Are you traveling through France and want to experience south-eastern fine dining? This is the…read moreplace for you. My boyfriend and I came here to celebrate my birthday and I am now happy, full, and a little drunk.
They apparently have a much more economic fixed lunch menu at 40-something euros each, and a few other options at 80-something and 90-something each. But it was my birthday and I do love my foie gras, so the menu classique at 116 each, it was, and we were not sorry. The menu was apparently a sampling of re-imagined regional classics - and I'm a sucker for local foods.
They started us off in a cozy room and sat us in front of a fire, which was much welcomed in this stubborn spring weather, brought out two glasses of champagne, and a plate with 3 amuse-bouche to start. The first was a toothpicked slice of artisanal cured salmon in beetroot juice under a layer of cream, topped with... duck I want to say? YUM. The second was a duck meatball with pistachios I believe. The third was phenomenal, something that I am sure to dream of for years to come. We were instructed to eat it all in one bite and when it comes to food, I do as I am told. A breaded little square of heavenly goodness that when bit into melted into liquid foie gras just sliding down your throat. I would like one/ten of those everyday before each meal, for the rest of my life please.
Ok. Now to the meal, amazing. I'll try to remember it all.
We were started with an oyster on a half shell poached in moscato, with a moscato foam and bits of crunchy bacon.
Then an asparagus veloute that I suspect was made with witchcraft as asparagus soup in my house never quite tastes that good.... Some raw shaved asparagus, the top halves of some beautifully lightly poached asparagus, and a perfectly poached egg with truffles embedded into it's whites... too good to be true? I think so too. Wizard.
Moving on to a beautifully cooked lobster accompanied by Normantie potatoes, small fingerling cooked deliciousness, accompanied by a generous amount of roasted garlic, a lobster claw, and more lobster chunks, all arranged in front of us by our magnificent maetre d'hotel (master of hotel?--more on him later). While the potatoes, the lobster, the garlic, all beautiful and elegant, the real star of the dish was the sauce. A brown --meat sauce--as my boyfriend calls it. Salty, tangy, buttery, savory, herby - all the good stuff.
Then we were brought out a mill fouille of meat. What is this, you ask? Thin slices of cooked to perfection medium rare stake and decadent delicious foie gras. Topped by an inflated potato skin, a sweet, buttery carrot, on the side was a mille foille of potatoes, and then another brown meat sauce a little sweeter than the previous, and really just.... perfect. By this point i was almost too full.. and there's more. so much more.
Then comes the cheese course. a wonderfully fragrant and almost spicy block of blue cheese, hugged by two very thin sweet crackers and a bit of salad scattered about. a slice of a red wine poached pear with such a beautiful fragrant cinnamon flavor. Simple, elegant, and beautiful.
Then we were brought a mini cheese cake, a bit larger than an amuse bouche on a plate decorated by chocolate sauce, raspberry sauce, slices of citrisy things, all together simply delicious.
Next was the real desert? MORE! a out tiny marble sized piece of poached pear with a dot of chocolate up top. a pear sorbet. a cream/topped with pear jello/topped with a custard thing that was absolutely delicious. a small square of saffron flan with a gingerbread like cookie crumble on top. yum.
and next our maetre d'hotel brought this out for everyone, he said compliments of the chef? a plate with a basil infused strawberry cream...a little caramel nut pie?! a big bar of orange zest white chocolate, and pistachio covered dark chocolate, and a walnut covered wafer. I could die. actually..Did I!?
The food was phenomenal, the place was perfect, with a beautiful garden outback that's worth a walk around and lent itself to some beautiful (if I do say so myself) photo opps.
The staff was kind, courteous, and extremely helpful. We asked our maetre d'hotel who is extremely knowledgeable to please pick out our demi-bottle of white and red, and man were we happy we did, he also assured us he would be reasonable with the price, which since I wasn't paying, couldn't have mattered less to me! Muahahahaaa! I kid, I kid. It was definitely nice to know we wouldn't be charged 3,000 for a bottle of wine.
We started with the white-beautiful, crisp, light, floral, not too dry, but a very nice bottle of white. and then the red was the real showstopper, we opened it up right after the lobster and I swear with every gout(taste) I could taste that roasted garlic stronger in my mouth. This red had such an amazing and unusual aftertaste of butter. I wanted to slather it on some bread and then bathe in it. Perfect meal. Will dream of this for years to come
