Review: Maison Rostang, Paris

Maison Rostang

Maison Rostang

We couldn’t have a trip to Paris without a Michelin-starred meal. Well… or perhaps we could. I’ve become a bit jaded about Michelin star cuisine in France; far too many provincial French restaurants who have been awarded a star for being able to put out a hit-and-miss menu of dishes ten years behind many great unstarred restaurants in the UK in balance, presentation and invention. Complete waste of time and money. Sit me down in a good bistro or brasserie with a pile of classics, I’ll save the aspirational dinners for when I’m back home.

So how about Maison Rostang? It’s a proper Michelin dining room: wood-panelled walls, white linen, mighty wine bible, giant silver-plated accoutrements from yesteryear. There’s something comforting about sitting down in a room like this and knowing exactly what you are going to get, in food, service and ambiance.

Tuna

Tuna

The canapes and the crab amuse bouche were all well executed and tasty, though none had the knock-out punch that sometimes makes me want to say “just line a dozen of these up and I’ll be happy!” My starter were little buttons of confit tuna, topped with tiny tempura and paired with a cucumber sauce, delicious but perhaps a little small. Maureen enjoyed two really splendid spears of green asparagus, poached to perfection and carrying a powerful smoky flavour. The fennel sabayon was light and full-flavoured, making for a very good combination.

My main was pigeon with white asparagus. The pigeon breasts were superb pieces, very carefully cooked with a nice sear on the outside. The crunchy almond crumb on top worked well and the pigeon jus was smashing. Liver and leg meat had been blended into a very gnarly blob of flavour to one side. The asparagus was also excellent, carrying a hum of basil flavour with it, although it felt like a slightly separate dish. Maureen’s sweetbread was pronounced good, the surface caramelised and crisp. Stewed artichokes went well with it and the vin jaune jus brought the dish together nicely. Worth mentioning that our friend had their classic pike quenelle with lobster sauce, and the taste of it I tried was blissful.

Cigar

Cigar

Dessert was a very nifty looking cigar, made of some kind of wafer-thin pastry and filled with a delicate cognac mousse. There was a discernable tobacco flavour in the pastry, which was nice, but I’d have loved this dessert more if they’d found a way to pack more of both flavours – tobacco and cognac – into the dish. In the event the marsala ice cream that came with it was the best part.

All this for about £150 each without drinks (at 2022 exchange rates). It goes without saying that we were guided to a couple of bottles of excellent wine along the way, though most of the wine menu is over E100 of course. So I’m left to summarise back where I started: sometimes it’s comforting to sit down and know exactly what you’re going to get in food, service and ambiance. The problem is with me: I usually go out wanting to be excited by food, not comforted.

Pigeon

Pigeon

Review: Lahpet, Covent Garden

Lahpet

Lahpet

I can’t remember the last time I got to try a completely new cuisine. Oh, I must be getting old and jaded! But luckily I’ve found Lahpet and had my first introduction to Burmese food. This is something I want to tell any foreign tourist visiting London for a holiday: the whole point of London is how brilliantly (if expensively) we have got the whole world of food in one city. By all means have a fish and chips, and maybe a meal at Quality Chophouse. But then maybe fill the rest of your time with tables at… oh I dunno… Barrafina, Humble Chicken, Kiln, Paradise, Padella and Lahpet. The world in a city.

Anyway, Lahpet. We started with fritters, apparently a big street food thing in Burma. All three were good although the slightly gooey sweetcorn and shallot (the black one) had the best flavour and texture. The pickled green tea salad was a revelation. “All salads should be like this” as

Fritter box

Fritter box

Maureen put it. It was just crunchy right through, from the garlicky chips of double-fried broad beans to the pea shoots and peanuts, but with bright and earthy flavours from citrus and those pickled green tea leaves. Chicken thigh skewers were char-grilled beautifully.

We also chose a great curry; Hake Masala. The gravy was wonderfully bright and punchy, something like a south Indian moilee, and the lemongrass flavour in the cassava rosti that came with it was a really clever and delicious addition. I hope lemongrass cassava rosti is a real thing in Burma, because I’d like to meet it again some day! Coconut rice was good with it. We also got a side of Burma’s favourite relish: balachaung, a mighty hit of pounded dried shrimp with lime and chilli and stuff. It is dangerously addictive, but does also rather overpower anything you eat it with.

We had a good sized lunch for about £22 each before drinks. Lahpet can go straight up into the pantheon of “handy places to know in the West End for a delicious casual meal.”

Green tea salad

Green tea salad

Review: Five Little Pigs, Wallingford

Kedgeree

Kedgeree

Serendipity. We decided to walk a section of the Thames Path starting in Wallingford, and then up popped a review by Jay Rayner of the Five Little Pigs in Wallingford. So we decided that brunch at the ‘Pigs would be a great start to a six hour walk!

Wallingford is an odd town. It looks a bit tattered and most of the shops are ones you’d imagine to have been there for thirty or forty years, gradually fading. Yet its a handsome old country town and right in the middle the main supermarket is a large Waitrose. Plus it has the Five Little Pigs, which seems to have parachuted in from Marlow or Henley, very smart and modern but relaxed.

I had to have the full English, or as they call it: the Five Little Pigs. Sausage, white pudding, black pudding plus two rashers of bacon = five. I think the bacon is cheating. Maybe lard to spread on your toast would finish the five better? The toast was EXCELLENT. Not often I put toast in caps. Thick sliced, scorched, of the most delicious seeded sourdough, apparently from the Orange Bakery in nearby Watlington. All the meat is local too, and every element was excellent. Particular shout-outs to the very herby white pudding and the utterly piggy sausage. Special mention to the tangy rhubarb ketchup they’d whizzed up to go with it all.

Maureen’s kedgeree was satisfying too, hefty on the trad English curry flavour. All in all a worthy brunch, and I came away with a strong sense that you wouldn’t be disappointed by lunch or dinner at the Five Little Pigs.

Big piggy brunch

Big piggy brunch

Review: Mirazur, Menton, Cote d’Azur

Beetroot rose

Beetroot rose

The important question to answer: is a meal at Mirazur worth 380 euros per head? That’s just the menu, no drinks. Although this being France, the wine list had options all the way down to 60 euros!

Anyway, the answer is “no” by any objective measure. I’ve enjoyed two or three tasting menus every bit as accomplished recently for well under half the price. I guess you’re paying for the “World’s Best Restaurant” moniker and the three Michelin stars.

Well, to be fair, you are also paying for a bloody amazing view of the sun setting over the Cote d’Azur through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window walls, for immaculate but actually warm and friendly service, and for some really splendid loos.

Razor clam chawanmushi

Razor clam chawanmushi

Also really exquisite presentation. There were more simply beautiful dishes served at this meal than I’ve seen at any other table. Maybe it was all the flowers…

The Mirazur tasting menu is themed and rotates with the lunar cycle; leaves, flowers, fruits, roots. I’m sure the lunar cycle thing is very important. Stop rolling your eyes, oh cynical reader! But I do have to respect the dedication to theming. We landed on flowers and flowers ran through every course of the menu, in inventive and often delicious ways. There were some truly stellar touches. Geranium infused oil to dip bread in was absolutely exquisite, strongly yet sweetly perfumed. There was a langoustine dish in three parts, and the stuffed head was absolutely belting. The other two parts were both very nice.

Artichoke tart

Artichoke tart

But I did find myself using the terms “very nice” and “lovely” through a lot of the courses. And I really wished I could be going “phwoar!” or “oh… WOW!” more often. The main course was an artichoke tart (artichokes being flowers, yar?) and I thought that was a brave and imaginative choice. Unfortunately it wasn’t really a pleasurable eat, the myriad of artichoke slivers on the tart looking quite beautiful but also quite dried out and chewy. The raw artichoke salad and the little artichoke tortellini in broth were both much better. Very nice.

So, yeah. Mirazur is in a stunning spot, and has given itself an ambitious and inventive theme. You will certainly have a splendid feast of highly refined French cooking, it will look utterly beautiful and you’ll be very well looked after. You can decide if that’s worth around £350 per person before drinks.

Mirazur sunset

Mirazur sunset

Moilee with roast monkfish

Start by frying…
* 1 big shallot finely chopped
* 2 garlic cloves
* 1cm piece of ginger
* 12-15 curry leaves
* 1 tsp mustard seeds

Once the shallot is soft add in…
* 1 tsp turmeric
* ground up kaffir lime leaves
* 1-2 red chilli, finely chopped
* 1 tsp ground coriander
* 1 tsp black pepper
* 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Then add…
* 200ml coconut milk
* 100ml dashi
* 1/2 tsp salt

Let this simmer for 20 mins, adding a bit of water if needed. Meanwhile roast monkfish (or another white fish) for 8 mins at 200c. Tip any pan juices into the moilee. Add the fish to warm through, and some tomatoes chopped in big chunks.