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A few hours after stuffing our faces next door, I showed up at the front door to
La Marine - the destination restaurant with 3
macarons run by the Couillon family on the site of the former establishment operated by Alexandre's parents. Apparently this place has seen a major revamp, where the kitchen now faces the harbor and anyone passing by outside can get a peek into the action through the windows. The dining area has been relocated to the rear of the restaurant with a view of the gardens. And visitors are now asked to wait in the foyer, where they get to watch a beautiful introductory video that would have cost a pretty penny to produce.
Céline greeted us at the door and led us to our table. We were also looked after by Vincent, who had actually spent time in Hong Kong at a bistro I never had to pleasure of patronizing. Thirsty from the 80-meter walk from his hotel room around the corner, Geruhage immediately asked Vincent for a glass of Champagne...
We began our meal with a handful of starters, prepping our stomachs for the bigger things coming our way:
"Eau de tomate", infusion aux feuilles de tagète - no surprise here that there's plenty of umami, but we've also got sweetness. This was so refreshing!
Chinchard - the horse mackerel was dry-aged for a few days, chargrilled on the skin so the touch of charred flavors was just nice. Served with a cream of pine needles, but this was rather under-seasoned so we took it with some salt.
"Les algues", chantilly de coquillages, vinaigre de lichen - this was pretty nice.
"Le fenouil", une crudité, rouget, éclats de citron brulé - we have fresh fennel from the garden, burnt lemon zest, and red mullet stuffed into a
canelé-shaped shell. Well, it looks like a
pie tee to this Asian... This was nice.
"l'huitre noire Erika", nacre de sucre - the signature dish of Alexandre whose story was well-documented in the Netflix episode. The oyster was pretty briny, and buried in a reduction of squid ink and pork stock whose viscosity and sheen does, sadly, evoke crude oil. We've got tapioca pearls "to remind you of the pearl inside the oyster" but... they are black... The white clumps on top are dehydrated fat from
lardo di Colonnata.
I didn't want to start with Champagne like my thirsty alcoholic friend, so I got myself a
cold verbena infusion. This was pretty nice.
The bread was nice and chunky, and really tasty.
The menu is titled
Géographie d'une île - and Alexandre wishes to show his guests the produce of his beloved island home. All the fish featured on the menu were line-caught in the waters around the island.
Le thon rouge de nos côtes, jaune d'oeuf confit et jus d'arêtes - the tuna came with fried seaweed, salicornia, egg yolk jam, and seaweed garum. Served with a yucca flower from the garden, and the flavors were pretty strong and distinctive. Just looking at this, I thought the portion was pretty big for a first course of a multi-course menu.
Actually, they made a smiley face with the seaweed on top...
The flavors here were pretty big right off the bat thanks to the
jus. The
jus was made by slow-cooking the tuna bones to caramelize the flavors, then the collagen from the back of the fish was added in. And that collagen was really, really nice.
They showed us the
seaweed brioche before they baked it, when the seaweed powder and sea salt was easier to see.
I love brioche, and this was yum! It was very, very hot when they brought it to us so we had to wait a little.
La parcelle de légumes de notre potager, sur la braise, herbes potagères et un beurre de fenouil sauvage - these come from the restaurant's own garden, and tonight we had carrot, cabbage, aubergine, turnip, red pepper, leek, courgette, fennel, rhubarb, and tomato. The rhubarb came pickled so it was acidic.
Le maquereau, betterave et un petit lait de persil plat - always good to have grilled mackerel, and pretty nice with the parsley sauce. Needless to say I didn't care for the beetroot, regardless of how it was cooked.
Le lieu jaune, pâtisson et lait d'amande, figue - the thick chunk of pollack was pretty tender, served with a pattypan squash, sea spinach, and almond milk.
Le homard, caviar ⟪Selection Prestige La Marine⟫, un flan au bouillon de carcasses, halophytes - we have seaweed like sea fennel inside, which were really strong and fragrant.
The caviar is a special batch from Kaviari prepared for the restaurant, as it's salted with
fleur de sel from the island.
Together with the caviar and the local lobster, we also had some European green crab, clementine confiture, and a flan at the bottom.
La julienne, collagène de peau, encornet et crevettes bouquet, jus de poissons de roche - the chunk of blue ling was barbecued on a
brochette. The "cream" on the side was made without any diary, but whipped up like one would with mayonnaise, using the collagen collected by cooking all the skin that has been removed from the fish the restaurant receives, then infused with fig oil. This is a fantastic way of utilizing what would often be discarded as trash, and fits with Alexandre's whole sustainability ethos. Unfortunately, while I usually love me some collagen, in this case the cream was just too rich and thick for me... and too much for me to handle.
The common shrimp or
crevette bouquet - whose season started just today - and squid at the bottom were cooked in a rockfish soup. I actually thought it also came with tiny bits of citrus rind, and almost reminds me of Cantonese mung bean soup.
La barbue, blettes ligotées, un caramel de jus de tête et oeufs de poissons - we are served a slice of brill, which is seen as slightly less premium compared to turbot. Served with a roll of chard which had been grilled. Two sauces accompanied the dish - a "caramel" made with the head of the dish; and a sauce made with the fish bones along with fish roe that was a little smoky.
We were also served a small piece of the wing, which is full of collagen, of course. This is always so, so tasty, and in this case it also came with the fish skin that was cooked till very crispy and smoky.
La laitue de mer, sorbet 'fouet des sorcières' et sarrasin - we have a crisp made of sea lettuce on top.
Underneath the light caramel mousse there was a bunch of buckwheat popcorn glazed with honey.
In the center of the "ball" of caramel mousse was a sorbet made of oarweed, whose local name in Brittany
fouet des sorcières translates as "witches' whip". This was so, sooo wonderful, packing a big punch of flavors and that acidity is just great. The combination of the slightly sweet caramel mousse, together with the acidity and the umami of the seaweed sorbet, is just FUCKING AMAZING!
This was, undoubtedly, one of the best dishes I have tasted this year. Who knew that my favorite dish at a seafood-driven restaurant with three Michelin stars would be a dessert??
La feuille de figuier, concombre au sirop - we see a dome of light, airy mousse made with cucumbers, with powder made from dried cucumber skin sprinkled on top.
Inside the mousse was a center of fig leaf ice cream, sitting on a bed of very thin slices of confit cucumbers in a light verbena syrup and drops of fig leaf oil. That fig leaf ice cream was really nice, and I loved how refreshing the cucumbers were, as the flavors were just so clean.
Finally, the
mignardises:
Bergamot sorbet
Marshmallow tape
Matcha and white chocholate macaron,
beetroot and anise jelly.
Seaweed meringue and
seaweed and pistachio tartlet
With two members of our party either drinking very little or not at all, we took it very easy in the wine department:
2022 Dureuil Janthial Rully 1er Cru Le Meix Cadot - classic Burgundian nose with a very buttery nose. There was ripeness on the palate, but the finish was dry.
2018 Domaine du Pelican Arbois Chardonnay En Barbi - surprisingly oily on the nose. Actually a little disppointing overall, as it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. A food wine, I suppose.
This was a very good first meal, and I got to see the different types of fish that a high end establishment sitting on the French coast would offer. Alexandre and his team have obviously spent a lot of time getting as much flavor as possible out of the bounty from the sea, showing the lengths they would go not to waste any part of the treasures. He cares deeply about his island home and invites the world to come see what they can offer. And we get another chance tomorrow to see what else he can do.
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