An 11th century castle
No more seats than at l'Astrance -- ten tables
Trained in great houses, he says he is new generation and wants to adapt the three-star restaurant to a new generation of customers
Amuses bouches: "cigarettes" filled with chorizo cream, gressini wrapped in lardo
Mises en bouches: a Japanese-inspired variation. From right to left: seafood Wan-Tan, sashimi of I don't remember what, half cooked and raw tuna;
And also a mushroom, miso-like soup
You can see the fine work -- delicious tuna
"Taschenkrebs und coquilles Saint Jacques: Effilochée vom Taschenkrebs mit Jakobsmuschelrosette/Algenkrokant/Zitrusfrüchtevinaigrette mit Mirinessig/Zitrusfrufrüchteair"
(which means:) edile crab and scallops: flesh of crab on a rosette of scallops, seaweed crisp, citrus und rice vinegar vinaigrette, citrus foamAt first the citrus is so overpowering you think you will never feel the taste of the crab, only its texture. But no. The crab kicks in in the second half. It's like the sea would retire and you reveal the animal. A wonder of balance and harmony.
A trilogy a foie gras -- first that "Gâteau" with green pepper, mango and gingerbread. Again a wonderful balance of textures and tastes, something very gentle and melty on the whole
Also a soup with a ravioli of foie gras, truffle and enoki mushrooms. And in between was a foie gras sorbet. Truffle taste was powerful, and on the whole, I can't say better than: the taste was in perfect accordance with the China. Sophisticated and shiny and beautiful, feels warm and comfortable, and also light.
Did I forget to mention the toasted brioche? By the way, they also had the guts to serve a toast of a different brioche as an amuse, warm from the toaster, with Normandy butter on the side for you to spread.
Lobster poached in butter, chestnut, salsifis, Périgord truffle and shellfish juice. A warm dish of vegetables in which perfect bites of Brittany blue lobster are hidden
A highlight of the meal: Gambas and sweetbread, roasted, on confit onions, foam of rosmary and juice of veal breast. It is like sweetbread and gambas are syblings. They have a dialog that works no matter how you do it -- mix the two in a bite, take one from each...An amazing thing is that there is no feeling of frustration or excess.
Each thing they bring you is great but there is no feeling that you would like more, it is like a story that has its end.
God this one was cool too. A sole from a small boat (a very big sole nonetheless), perfectly cooked at low temp, a crust of parmesan and bread, small artichokes, ravioli of parmesan, a tiny roll of Bellota (here is the feeling of frustration I was missing!) and a very light sauce, almost water, of Bellota and Olive oil.
Smallest pineapple on earth decorates the table
Lamb from the Muritz farm -- grilled shoulder, Garam Masala, eggplant purée, chips and vegetables.
Had it medium on the advice of the Chef but I missed the interest of that. It felt like just saying that there was meat. Quite good but did not bring much to the meal.
Festive pre-dessert, with whipped cream, confit kumquat, can't remember what the donut was and lemon sorbet
Chocolate and passion fruit -- Valrhona chocolate ganache and passion fruit, cocoa beans ice-cream. Once again an exceptional sense of harmony and composition, the passion fruit only there to highlight the bitter chocolate, make it less bitter yet quite bitter.
All vanilla dessert -- this is where I started thinking that it looks like Rochat, as exciting and precise and good-looking, only it tastes as good as it looks. Unlike Rochat, it delivers on its promise.
An overall view of the dessert table -- how festive does that look?
