I wanted very much
to revisit "La
Maison de Marc
Veyrat" on my way
back from my small
trip in
Switzerland, but it
will be reopened
only at the very end
of March.And,
considering that his
restaurant in Megève
is sold, Marc Veyrat
seems to be on long
holidays:)
So the only
possibility of
dining well that
evening in Annecy
was
Le Clos des Sens,
one star.Update.
It has received its
second Michelin star
in 2007.
The place is
beautiful I must
say: reddish walls,
fine lighting
created very cosy,
welcoming ambiance.
Martine Petit (the
wife of the Chef
Laurent Petit) ,an
energetic lady
greeted us and
handed the menus.
While having a quick
look at their menu
online, I saw that
the choices were
very poor, but at
that very moment
I
realized that there
was nothing I really
liked.
There were only 13 à la carte dishes
and the menu was
structured in a
strange,
unconventional way.
Only two seafood
entrees ( "sea
urchin "à la coque, crystallized
garlic" and "carrément"
crab, shellfish
sorbet"), one
vegetarian (" plants
risotto"), two with
foie gras and one
simply bizarre (
"garlic", "pieds de
porc" and "snails".)
The only fish
proposition was fish "selon
l'arrivage" and
that day they had
cod and sea bass
each prepared in
different ways . As
for meat ,there were
6 choices, which I
found very
unbalanced and
"unfair" vis a vis
the vegetarian and
fish propositions.
Here is what we
had-the descriptions
of images
respectively.
- "Vegetables
chips" , which
were plain, but
well executed-
you could feel
the natural
flavor of the
vegetables.
- Amuse bouche
" onion ice
cream, reblochon
cheese cone with
smoked bacon,
very thin potato
chip" . The
onion ice cream
was a little too
intense, but the
reblochon cone
was excellent.
- "Carrément" crab
with shellfish
sorbet" was dull
and boring. Crab
taste was
overpowered by
the overcooking.
- "Cod with
its brandade"
was dry and,
again, very
boring.
- "44 degrees
sea bass, cryogenised
olive oil,
celery and
truffles". This
dish was very
interesting just
for the fact
that when it
arrived at the
table, the
cryogenised
olive oil was
drizzled over
the fish. You
could see the
olive oil's
genesis: from
flour like
powder to its
natural
consistency.
The sea bass
tasted good, but
ordinary- like
fish in a "soup"
of olive oil.
We didn't take
any dessert but
rather opted for the
Alps cheese tray – probably the longest
cheese tray
I have
ever seen and the
cheese was very
delicious. The most
savourous "dish"
that evening...
Laurent Petit ,
the self proclaimed
"artisan culinaire"
with "back to
sources of taste"
philosophy , finally
seems to care more
about the esthetics
rather than the
taste. The creations
of Laurent Petit
looked beautiful,
but quite dull and
tasteless. I
wouldn't call it
another Ferran Adria
wannabe, but the
cooking of Petit is
not that "mad" and
creative to be
"another Pierre
Gagnaire" and is not
the delicious to be
"another Joël
Robuchon"... At
least for the
moment...
