The most exciting meal of the trip. Full tasting menu at dinner. Started the meal with a tour of the kitchen and bread tower, where we had a chance to talk with both Cesar and Michel Troisgros. Throughout the meal, anyone could have gone back into the kitchen to watch.
Dinner highlights: Original, innovative flavor combinations on almost all of the dishes. The crayfish with strawberries was wild. The cabbage and caviar with butter sauce mixed high and low. The pigs head plin with a deeply spiced sorrel consome was rich. Seabass with candied tomatoes, African spices, and a table side sauce. Their simple take on Duck a l’Orange was delicate and flavorful. You can tell the staff care deeply about this place, and would do anything to make the experience more enjoyable — both in the restaurant and at the hotel. Digestif after dinner could be taken in any room on the property, including the library, lounge, bar, in the room, or at the tale.
Not so good parts: The first course of green beans. It came in a nice gochugang-like vinaigrette, which was nice, but the beans were too waxy and on the teeth felt like chewing on a rubber band. The service was warm, but the sommelier was clearly overworked and at times it took awhile to refill our glasses. One man got visibly drunk and walked into the kitchen and started yelling at the kitchen complaining about the food. He shattered a glass. The staff were indefatigably patient with him, and promptly brought him a new wine glass and placemat.
Accommodations: The hotel was unlike any Relais and Chateau we’ve ever been to. The hospitality of a three star restaurant inside a hotel. The rooms well apportioned, free run of the entire complex for guests throughout the stay, including a .75 mile running/walking loop around their pond, complete with canoes and mountain bikes. A pool, Nordic bath, crepes, strawberries, and other snacks available at anytime of the day. We didn’t have a chance to iron our clothes beforehand, so they picked them up from our room and steamed/ironed them free of charge.
Breakfast: A bountiful spread of cheeses, cured meat and fish, fresh fruit, real coffee, cheesecake and gougeres.
Conclusion: Of the three 3-star restaurants, two 2-star restaurants, and one 1-star restaurant we went to on this trip, no restaurant came remotely close to Troisgros in terms of innovation, hospitality, creativeness, with subtle flavors and textures. A true benchmark restaurant with wrap-around service.
by ChezCooper
16 Comments
holy shit holy shit holy shit
Fxxk me, the size of that kitchen!!
Is that a pic of the wine pairing? If yes, DAMN.
What was the 3rd *** you went to, out of interest?
Or is that for another post…
forced my wife to sit through the full 4 hours documentary. badass chef and team.
Props to the staff for being patient with the drunk guy. I would not have been able to handle that situation with grace or class. But at what point would they say: you’re disrupting the dining room, please leave? Are they so over-accommodating that they’d let someone like that continue to dine?
No salmon and sorrel sauce? Literally inedible 1 * yelp review from me. /s
We pre ordered dishes from the vintage menu this year – Salmon and Sorrell, Beef with Wine and Marrow and the almond souffle (I think the original was hazelnut but it was epic)
It was one of the greatest meals I’ve had. Top three. Highly recommended going old school here, no offence to the younger generation
Looks excellent. I was in France last year and was between eating here and Maison pic where I had a mediocre meal. Fomo kicking in pretty hard this afternoon
I ate at the Michele Troisgros in Tokyo twice, once when he was there. Fantastic and what I think a 3-star restaurant should be like. No flaws from the moment you enter until the moment you leave
Is there a trick to booking a room? The next two years show no availability for me
It’s very impressive how the Troisgros dynasty managed to keep the restaurant relevant by being the longest continuous *** restaurant compared to that former title holder Restaurant Paul Bocuse. The brothers even took part in the latest season of Top Chef France for the first time in 15 years. A somewhat populist filmed appearance after that colossal Fred Wiseman documentary that is a must watch.
Food looks good and the cheese cart legendary.
Do you think their hotel will receive three Michelin keys also? As it stands, it doesn’t look like it received even one, but I’m not really aware of the inaugural strategy of keys in France, or elsewhere for that matter. Maybe the guide skipped certain areas.
Thanks for including the wines! You picked nothing but bangers, but my favorite is that Vin Jaune.
Funny story. Was there on our honeymoon. A cat had gotten into the dining room and unbeknownst to us the staff was discreetly trying to corral it. It ended up under our table and rubbed up against my wife’s bare ankle. She had no idea what it was and let out a scream. At this point the staff came running to retrieve the cat and couldn’t hold back their laughter. Good times.
That snack table looks so enticing!!
Troisgros has been my favorite restaurant in the world for many years. It is a special place.