ARTHUR HUNGRY - The Le Meurice restaurant review

Alright, so it appears the FTP issues are being caused by the wireless router we got over here. Hopefully I'll be able to sort them out; either way I've been able to upload files using a different connection. In the mean time, I've been having a blast here in Sydney, and some good eats too... but those are for later.

On the Friday of our France trip we finally bade farewell to our base camp in Maillane and got on an afternoon TGV for Paris. It turns out that on that day there was some kind of injury on the track that was causing delays throughout the country. Luckily for us, it was only for the southbound trains, so ours was fine. Hope the guy was okay... we had dinner reservations to make though. We arrived Paris in the late afternoon and checked into Hotel Scribe, a Sofitel-run spot at the edge of the 9th arrondissement. My dad had done his research well, and we got 3 connecting rooms with a big living room meeting area. The hotel is right near La Madeleine and walking distance to all the big shopping action.

Our dinner for Friday night was booked at Le Meurice, a Michelin two star that was this year awarded the title of "espoir." The translation is "hope", and it is a new designation in the guide for restaurants that appear to be approaching a promotion to three stars. Le Meurice has certainly been getting a lot of buzz throughout the blogosophere; most people seem to think the place is excellent and that it will get its third star soon. The Chef, Yannick Alleno, actually used to helm the kitchen at the restaurant inside Hotel Scribe until he went to Le Meurice a few years ago. Since then Le Meurice's reputation has been growing.

The dining room is just off to the right when you walk inside Hotel Meurice. If I had to use one word to describe it, I'd use grandiose. There are some pictures on the website that give you an idea of the place, but it's a pretty impressive sight in person. The place is extreme, formal, even gaudy. It kinda feels like it's meant for royalty, with crazy chandeliers, paintings on the wall, extremely fancy furniture, the whole deal really. I, being the modern high-tech jetsetter that I am, would say it's a bit stuffy of a place to eat at regularly, but I do admit it really is beautiful, and would be a great spot for that special occasion.

ham bread

I actually sat a bit later than everyone, because I'd stupidly left my camera at our hotel, and I wasn't going to miss out on these photos. So by the time I got back, everyone was seated and had already had a bite of this ham bread stuff. It was browned on the outside and almost croissant-like inside. Very tasty.

melon gelée

They had an interesting tasting menu that looked great, but there was a certain main dish that I really wanted to try, so we went à la carte. This amuse came soon after, and it was a great one. You can't see, but there are a good number of little chunks of melon inside, and the whole thing was sweet, refreshing, and very fresh. It got us all very eager to eat more.

lightly smoked back of Balik salmon in potato scales, leek
cream and French caviar from the Aquitaine region - 68 euros

I'm not usually one to order salmon, but this appetizer called my name, and I have to say this was the most exceptional piece of salmon I've ever had. At the time I had no idea what Balik salmon meant, but after the fact I looked it up and apparently it's one of the most prized smoked salmons in the world. It's a prime center cut from Russia, also known as Fillet Tolstoy. The potato on the edge cave it a light, crispy edge, while the meat itself was impossibly tender and smooth. The leek cream and caviar did a wonderful job salting each bite. I'm not caviar pro, but this stuff was good to me, although I don't think I'd ever had caviar from France before. Simply delicious.

breast of chicken from Bresse region, foie gras between skin
and flesh, chanterelle mushrooms and stuffed turnips - 85 euros

From there we moved immediately to our main dishes, which was mildly disappointing because I expected some kind of inter-course freebie. Can't complain too much though. This dish, which I saw on their online menu, was the major reason for me requesting Le Meurice as a stop on our trip. Foie gras between skin and flesh? How awesome does that sound? Thankfully, this dish absolutely delivered. When they served this, the foie gras was still actually between the meat and the skin; the photo above is after they cut it up and plated everything. This chicken was just ridiculously tender. Re-frickin-diculous. The turnips were also great - soothing, almost juicy, with a delightful chopped mushroom filling. And, needless to say, the foie gras was silky smooth.

Of course, I'm sure you're all asking: "Well Arthur? Which chicken was better, Le Meurice or Baumanière?" And to that question, I honestly have to wimp out and say I don't know. They were both delicious. I think the one at Le Meurice had a more pure chicken flavor that interacted with the chanterelles, while the one at Baumanière leaned a bit more on the sauce. I guess I'll have to eat a few more Bresse chickens before I can make a more concrete comparison...

poached filet of beef with bone marrow, early onion raviolis
flavored with ginger - 58 euros

I had to sneak a picture of this dazzling main dish that my dad got. We were perplexed as to how Alleno achieved such a perfect beef texture through poaching - we still don't understand. The beef was just cooked on the outside, and perfectly medium rare throughout the entire inside. The buttery bone marrow melted right in. The bite I had was amazing, and for 58 euros this was a relative steal on the main dish list.

white cow's cheese, Livarot, Pont-Levec

I tried a couple of new ones this time around... Didn't catch the name of the fresh white cow's cheese, but it looked better than it tasted. It looked really nice and creamy, but was actually a bit dry. The Livarot was nice... a bit stronger than the Pont l'Evêque.

chocolate shell with cream, strawberries with lemon sorbet
and basil, macaroon with rose cream and berries

These pre-desserts were excellent. Although I didn't care too much for the chocolate one, the macaroons with rose cream were delicious - very light, with a strong berry flavor and a very noticeable hint of rose. I had 3. The sorbet one was very refreshing; my aunt Agnes will attest to that. She had 3. Lucky for us both, there were people at the table who were too full to clean up their portions. :)

Caribbean chocolate fondant, speculos ice cream - 24 euros

We'd yet to have a truly satisfying dessert experience - the stuff we had in Provence usually had an element that was overly sweet. At Le Meurice, the dessert finally started coming together. This chocolate was like a very rich cross between a cake and a wafer. Very satisfying for chocolate lovers, and well-balanced by the speculos (a type of cinnamon) ice cream.

vanilla, coffee, or chocolate: napoleon your favorite way - 24 euros

My dad's dessert was a much more elaborate operation and very worthy of a story. The waiter brought a trolley over, a sort of millefeuille cart. On it was a huge pile of millefeuille-style pastry in plain and chocolate, a few containers with different flavored creams, as well as a few different sauces and a few toppings. My dad got to pick what combination of creams, pastry, sauce and nuts he wanted, and the waiter plated it at the table. This picture shows plain pastry with vanilla, coffee, and chocolate cream, chocolate sauce, and pistachios. My dad couldn't stop fawning over this deconstruction of the millefeuille – it was like a Cubist interpretation of the common dessert. He ate his whole portion as well as half of my aunt's. I will say right now that in 21 years, I have never EVER seen my dad eat more than one portion of dessert, so the fact that this actually happened should earn Le Meurice some kind of gold star. No... platinum star. Le Meurice, I salute you.

lemon and olive oil Madeleines

With our coffee came these plump, green, healthy-sized Madeleines. And they were the best Madeleines of the trip, browned and crusty on the outside, buttery and cakey on the inside. The lemon and olive oil were both subtle but definitely there. Delicious.

This was an amazing meal, and a great start to our Paris stay. The only bummer, and I'm nitpicking here, is we didn't seem to get as many freebies as some other places. It would have been nice to get a hot amuse after the melon gelée, or something in between the app and the main. Still, the food and service are all class, and like Pim said, it seems a matter of time before it gets its third star. Maybe next time we should get the dégustation...