This was one of my favorite meals in Bordeaux, and an example of fusion done well. The restaurant/concept is a melange of 4 culinary regions: Middle East, Asian, Pacific Rim, and French but it tends to skew a little more towards Middle East and Vietnamese on the menu. This was an excellent place to come for lunch and it's easy to make reservations online. I was lucky enough to be able to make a reservation for lunch on a Saturday while I was on the train that morning.
The whole concept of the menu is to share a lot of small plates amongst the table - for 4 plates, and a dessert for each person, it will cost 25€ per person and for 6 plates and a dessert for each person, it will cost 32€ per person.
The menu here is pretty unique, with an Asian and Middle Eastern twist to French food. We opted for the 4 course menu and it was definitely enough food for the 2 of us (and we are big eaters)
Plats:
- Goi Vit - Canard marine et grille, legumes, nuoc mam, citron vert et cacahuetes - This plate was good, probably my third favorite out of the 4 plates that we had. The duck was a nice French touch, and it was almost like a small salad with the duck on top of lettuce, with a side of the nuoc mam sauce. It was definitely the most Asian-inspired dish of the 4 that we had.
- Ta'ashima - Lieu jaune en croute, citron bergamote, hummus, and red onion - This may have been our least favorite of the 4 dishes. Not that this was bad, but it was just different in the sense it was more bready than we expected. This dish definitely was Middle East influenced and reminded me of food I ate in Turkey. It was a piece of fish, wrapped in a bread and it was pretty simple. It was good when you paired it with the hummus and the red onions, but I probably wouldn't personally order this again if I came here again.
- Ssam - Epaule de cochon, gingembre, nuoc mam, cebettes, romaine - This pork shoulder confit lettuce wraps were by far the favorite of all the dishes that we had here. Don't miss this one! The pork was perfectly cooked, not salty, and there was a generous amount of meat. We loved this and would absolutely get this again.
- Zdafotte - St. Jacques, freekeh, ras el hanout, poires, betteraves - This was a nice Middle Eastern twist on scallops, with a freekeh risotto and the ras el hanout spices. I think there were only 4 scallops in the dish, but to be expected when you order a scallop dish.
Desserts:
We didn't really love the desserts that much; Asian desserts are not quite as good as French desserts, so I guess that was to be expected. But I would have rather not had dessert and gone to a French pâtisserie for a dessert.
- Aki - Matcha, pommes, caramel vanille, potimarron, noix de pecan - I didn't love this dessert too much. The pumpkin purée was a little strange and didn't really go super well with the rest of the dish, with the apple and matcha. There were almost too many competing flavors here.
- Banh So Co La - Chocolat noir, riz glutant, 5 epices, glace banane cacao, caramel coco - This was good (better than the other dessert) but still not fantastic. The flavors at lead complemented each other better than the other dessert but to me, I prefer more traditional French desserts.
All in all, I would probably give this 4.5 stars; I loved the savory dishes but didn't love the desserts. The amount of food and quality of food are good for the price. I would recommend this place if you like fusion food and a more unique and interesting twist on French food. read more