Le Jardin des Sens

The Arthur Hungry Review: September 2, 2005

The second part of our four star Thursday was booked at Le Jardin des Sens, a Michelin two star in Montpellier. It's the flagship restaurant of the Pourcel brothers, a pair of twin celebrity Chefs who command a restaurant empire that extends throughout France (La Compagnie des Comptoirs, for one) and beyond, to London and even Tokyo. The place actually had a brief stint as a three star, but lost one in 2005 - some suspect that Michelin isn't too happy with the Pourcels' rapid expansion. So in the same day, we ate lunch at a place the got promoted in 2005, and dinner at a place that got demoted. We were quite eager to compare. We were hoping that because of the lost star, the restaurant would be working doubly hard to prove themselves.

My grandma, grandaunt and cousins stayed in Maillane for the night. My dad, aunt and I made the long drive to meet my dad's friends Eric and Arlien who happened to be in Montpellier. Le Jardin des Sens was the longest drive of our trip, and unlike most of our other destinations, Montpellier is a full-fledged city. We didn't have a chance to look around town at all, but from what I understand it has a pretty big student population. The city setting of Le Jardin des Sens was certainly a stark contrast to all the country restaurants we'd been visiting.

While the outside of the restaurant looks fairly industrial and bleak, the inside is gorgeous. It's actually a little inn, with the restaurant on the ground floor. Around the building is a beautiful garden, with a bunch of nice trees, flowers, and a little pond. It was quite unexpected to find such a tranquil little spot given the urban surroundings. When we arrived, Eric & Arlien were already having a drink in the beautiful garden. We joined them there for a peach-based house apperitif, and we were also brought a few hors d'oeuvres.

pastry with anchovy paste crust, olive biscuits

We were told these pastries had an anchovy paste on them. To be honest I didn't really taste any anchovy - I would have guessed it was olive. They were very tasty though. Very hot, flaky and crispy.

fritters of pig's trotter

Another pig's trotter item, another favorite. The breading was crunchy and completely greaseless, while the pig's trotter inside was hot and tasty. Pig's trotter has a fatty, gooey, almost buttery texture that I just adore. The light cream added some balance. I think this was the tastiest thing we ate all night.

lobster spring roll

Next came these neat-looking lobster spring rolls. They seemed to be based on Vietnamese fresh rolls, using the same rice wrapping. Sadly it didn't taste as good as it looks. I couldn't tell you what the ingredients were; it tasted pretty dull given all the color.

At this point we moved inside the restaurant. The interior has a very clean and modern design, with floor-to-ceiling windows that reveal the beautiful garden outside. The restaurant was relatively empty, likely suffering from the demotion. I should note that we were quickly met by our sommelier, who oddly enough was a young Singaporean woman - the only Asian staff we saw on the whole trip. Don't know where else to mention that... Anyway, while the others went with the short set menu, I decided to order a la carte. To be honest, I wasn't even that hungry yet.

monkfish with a shellfish gelée and white cheese mousse

This amuse was quite interesting. I don't how to describe it... there were numerous decent chunks of monkfish under the mousse, mixed together with the gelée. As you might guess, the whole thing was cold. Lots of stuff going on, but I thought it was just okay. I think the flavor got a bit repetitive after a while.

raviolis of duck foie gras with cepe mushrooms and parmesan,
purple artichoke purée, cepe-smoked chicken stock, and
artichoke chips - 46 euros

One thing you'll notice about the Pourcel brothers is that their menus are mind-bogglingly complicated. Their style seems to enjoy throwing a lot of different ingredients together. These foie gras raviolis were extremely rich and filling. I must say it was probably a bad idea to order this since I wasn't that hungry, but I will also concede that I'm glad I got it. Despite the long description, this ended up being a pretty straight-up foie gras dish, and delivered a nice hearty foie flavor with an accent of artichoke.

filet of rabbit and fricassee of girolle mushrooms atop a fine
olive tart, with rabbit jus and summer truffles

My eyes got wide when this plate arrived. Look at those truffle slices! Sadly, the dish was quite disappointing. The truffles, despite their appearance, were completely lacking in both aroma and flavor. I actually preferred the pieces of rabbit on top of the olive tart with the jus to the pieces on the outside with the truffles. This was the single biggest dish I had on the trip, and I could only finish like 2/3 of it. The olive tart was very crisp and tasty. Overall the dish looked great and got me excited, but was pretty underwhelming.

cheeses

Nothing new or exceptional here. Pont l'Evêque every night for me. :)

petitfours part 1

The dessert stuff sort of started arriving all at once with our coffee. The Madeleines were pretty good but not outstanding. The churro looking things were a bit too sweet.

more petitfours and stuff

Lots of pretty looking stuff here, but nothing too memorable. I do remember liking the little ice cream pop things.

vanilla panna cotta with a red berry sauce

This little predessert was refreshing, and neither too sour nor too sweet. It was alright, but the red berry sorbet thing at Le Meurice (the night after) was better...

millefeuille with lemon sorbet and emulsion, berries

This millefeuille was just okay. Sorry about the overflash - I messed up the picture. Again, this was alright but not great. I think the chocolate cream was a bit on the heavy side, and the lemon was a bit sour. Not as good as some of the other millefeuilles we had.

So sorry I couldn't say more, but I was about to miss the bus for surf camp over the weekend (which was a lot of fun). After our four star day, I arrived at the following conclusions. The food at Chez Bru was better - I'd even say a lot better. The only standout thing from Le Jardin de Sens was the pied to cochon fritter. Chez Bru had several very delicious and memorable items. I do have to give the service edge to Le Jardin des Sens though. It's a sleeker, more professional operation, and the dining room with the garden view is beautiful. But for me it really comes down to the food, and if I had to choose, I'd go back to Chez Bru first.

© 2005 Arthur Che. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Arthur Hungry "eating one meal at a time" www.arthurhungry.com