Three 3 stars in France day 5: dinner at granny's

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Tonight's dinner was at Geoélia, the (relatively) new restaurant opened last summer by Chef Camille Saint-M'leux - replacing the Parisien institution that was the Chinese restaurant Tang. The restaurant is, apparently, named after the boat owned by the chef's grandparents. Geruhage was already familiar with the chef, and I was just happy to tag along, once again.

Chef Camille very kindly offered us a glass of bubbly to start.

JM Sélèque Solessence, dégorgée en Decembre 2024 - as expected with this winemaker, the acidity was on the high side.

Gougéres - always happy to see these. Great to nibble on when you're hungry, and they go so well with Champagne.

Lettuce salad with anchovies - we have a piece of anchovy on top of some anchovy condiment and crispy bits of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Oyster - from Basin d'Arcachon just west of Bordeaux city. With lemon juice, caviar, and chives. This was nice with lots of acidity from lemon juice, which almost completely covered the brine.

Pan-fried gray shrimp - crevettes grises with salted butter and some lime. These were really nice.

They had a separate negroni so I had to order one up. The negroni botrytis cinerea is made with Gin Résidence, Campari, and 2013 Carmes de Rieussec.

Clams - with smoked chili pepper, and tasted very smoky like chorizo.

Bulot mayonnaise - whelk came with mayo, whelk cooking water perfumed with bay leaf oil, puffed buckwheat.

Buckwheat pancake - we were meant to wipe up the sauce with these, and that sauce was really fragrant and delicous!

Consommé, de sardines grillées - the consommé was made with grilled sardines, and served with sardine oil and a bouquet of fresh herbs. This was pretty nice, flavorful but still very elegant. Strong fragrances from the sweet basil and also oyster leaf.

Together with the bread we have beurre noisette.

That beurre noisette was actually made with crevette grise, and it was FUCKING GOOD!

Artichaut Camus, vinaigrette au vieux Porto flambé - the Camus de Bretagne artichokes were cooked over barbecue, and served with artichoke chips on top. For the second time today I was served artichoke seasoned with sakura vinegar... How curious is that? And just like the dish at lunch, there was lots of acidity in the glaze.

Langoustine, pochée, soupe du landemain - a dish in two parts, where the langoustine tail was poached with claws to extract the sweetness.

This is maybe a little more raw than mi-cuit. Very, very nice.

The "soup of the day after" was made with the heads and shells of langoustine. The flavors here were soooo big, bur surprisingly not overpowering. There was a hint of bitterness from charring on the shells and also some smokiness.

This roll reminded me of the delicious sesame roll at my beloved Caprice in Hong Kong, but it was actually a langoustine brioche, where milk was replaced with langoustine broth. And we were instructed to dip it into the soup.

2024 Maison Glandien L'Ouverture Blanc - flinty nose with stone fruits. Good acidity on the palate accompanied by some roundness.

Saint-Pierre, frisée grillêe, aneth - aaaaand for the second time today, I'm having John Dory. Glazed with collagen and garnished with frisêe that's lightly smoky. We had a combination of jalapeño sauce and dill oil. This was OK.

Riz de veau laqué, brocoletti, bonite et kombu - Geruhage always wants sweetbread, so I followed him in getting this extra course. It was served glazed with bonito and seaweed-infused veal jus. Besides brocoletti which, I have read, comes from breeding with Chinese kailan (芥蘭), we also have Shanghainese cabbage (青江菜).

The contrast of the milky interior with the glazed, slightly crispy exterior was pretty nice.

Boeuf Jersiais au charbon, larde de seiche, oeufs de hareng fumés - the oyster blade was cooked over charcoal, and completely drenched in a a beef jus seasoned with cuttlefish ink and smoked herring roe.

The beef was cooked for an extended period, but texture-wise it was springy and chewy with sinews. The flavors of the beef itself were very nice with plenty of depth. However, the sauce was just too rich and too heavy for me, and much too salty for this Asian palate. It was meant to be more animalistic. This was not enjoyable to me, but I can see how it would be better-received by European palates.

More cuttlefish noodles - my second serving of the day - this time with beef fat and lime zest.

2010 Domaine du Banneret Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge - this was VERY savory with smoky nose. I could still find the fruit here, but overall this was just very, very farmy and bretty. Definitely in the Beaucastel school of CdP.

Saint-Nectaire - salty but acidic on the finish.

Ossau Iratay - very storng flavors, like a real heavy Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Trappeau - wow! the rind is so heavy and pungent in terms of flavors. Very nutty flavors like burnt coffee grounds in the rind, but also burnt caramel. Actually this was a good pairing with the Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Mirabelles - cooked with vin jaune then flambée with mirabelle eaux de vie. Served with a milk ice cream. This was kinda like rum raisin ice cream.

Citron iodé, confit et grivé, huître, herbes - two had two quenelles of sorbet, with one being lemon and oyster, and one made with herbs... coriander, mint, basil, salicornia, oyster leaves. Served up with oyster water, lemon juice. Lots of acidity in the lemon sorbet and I thought it was just OK. I did like the bits of lemon zest.

Our sommelier brought us a glass of wine to pair with the dessert:

2024 Falkenstein Krettnacher Euchariusberg Riesling Kabinett Alte Reben Gisela 8 - kinda elegant, with pretty high acidity on the palate.

Finally we had the mignardises:

Pâté de fruits - apricot was very sweet but the acidity was also there. Rhubarb (?), and also cherry.

Feuilletines

This was a pretty good meal, one that left more of an impression than last night's dinner. The three of us spent quite a bit of time discussing the dishes - especially the chef's signature beef - and as Asians, both Tomo-chan and I took issue with the flavor profile. We did discuss this at length with Chef Camille afterwards when no one else was left in the restaurant, but we also felt this was constructive criticism and perhaps a different perspective may prove useful in the long run.