Had the chance to try Chef Faye’s new menu at L’Epicure last week. I’m doxxing myself to the restaurant here, but I had a glass of champagne (aka one glass too many) and don’t remember it as well as I should.
The meal opened with three hors d’oeuvres: a black truffle and onion tartlet, an oyster with some jelly/emulsion, and a cracker topped with some mushrooms. All of these were reasonably tasty, but the standout for me was the tartlet, which tasted intensely savoury.
Next came the bread, which had a wonderful texture and was served with a black garlic butter from Normandy. Great bread is to be expected at a restaurant like this!
We were served an additional course not listed on the menu, which was centered on tomato. The first bite was a cherry tomato stuffed with stracciatella, followed by a borth made from green tomato. The broth had a very complex mix of flavours and included rice puffs, as well as these mozzarella balls that were freeze dried (?) and had a pleasant melt-in-your mouth texture.
My favourite course of the night was the blue lobster, paired with melon and hyssop. Both tail and claw were cooked perfectly; the latter didn’t have that mealy texture you sometimes get with claw meat. This was paired with a variety of preparations of melon: a sorbet on top of a fine dice, as well as slices of melon on top of sweet cylinders. Lastly, the dish was drizzled in a delicious lobster bisque sauce. The assortment of flavours and textures reminded me of Pierre Gagnaire’s style of remixing a particular ingredient, but this was all done within a single dish. Every bite was a joy to eat.
One of the dishes I was most anticipating was the osetra caviar paired with artichokes and a lime vinaigrette . The artichokes were again served in variation, including in dried chips of sorts, a diced layer beneath the caviar, and in the sauce. Unfortunately though, I found the entire dish to be rather lacking in flavour, which may be because it was served after the lobster; it looks like they have swapped the order of these two dishes more recently.
The first fish course was turbot, served with carrots and a carrot and ginger sauce. The vegetal flavours highlighted the natural sweetness of the fish, but there was nothing mindblowing here.
Next was red mullet, which was rather disappointing. My mom was rather nauseous from the wine (runs in the family I suppose) and was put off by the fishy smell of this course, so I ended up eating two servings. The fish was served with a tapenade as well as a tomato mixed with some herbs. I thought this dish was neither creative nor tasty, especially after some of the rather innovative courses served previously in the meal.
The final savoury course was pigeon paired with wild mushrooms and topped with some popcorn. On the side was a polenta mixed with pigeon jus. Both dishes were also seasoned throughout with black cardamom which was a bit too pervasive throughout the entire course, but this was otherwise solid.
L’Epicure’s tasting menu includes a cheese course, with an extensive selection of rare French cheeses. These were optionally accompanied by figs and a sweet olive jam.
The first of the desserts featured ice cream made from pollen and honey from hives atop of Le Bristol, sandwiched between two almond tuiles. On top was freeze dried raspberries, as well as some more honey flavoured with ginger. This was delicious – usually I find honey-based desserts to be way too sweet but the balance here was impeccable.
Finally came a decadent chocolate dessert, consisting of a ganache made with espelette pepper. There was no reinventing the wheel here in terms of flavours, and presentation could have been improved, but this was as tasty as any chocolate dessert I’ve had.
The meal didn’t end there of course – we were served four petit fours (no pun intended): a chocolate hazelnut praline, a crème caramel, a tonka bean tarte, and a grape foam that looked radioactive. I found the crème caramel to be particularly excellent, with a perfect bit of burnt sugar flavour. We were also given a loaf of brioche and a jar of chocolate hazelnut spread to go, which were great.
The ambiance and service are (still) top-notch which made for a great night. However, I think that there are still quite a few kinks to work out with the food, which I thought was a notch below the other 3*s I’ve been to (especially in Paris).
Nolanola
Not the stellar marks I was hoping for, but I’m gonna stick with my Epicure res next month and am still excited for it. I was planning to go a la carte anyway as there are dishes there that really catch my eye.
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Had the chance to try Chef Faye’s new menu at L’Epicure last week. I’m doxxing myself to the restaurant here, but I had a glass of champagne (aka one glass too many) and don’t remember it as well as I should.
The meal opened with three hors d’oeuvres: a black truffle and onion tartlet, an oyster with some jelly/emulsion, and a cracker topped with some mushrooms. All of these were reasonably tasty, but the standout for me was the tartlet, which tasted intensely savoury.
Next came the bread, which had a wonderful texture and was served with a black garlic butter from Normandy. Great bread is to be expected at a restaurant like this!
We were served an additional course not listed on the menu, which was centered on tomato. The first bite was a cherry tomato stuffed with stracciatella, followed by a borth made from green tomato. The broth had a very complex mix of flavours and included rice puffs, as well as these mozzarella balls that were freeze dried (?) and had a pleasant melt-in-your mouth texture.
My favourite course of the night was the blue lobster, paired with melon and hyssop. Both tail and claw were cooked perfectly; the latter didn’t have that mealy texture you sometimes get with claw meat. This was paired with a variety of preparations of melon: a sorbet on top of a fine dice, as well as slices of melon on top of sweet cylinders. Lastly, the dish was drizzled in a delicious lobster bisque sauce. The assortment of flavours and textures reminded me of Pierre Gagnaire’s style of remixing a particular ingredient, but this was all done within a single dish. Every bite was a joy to eat.
One of the dishes I was most anticipating was the osetra caviar paired with artichokes and a lime vinaigrette . The artichokes were again served in variation, including in dried chips of sorts, a diced layer beneath the caviar, and in the sauce. Unfortunately though, I found the entire dish to be rather lacking in flavour, which may be because it was served after the lobster; it looks like they have swapped the order of these two dishes more recently.
The first fish course was turbot, served with carrots and a carrot and ginger sauce. The vegetal flavours highlighted the natural sweetness of the fish, but there was nothing mindblowing here.
Next was red mullet, which was rather disappointing. My mom was rather nauseous from the wine (runs in the family I suppose) and was put off by the fishy smell of this course, so I ended up eating two servings. The fish was served with a tapenade as well as a tomato mixed with some herbs. I thought this dish was neither creative nor tasty, especially after some of the rather innovative courses served previously in the meal.
The final savoury course was pigeon paired with wild mushrooms and topped with some popcorn. On the side was a polenta mixed with pigeon jus. Both dishes were also seasoned throughout with black cardamom which was a bit too pervasive throughout the entire course, but this was otherwise solid.
L’Epicure’s tasting menu includes a cheese course, with an extensive selection of rare French cheeses. These were optionally accompanied by figs and a sweet olive jam.
The first of the desserts featured ice cream made from pollen and honey from hives atop of Le Bristol, sandwiched between two almond tuiles. On top was freeze dried raspberries, as well as some more honey flavoured with ginger. This was delicious – usually I find honey-based desserts to be way too sweet but the balance here was impeccable.
Finally came a decadent chocolate dessert, consisting of a ganache made with espelette pepper. There was no reinventing the wheel here in terms of flavours, and presentation could have been improved, but this was as tasty as any chocolate dessert I’ve had.
The meal didn’t end there of course – we were served four petit fours (no pun intended): a chocolate hazelnut praline, a crème caramel, a tonka bean tarte, and a grape foam that looked radioactive. I found the crème caramel to be particularly excellent, with a perfect bit of burnt sugar flavour. We were also given a loaf of brioche and a jar of chocolate hazelnut spread to go, which were great.
The ambiance and service are (still) top-notch which made for a great night. However, I think that there are still quite a few kinks to work out with the food, which I thought was a notch below the other 3*s I’ve been to (especially in Paris).
Not the stellar marks I was hoping for, but I’m gonna stick with my Epicure res next month and am still excited for it. I was planning to go a la carte anyway as there are dishes there that really catch my eye.
How long did dinner take? Thanks!