The chef from Hell
, wine, duck, aligote
Paris food reviews
07/12/09 23:10 Filed in: Food and Travel
The joy of Paris .
Although I am here for a hospital appointment I have succumbed to the charms of time spent in this city of eaters!
Moments after alighting from the train I was enjoying the warm crush in the metro as it rumbled towards rambautu .
Just a street away from the Pompidou centre nestles L'Ambassade d'Auvergne and thats exactly what they are.
The menu is drawn from the cooking of the Auvergne. Pate of wild boar with hazelnuts, no doubt something the animal forages for before he ends up on a plate in Paris.
Quite a toothsome pate hugely rustic in it's preparation clad in thick slices of
pork back fat tasting of real pork a flavour that cannot be replicated without using a good animal so some attention to detail and provenance.
I could not enter this restaurant without having left without eating aligote (mashed potato bound with cantal cheese and garlic so I was immediately drawn to the
Maiget de. Canard served rare as a preference scythed in two and served with aligote. Much theatre is made of the appearance of the aligote at the table and much stirring and pulling with a wooden spoon demonstrating it's delicious elasticity, finally coming to rest on my plate. If one was to be critical (well ok then) it did have a slightly industrial taste I think brought about that garlic powder was used in the seasoning, which did bring about some confusion after the starter.
I indulged but only slightly in some wine a St pourcain,
Red and rather good.
No dessert here as in a matter of a few hours another meal would be in front of me.
I had never seen Gaite on the metro map before just perhaps not needing to go there for any particular reason left it out of my periphery.
Well not any longer, recommended by a good friend a surgeon previously based in Paris, who better to understand where to eat the medical profession well known for it's culinary indulgencies.
I'll get to the point, Fish was on the menu this evening and Cagouiile was the place, I had already booked courtesy of my friend, and when I arrived the place was packed Sunday night in Paris few restaurants are open.
The welcome was warm and the menu was presented on a blackboard (whiteboard to be exact) modern times!
An amuse of freshly steamed open clams drenched in buerre blanc was an inspiration wonderful simple cooking easy to aspire to but few manage it Anchovies I love anchovies and more so ,deep fried heaven.
Auxerros from Alsace 1999, a bargain and delicious to boot, the color of petrol with out the matching tasting notes.
The anchovies arrived suitably fried just dredged in flour and crispy so the whole fish could be eaten, surprisingly served old school with fried curly parsley, ah that brings back culinary memories! I sat there happy as a seal with whole fish being disposed of in a predatory manner the last thing to be seen was the crispy tail disappearing into my mouth.
At this point I have to mention the bread just magical, brown a hint of rye quite possibly wood fired crunchy on the out side with a wonderful open textured inner and with real flavour.
A moment of euphoria, perhaps longer, at least long enough to eat one and a half baskets.
For the main course saint Pierre (john dory) the legend has is that St peter reached into the sea and pulled this ugly little fish from the water and forever laid his mark thumb and forefinger on the fish and the mark is still there.
Well the man sainted as he was had taste in fish because the flesh of this fish is particularly good but does require patience and skill to cook to perfection absolutely no problem here.
You can tell when there is happiness in a kitchen it's immediately reflected in the cooking, I think they were probably jumping for joy here, perfection, a good buerre blanc with some torn chervil and a small side of boiled potato and fried red onion I could go into another dizzy spin over the potato but I'll save you the extra Reading let's just say mmmm.
Pudding, well diet and gym time forgotten, pear tart crisp pastry silky pear almond paste perfectly executed.
Although I am here for a hospital appointment I have succumbed to the charms of time spent in this city of eaters!
Moments after alighting from the train I was enjoying the warm crush in the metro as it rumbled towards rambautu .
Just a street away from the Pompidou centre nestles L'Ambassade d'Auvergne and thats exactly what they are.
The menu is drawn from the cooking of the Auvergne. Pate of wild boar with hazelnuts, no doubt something the animal forages for before he ends up on a plate in Paris.
Quite a toothsome pate hugely rustic in it's preparation clad in thick slices of
I could not enter this restaurant without having left without eating aligote (mashed potato bound with cantal cheese and garlic so I was immediately drawn to the
Maiget de. Canard served rare as a preference scythed in two and served with aligote. Much theatre is made of the appearance of the aligote at the table and much stirring and pulling with a wooden spoon demonstrating it's delicious elasticity, finally coming to rest on my plate. If one was to be critical (well ok then) it did have a slightly industrial taste I think brought about that garlic powder was used in the seasoning, which did bring about some confusion after the starter.
I indulged but only slightly in some wine a St pourcain,
Red and rather good.
No dessert here as in a matter of a few hours another meal would be in front of me.
I had never seen Gaite on the metro map before just perhaps not needing to go there for any particular reason left it out of my periphery.
Well not any longer, recommended by a good friend a surgeon previously based in Paris, who better to understand where to eat the medical profession well known for it's culinary indulgencies.
I'll get to the point, Fish was on the menu this evening and Cagouiile was the place, I had already booked courtesy of my friend, and when I arrived the place was packed Sunday night in Paris few restaurants are open.
The welcome was warm and the menu was presented on a blackboard (whiteboard to be exact) modern times!
An amuse of freshly steamed open clams drenched in buerre blanc was an inspiration wonderful simple cooking easy to aspire to but few manage it Anchovies I love anchovies and more so ,deep fried heaven.
Auxerros from Alsace 1999, a bargain and delicious to boot, the color of petrol with out the matching tasting notes.
The anchovies arrived suitably fried just dredged in flour and crispy so the whole fish could be eaten, surprisingly served old school with fried curly parsley, ah that brings back culinary memories! I sat there happy as a seal with whole fish being disposed of in a predatory manner the last thing to be seen was the crispy tail disappearing into my mouth.
At this point I have to mention the bread just magical, brown a hint of rye quite possibly wood fired crunchy on the out side with a wonderful open textured inner and with real flavour.
A moment of euphoria, perhaps longer, at least long enough to eat one and a half baskets.
For the main course saint Pierre (john dory) the legend has is that St peter reached into the sea and pulled this ugly little fish from the water and forever laid his mark thumb and forefinger on the fish and the mark is still there.
Well the man sainted as he was had taste in fish because the flesh of this fish is particularly good but does require patience and skill to cook to perfection absolutely no problem here.
Pudding, well diet and gym time forgotten, pear tart crisp pastry silky pear almond paste perfectly executed.
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