Who was Charles Bréard? I think I spent more time trying to figure out who this gentleman was than…read morewriting this article. And yet I do not think he is small. Writer and historian of the nineteenth century, he left to posterity only a few books on the navy and sailors. As well as his name at a restaurant in Honfleur. Probably his best posterity.
The restaurant has a nice atmosphere, quite warm and with a nice covered terrace.
The menu is very fish-oriented and asian. It must be said that the chef, Fabrice Sebire, has made his classes in beautiful houses, Tour d'Argent, Lucas Carton and Grand Véfour. In which he surely did not meet his counterpart of Entre terre et mer at Honfleur, who attended the Grand "Vaufur". I'm a little teasing, but go see my article about Entre Terre et Mer, you'll understand.
Two tasting menus to test all the dishes. But with this bad French habit of imposing the same menu on the whole table. In Italy, they are more flexible.
It starts a bit bad with extremely salty amuses-bouche. The advantage of our couple is that my partner eats very salty, me very low. So when she finds the product salty, it's unedible for me! On the three pieces, the rice chips and the breaded tuna were really over. The macaron with truffle was perfect.
Then comes a nice panna cota of shells and leek bottoms. Fresh and elegant.
It goes on but in another vein with tuna sashimi. Which is not one! It is quite amazing from a chef who has been a consultant in Japan to make such a mistake. I'm not a big specialist in Japanese cuisine but I think that with the photo, we can say that we are closer to a tataki than a sashimi since the edge of the slices is clearly cooked. This does not detract from the quality of the dish. The three small drops of real wasabi are largely enough to balance the sweetness of the confit of cucumber and marry perfectly with the fish.
Obviously, we are with real wasabi and not colored horseradish. As an Alsatian, I have nothing against horseradish, which is my favorite condiment with sauerkraut. However, as it is part of the same family as wasabi and is less expensive, more tasty and less pungent, it is commonly used by the similis sellers of sushi and sashimi who sell you rice ... In fact, no I'll stop, it'll annoy me.
The other entree consists of oysters with a pear tartare. This is the name of the menu. Again, we will fight with the Maincent-Morel as Bible, but we are especially close to a tartar of oysters and a macedonia of pears. And real horseradish! Nice but a little too sweet in the mouth. Iodine oysters are drowned between pear and tapioca pearls.
The alliance of foie gras and chocolate was very fashionable in the 80s and then fell into oblivion. Our chef revigorates it clearly by adding in the terrine a device with hazelnut.
Classic veal sweetbreads, with a rather strange presentation. We are in the art but the result is not always very harmonious. Wanting to do too much, it becomes a little mess.
If turbot cooking is perfect, it suffers from an external appearance, let's be brutal, super ugly. To make a meunière cooking but to wipe all the butter to make a plate without fat removes all the gleaming side of the presentation. We end up with a dull and inelegant stretch. The rest of the plate can not climb the slope. The carrot puree is good. The cubes of mangos and potatoes were little burned. We stay in very sweet tastes.
We conclude with a pre-dessert involving an old vegetable, parsnip. It was the potato of the Middle Ages. The still is in a mild sweet taste.
The soufflé with passionfruit is well mounted but the passionfruit is too present and will be the only detonating tip of all the meal with the wasabi of departure.
In conclusion, I remain on an embarrassing impression of mono-taste. The chef undoubtedly has a technique learned in the big houses, seeks to integrate his Asian taste discoveries and local products. The only concern is that the whole meal is in the same tone. I did not find any other word than "sweetish".
Whether pear (yet my favorite fruit) with oysters, carrots, parsnips, mangoes, potatoes, candied cucumbers, sweetbreads, foie gras, chocolate, there is too much strong accumulation of sweet or sweetly processed products, and it gets a bit disgusting on a 6-course menu.
The waitress providing the service is very competent and friendly. It is true that we were alone this afternoon! Not an overloaded service.
What is regrettable is the lack of passage of the chef. He came to settle some business at the counter and then left in the kitchen. Since we were the only guests, a small passage in the dining room wouldn't have cost him much.
Toilet not separated and not handicap adapted. Very clean.
Check of 208 euros with a 2012 Auxey-Duresses Domaine Diconne.
