Andoni Luis Aduriz - Mugaritz

September 1st, 2013

In the long list of amazing tables from Spain, Mugaritz clearly belongs to the top ones! It is located in the Basque region (a possible food-lovers heaven?) along with several other incredible restaurants such as Martin Berasategui or Akelare (and possibly Arzak even if my experience there was not memorable). Definitely worth the journey wherever you're from!

The restaurant is located in the country side in a very bucolic setting. The nice weather permitted a lengthy after-lunch on the terrace before hitting the road back.

The exquisite cuisine is collectively produced by a large staff that you can meet in the modern kitchen. The cuisine style borrows lightly from the trends of molecular cuisine but without too much emphasis. The molecular tricks includes: frozen food, witty mimetic eats (cocoa-butter wrapping in this instance), dried ingredients, low-temperature cooking, etc. This shall not in anyway scare the molecular cuisine detractors as the meal is perfectly balanced and follows all academic standards of a 3-star meal.

Foie gras macaron
(in which egg white has been very cleverly swapped with pig's blood!)

Tendon. Honey mead, yolks and dipping ash.

"Fishbones" with nuances of lemon, garlic and cayenne pepper

Smoked toast, 100% lobster

Tanned lobster flesh and fermented rice.

Tortoloxak!

Edible stones

Small crustaceans

Grilled toast of bone marrow with herbs and horseradish ash

Ice shreds. Scarlet shrimp perfume.

Egg yolk tucked in with an anemone blanket

Grilled squid with onion

Cantabrian sea Bonito and dark Marmitako juice

Loin of Hake, tiger nut starch and concentrated clam juice

Red mullet in a buter of its own liver. Almonds and bread.

Sweetbreads

Iberian pork with sour leaves and crème fraiche

The cow and the grass

Iced rye cream with aged toffee

Frozen almond turron

Roasted peach and "Rock tea"

Glass. Sugar and cocoa as a cookie

Candy caviar

Delicacy tower

Flower, herb and vegetable garden

Mugaritz
Aldura Aldea, 20
20100 Errenteria
Gipuzkoa
+ 34 943 522 455

+ 34 943 518 343

http://www.mugaritz.com/

Stéphane Jégo - The game season at l'Ami Jean.

October 1st 2014

We already talked about the incredible food from Stéphane Jégo in a previous article. Now that all regions have now opened the hunting season, it's is time for the chef to once again cast a spell on all kind of game (birds and furry).
Wild game is somewhat of an acquired taste, if that is not your preference the chef still offers a wide selection of more popular dishes. Anyway, connoisseurs rush at chez l'Ami Jean and fall under the charm of the wizard.

Thank you again, Chef!

Lentil and foie gras soup

Hare à la Royale, chestnut and mashed potatoes

Grouse and Whisky 

Roasted partridge

Chez l'Ami Jean
27 rue Malar
75007 Paris
+33 1 47 05 86 89
http://www.lamijean.fr/

Yoann Conte, Return to Veyrier-du-Lac

September 21st, 2014


What a pleasure to return to Yoann Conte's beautiful place by the Lake Annecy! (See previous article here). Returning a place you have liked is always a challenge, you run the risk of being disillusioned by the wonderful memories that your mind had embellished. But here nay! The cuisine is still exceptionally modern and flavorsome! The greeting from the joyous chef comes as an additional pleasure as if we had come the week before. A special mention is to be delivered by the wait staff who managed to deliver an excellent and professional service without being stuffy, even bringing a dash of humor.

"And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey, nonny, nonny."

Beef Tartare

Smoked Fera

Oyster and borage flowers

Large and smoked carabinero prawn, cooked on stone

Carrot in every ways

Dublin Bay prawn, sweet spices, citrus purrée

Leman Lake Fera, banana guacamole, sweet woodruff

A intentional tribute (not quite there yet) to Thierry Marx's sweetbread spaghetti. See the original version here. Excellent nevertheless!

Yoann Conte

13 Vieille route des pensières

74290 Veyrier du Lac

+33 4 50 09 97 49

contact@yoann-conte.com

Michel Roth - Bayview

September 20th 2014

Wow, shortly after the landing in Geneva, what good start to have lunch in front of the Lake Geneva, next to the former League of Nations building!

Now that Michel Roth has left the Ritz and taken over all food business at the President Wilson, it was worth a try. Michel Who, you say?  Michel Roth is the former chef from the Ritz and more importantly one of the very few chefs to have received the two most prestigious prizes of Meilleur Ouvrier de France and Bocuse d'Or. Nothing less!

The cuisine was generous and tasteful. Some accidentally dry spherified pearls came with the appetizers (not pictured below). I am very afraid that this unmastered technique might be another case which adversely advocates against the molecular cuisine in the public opinion. That said, this small unfulfillment didn't affect the rest of the meal which was globally brilliant.
The lunch deal is a steal especially in Geneva at the President Wilson Hotel among Bentleys and Rolls Royces!

Coconut and lime mousse

Snail mille-feuille

Fera, crayfish, crisp bread and south-style vegetables

Fig tart

Caramel and corn mousse

Bayview Restaurant by Michel Roth
47, Quai Wilson · 1211 Geneva · Switzerland
Phone: +41 22 906 65 52
http://www.hotelpresidentwilson.com/en/bayview-restaurant

Benoît Violier - Crissier

September 20th 2014


After the celebrated Frédy Girardet and Philippe Rochat who raised and maintained the three Michelin stars for several decades at the restaurant Crissier, Benoît Violier has now taken over the kitchen.

The young chef who has been working for many years with his two famous predecessors, succeeds in delivering an excellent cuisine which is anchored in tradition. Each dish is tasteful and flawlessly executed.

One small regret is about the bakery which despite a wide choice from a visually very appealing bread basket is not on par with the rest of cuisine.

On that evening, Benoît Violier was brushing up his upcoming game menu with some special guests (we couldn't help on snooping at their dish). It looked promising and it would give a reason to come back.

Raw and cooked vegetables medley with oscietre caviar

Crab and avocado

Saffron mussels, young vegetabels and sauvignon sauce

Porcini soft cake and girolles

Crispy red-mullet, tomato pulp, zucchini and picholines

Lobster à la "Saintongeaise"

Beef fillet, Madagascar pepper

Apricot compote, red fruit tonic

Melting-heart coconut, wild strawberries

Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville
1, rue d’Yverdon
CH-1023 CRISSIER – SWITZERLAND
Telephone : +41 (0)21 634 05 05
http://www.restaurantcrissier.com/

Christophe Saintagne - Alain Ducasse at the Plaza Athénée

June 27th 2013

Here's another set of old pictures published to support nowadays news. With Ducasse reopening at the Plaza Athénée, let's revisit Christope Saintagne's (now in charge of the Meurice) cuisine.

Let's forget molecular cuisine, let's forget complex pretentious compositions, the great achievement of this cuisine is to demonstrate the elegance of the simplicity. Of course, the usual codes of haute-cuisine are there (lobster, caviar, pigeon, sweetbread, etc.) but the simplicity with which those are prepared is a perilous endeavour. No hiding behind a heavy sauce, no masking of the products. However risky this stance is, the Alain Ducasse and his team manage to deliver a truly wonderful experience.

A huge part of this experience is also due to the monitoring and presence of the Denis Courtiade, the maitre d'hotel whose judgement and heartfelt attention is becoming rare. A maitre d'hotel like Monsieur Courtiade somehow preserves from oblivion the incredible service and class of the great Maitres d'Hotel from other times and other places like the dearly missed Jean-Claude Vrinat.

Mr Ducasse on the other hand was not there, probably flying between Tokyo and Las Vegas to maintain the culinary empire he has created.

Lardo di Colonnata

Vegetables, olives (cooked in a salt crust)

Dublin bay prawns, caviar

Turbot, yonug vegetables

Spider crab, squid

Lobster, "sea potato"

Sweetbread

Spicy lamb

Pigeon, radish, mustard

Pigeon offals

Roasted poultry, herbs, girolles

Strawberry

Cottage yew cheese, caramel, pepper

Baba au rhum

Hôtel Plaza Athénée
25, avenue Montaigne
75008 Paris, France

Tel. +33 (0)1 53 67 65 00
Fax. +33 (0)1 53 67 65 12
adpa@alain-ducasse.com
www.plaza-athenee-paris.fr