Chardonnay from Giraud 2008. Second was a Rhone (Marsanne) from 2009. The next is a red Rhone (Syrah) 2009.
The main course is lamb chops.
TINY! The mashed potatoes have a fluffy yet grainy texture like I've never had before, again like ground soy beans. In a good way.
The wine has really taken on the thyme from the lamb, both in the nose and in the approach. Leather nose. Cigar box. Black Pepper. Very light, somewhat sharp taste. No silkiness (!).
I realize that this is the last real dish before dessert... Not getting great bang for my buck.
Wine is becoming quite floral with the food. Caramelized onions.
The whole baked garlic clove is awesome, tons of great deep flavor. Almost chesnutty.
I just realized their Wizard of Oz like trick-- there is still a prep kitchen where all the dirty work happens... The kitchen in the centre of the bar is just for finishing, more for show than anything else.
The waiter tries to take my olive oil but I'm still filling up on bread. In my opinion you need to be at a certain level of fullness in order to truly appreciate dessert.
The first dessert is sliced strawberries in olive oil and jasmine water topped with strawberry sorbet.
It's like what candy makes you think strawberries should taste like. Jasmine and strawberries-- ingenious!!
I order an espresso... But I'm done my dessert before it arrives... Am I really the only one that thinks that coffee should arrive at precisely the same moment as dessert????
Huge lull in the service... Seems like they are getting quite busy. Coffee still has not arrived. Perhaps he decided it was a bad idea and overruled my request? That would be cooler than the more likely explanation-- he forgot.
Finally I get his attention... He seems apologetic about the lack of coffee... But I can't be too upset, I'm an uninvited guest.
Final dessert is a coffee creme in sabayon. Base is a black coffee jelly. Also it was topped with a coffee fruit roll up... Coffee overload!
Tastes great. However I am starting to get the feeling like they want me to leave... The pair beside me just had a third arrive....
... And it's just about to rain outside... Which is good for France, but not so great for me.
I ask for the bill... So far the experience has been a 7/10.... Definitely not better than the un-S.Pellegrino-rated Mraz & Sohn.
... And it takes a good 15 mins for the bill. The service has gone from attentive to distracted to annoying. My completely subjective and non-mathematic grade has dropped a full point on the last 30 mins alone. 6/10.
And ultimately I'm mad... The bill comes out to 213.50 €. Horrible value in my opinion. I don't leave a tip. But I thank the maitre d' on my way out-- it wasn't his fault, after all.
NOT RECOMMENDED!
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