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I didn't manage a lot of sleep on account of a late night last night, and I had to get up and do some work while I had the spare time. Seeing that I have a big lunch planned today, I skipped breakfast. One thing I liked about
Novotel Paris Centre Gare Montparnasse is that they have a dispenser for filtered water out in the hall, so I don't have to go out and buy myself drinking water.
The Hairy Chevalier had recommended I try
Plénitude at the
Cheval Blanc Paris, but this happened to be the week that
50 Best Hotels was doing their annual shindig in town, and it became even more impossible than usual to get a seat. Thankfully he managed to get me a seat at
Le Gabriel, Jérôme Banctel's restaurant in
La Réserve. So that's where I was headed for lunch today.
I arrived much too early.
As one of the restaurants holding 3 macarons, it's natural that it would be a tourist destination. It became pretty obvious that half of the patrons today were visitors, with the majority of them being Asian. I was the only solo diner.
I needed to get back to my hotel room to join a board meeting, so I asked the staff to inform the kitchen so that I could finish the longer menu entitled
Virée, which is Chef Jerome's expression of his Bretagne background. It also meant I couldn't really drink much, so I was looking for wine or Champagne by the glass. As luck would have it, they had
exactly the Champagne I was looking for. It's a shame I couldn't open a whole bottle...
Romain Henin Le Gamin du Ter-Terre, dégorgée le 23 Fevrier 2024 - more than 2 years after dégorgement the nose has developed some maturity, definitely showing more oxidation with marmalade, and a little bit of metallic notes.
I got a few bites to start my lunch with...
Tart with goat cream cheese - I could taste the goat cheese, but the flavors of the fresh pea shoots were a little strong.
Pomme soufflée avec caviar - this was interesting, as somehow the potato puff tasted more like Japanese tempura to me.
Poached oyster - the oyster n°3 from Les Huîtres de Charlotte had tipped over on the way to my table, so that
gelée topping of sake, lemon, ginger, garlic... just gradually slipped off. I thought this tasted Japanese... even though the bits of hazelnuts would say "nah".
Escargot tempura - the snail was
confit with
lardon(?) and stuffed with Comté inside the batter. Some mayo with parsley and garlic - a classic pairing with escargot - sat below the ball.
Carotte des sables, gingembre acidulé - the sand carrot was cooked with lime water, which was a technique the chef learned in Turkey. We also had ribbons of pickled carrots, as well as a ball made of carrot "strings" that had been pickled but also had a spicy kick... and suddenly I was reminded of Asian "hot and sour" dishes.
We have a reduction of carrots and fermented ginger, along with finely chopped chives. This was very viscous, and you've got a combination of sweetness along with acidity. This was done very nicely.
The carrot itself had been hollowed and stuffed with a carrot and ginger mash. Did I really think I was just gonna eat a whole carrot? HA!
Shokupan - my eyes rolled up a little when this was introduced.
Shokupan (食パン) at a 3-star French restaurant in Paris...
Pourquoi?!
Cœur d'artichaut, vinaigre à la fleur de cerisier - the artichokes were also cooked with the same technique, and served up with
sauce barigoule along with artichoke purée which came with some acidity.
The artichoke hearts were glazed with cherry blossom (read:
sakura (桜)) vinegar. This, combined with the
sauce barigoule, meant the acidity was close to the upper end of my tolerance.
The bread is supplied by
Frédéric Lalos, the famed
boulanger with a M.O.F. distinction. This was so, sooo delicious! OMG! I knew I couldn't finish this loaf, so I asked to take it away at the end of my lunch.
The
beurre demi-sel comes from a small supplier in Brittany.
Poulp fumé, vierge de légumes, tielle fondante - the octopus tentacle was roasted then smoked, and interestingly applied with a glaze of
hoisin sauce (海鮮醬). I commented that the (French) chef was very brave to serve
hoisin sauce to a Chinese... So, the octopus was very, very tender in the middle, with suckers that were slightly crunchy. The flavors were a little smoky but not overpowering. That
hoisin sauce? It slaps you in the face and says
"Hello! Here I am!". Well, I can't say I loved having this sauce, but I didn't hate it. It certainly helped to caramelize the edges and make things slightly crunchy.
On the side was a
vierge foam made with the octopus stock and topped with a salsa of tomatoes, radish, pickled radish, kiwi... I definitely tasted
yuzukosho (柚子胡椒) in there somewhere. This helped to neutralize the sweetness of the
hoisin sauce.
The chef's version of
tielle sétoise looked like a clementine.
It came with octopus cooked with tomatoes and spices, which explains the acidity.
Saint-Pierre, fagot de haricot aux algues, cápres frites - the John Dory was cooked
confit at low temperature with olive oil, and garnished with a fried bundle of parsley, capers,
haricots verts, and seaweed which came in long strands. The fish was certainly tender and tasty.
The sauce was made with peas and seaweed. I have to say that I don't think of John Dory as a great-tasting fish, but I could not find fault in the way this was done.
Tagliatelles d'encornet, jus de canard, caviar Kristal - so... squid/cuttlefish noodles is something we've seen for many years now, and pairing it with caviar also isn't new. We did, however, have some strands of very young scallions (芽ねぎ). Oh, the squid had been
confit in duck fat.
The surprise was the sauce which, in addition to the squid ink that is now
de rigueur, came with duck
jus. Meant to be a combination of flavors from the land and the sea, and the sauce was even richer than expected. I definitely tasted the duck fat.
You know what? The caviar didn't seem superfluous or gratuitous here. Even with the duck fat.
OF COURSE, anything that tastes good will taste better on bread - especially bread made by a M.O.F.
The next dish required some tableside service... for the accompaniment to the protein.
Caille de Bretagne, riz noir croquant, cerfeuil, estragon - underneath the chervil and tarrgon we had a black garlic and tamarind condiment.
Smoked confit quail leg - I loved nibbling on this. The glaze on this was so nice, and it reminded me of the
tare (タレ) on Japanese eel
kabayaki (蒲焼き).
I love quail, but they're always so small! I wish I could have the same flavors in a bird 5 times the size.
The black rice came with pickled
chanterelles, garlic, chives, puffed rice, and tamarind. I loved the surprising fruity and acidic flavors in the rice.
Fraise à la chaux, sorbet aux herbes fraîches, sabayon de Chartreuse - once again the lime is used to preserve the flavors of the fruit, and today these were
fraises de Plougastel from Brittany. The texture has changed so that it was akin to
compôte. Gotta say that the flavors were pretty nice. On the side we had a
raviolo with translucent skin enveloping strawberry tartare. There was actually a small, crispy
sablé hidden underneath the
raviolo.
We also had an herbal sorbet, and a
sabayon of green Chartreuse with chervil, coriander, mint, and nasturtium.
Finally, we had the
mignardises:
Blackcurrant compôte - with
chantilly of olive oil and pepper.
Grapes
Chocolate with caramel and praliné of cocoa
I thought this was a very, very good meal. I noticed very early on that Chef Jérôme seemed insistent on using some Asian flavor in almost each and every dish, and it raised alarm bells in my head. Unfortunately I've run into my fair share of whitey chefs who think it's cool to have a touch of Asia in their cuisine, but so many of those only have a superficial understanding and end up creating disasters that just don't work. Well, I'm happy to see that it was not the case here today. While I can't say I felt the Asian flavors were necessary or added value in all the dishes, I was pleased that it didn't ruin the dishes. Some of them even yielded pleasant surprises. So... happy that the Hairy Chevalier made the recommendation and got me the table. I'll need to bring Foursheets here.
The kitchen did do the job of getting me through lunch in 2 hours, but I needed to rush back for my meeting. I didn't see any of the staff who served me during the meal, so I left quietly without a fuss. It was only later that I realized I had forgotten to ask for the leftover bread from Frédéric Lalos that had been packed up for me.
Putain! I guess I can't have it for brekkie tomorrow...
P.S. I found out later that the Head of Creation for the restaurant has Vietnamese heritage, which explains why the Asian elements were persistent throughout and the combinations weren't disastrous.
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