This was simply good food, and I feel like no matter what you order, there wouldn't be a bad dish on the menu.
We started out with a bang. For appetizers, the tables were piled with carpaccio with truffles, ham with that whipped avocado cream thing I keep seeing pop up around Geneva restaurants, a dish that had artichoke hearts, a magnificent seafood dish with scallop and plump shrimp in a bed of veggies, and a baked crab. With so much food on the table, it's hard to keep track of what each dish actually tasted like, but going from the gut, I seem to remember thinking both the carpaccio and ham would have been better if it wasn't a bit dry. I remember enjoying the crab, but when you have crab meat in a thick soup of cheesy goodness, you can't go wrong.
If the appetizers had me a bit overwhelmed, our next course of beef ravioli topped with a generous layer of truffles brought everything together perfectly. The smoky, woody scent of truffles wafted into our noses, taunting us as we waited for the rest of the table to be served. And the taste did not betray the wonderful aroma--the beef inside the ravioli was creamed almost to a pasty texture that melted in your mouth with the light sauce. The truffles were piled high and simply amazing, and we were even brought a handful of fresh truffles and a grater to further abuse this delicacy. And boy, did we take advantage of it! The truffles added a wonderful texture, flavor, and taste, and I FINALLY understood what the whole truffle craze was about.
It turns out, Italians eat multiple, multiple courses, and I found myself staring down at a beautiful rack of lamb, glazed in the perfect shade of brown sitting atop a mountain of mashed potatoes topped with--you guessed it--fresh truffles. The lamb was so tender and juicy with the perfect level of red in the center, that it would almost have been difficult to discern what kind of meat it was hadn't it been for the telltale slight stiffness of lamb. The mashed potatoes were the creamiest that I have ever tasted in my life, and I desperately wished that I actually liked mashed potatoes.
The chocolate fondant I had for dessert was just the right amount of sweet without ruining the wonderful dinner we just had, but it had a slightly rubbery exterior, which seemed to be intentional but not particularly appreciated by me. The flan was a marvelous shiny mountain, and I hear the lemon sorbet is amazing.
You pay the price for the food. But in Geneva, you pay the price even for bad food. So while I probably wouldn't be coming here on my own wallet, you will not be disappointed if you're willing to pay a little extra for an exceptional dining experience. My only regret is that it was a semi-formal setting and I was unable to take photo documentation of what has so far been my best meal in Geneva! read more