Le Cinq, Paris

 

Whilst in Paris, this was hands down, the best meal I had. The restaurant is called Le Cinq, as you can see from the menu cover. A 2-star Michelin restaurant, Le Cinq is located conveniently inside the Four Season Hotel George V, 31 Ave. George V, 75008 Paris, France (Champs-Élysées).

The restaurant is elegant, spacious and grand with high ceilings and chandeliers. Giving it the "michelin-star" feel. Anyway here's a picture of the restaurant...

I went there for lunch because we couldn't get dinner reservations despite the best efforts of the concierge. But in any case, we just wanted to try the restaurant so it didn't matter what time of the day we visited. Here's a look at the menu...

 

You'll notice that the menu doesn't contain too many items, but I guess what they do, they do it well. Sorry there are no prices reflected on the menu! But I gather we spent about SGD$300 per person.

Bread is present throughout the meal as a matter of course. The French view it as a symbol of hospitality, and would never serve a meal without it. Water is optional though. Wine is the classic beverage of choice for meals, and is readily available regardless of restaurant class or type. Then came 2 courses of appetizers...

 

 

 

Honestly speaking though, out of the 6 little "Hors D’oeuvres" I could only recognize maybe 3 or 4 of them. On the top picture, on the left we had some sort of fried shrimp. It was really good, the sort of thing you can spends hours eating whilst watching TV. In the middle it was a lobster-essence soup which was cold. I'm not really a soup person, so for me that was...interesting. And then on the right we had some lobster-gelatine dish which was really good as well. The bottom picture comprises of, from left to right, salmon sashimi with Salmon roe and celery, a cheese pastry of some sort and lastly, cauliflower fried in truffle oil. They were all really tasty, but I think if you have too much of them, you definitely will get sian. So I guess that's why they come in bite sizes. Its not the kind of thing you will splash out on, but I guess it all adds to the experience.

 

For my starter I had the assorted shellfish. I think we all know, shellfish can only taste good if its fresh. The waiter assured me that the shellfish was excellent and in season and I had to have that, so I went with his suggestion.

 

The first picture of the half dozen fresh oysters we ordered to share. The second picture was my starter course. I had Oysters in Hollandaise sauce, scallops with caviar, a lobster bisque with salmon roe and langoustine prepared with various herbs. I'm not a chef by trade, so in no way am I able to dissect the various ingredients thrown into the preparation of the dishes, but you can bet your last dollar it was all really good.

 

I especially enjoyed the scallops with caviar because it had a good mix of flavour within such a simple, albeit top grade dish. The scallops(raw) were sweet and light and that coupled with the taste of the sea emitted by the caviar...brilliant. I would definitely recommend this combination if any of you have the good fortune of visiting this establishment any time soon.

 

My main was a dish actually meant for 2. I had the slow cooked lamb shoulder, again at the behest of the waiter. He was really insistent, in a good way I must add, we make the right choices. And yet again, he was proven right. It was the best, THE BEST, lamb I have ever had thus far in my 25 years existence. Cooked to slow perfection.

 

 

The top picture shows the waiter carving my lamb shoulder for us. One portion for me and one to share. The bottom picture was my serving. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that adage is certainly true. Just look at the glorious pinkish, moisture-ish, handsome piece of meat on that serving plate. Just thinking about it ALMOST makes me want to throw 2.5k down the can and book an air ticket back to Paris again.

Tender, juicy, slightly fatty. Pure Nirvana. Worth every single Euro I paid for it. Food always taste better when you're in the holiday spirit, but this was just outrageously good. Please, please order this if you ever get to visit. You wont regret it.

 

 

After the milk-fed lamb shoulder, dessert just wasn't going to cut it no matter what they did. Everything else was just an after show, but having said that, dessert itself was ingenious. They served vanilla ice cream and a peach sorbet garnished with gold leaf, and served in a giant ice cube. What better way to keep your iced dessert frozen than serving them in a block of ice itself.  Creative brilliance by the French. The dessert itself might not have been fantastic(it was great by the way), but at the very least, they go all out aesthetics wise.

 

                                         

I had an apple tart as well. It was warm and freshly baked. The sweetness of the pastry went well with the slight tinge of sourness from the fresh apples, and if this was sold in Singapore, it would surely be very well received. But honestly, after the lamb, everything else was little more than an after thought.

 

Le Cinq, one of the best.

Paul at Avenue des Champs-Élysées

Okay, so when in Paris, having a Macaroons is basically, a rite of passage. I've never really been a big fan of the stuff. Even though I have a sweet tooth, I find these meringue-like cookies to be a little bit too sweet for my liking. But anyway, whilst out at the Champs-Élysées, I spotted a bistro that may or may not be familiar to Singaporeans. Paul.

 

 

Yup...Paul has a franchise in Singapore over at Takashimaya. Honestly speaking though, I didn't even realise Paul was that "atas" or famous. So seeing it at Champs-Élysées and seeing the crowd in the store certainly piqued my interest. So I discovered that Paul is a chain of cafes established in 1889. So they serve pastries, cakes, breads, croissants(have I mentioned that the croissants in France are just the best!), basically whatever confectionary you can name, they have it. But having wafted into the shop, I was basically only interested in one and only one thing...macaroons!

 

 

 

 

Ok for the benefit of those of you who have been living under a shell, a macaroon, is a type of light, baked confection, it can be described as either a meringue-like cookie or a small cake depending on the consistency of the pastry. It has its roots in Italy, but somehow the French(correct me if I'm wrong) are considered to have the best macaroons.

 

The macaroons that I got from Paul weren't the smallish ones that most people have. I ordered the bigger sized ones so that I could share with my companions and I ordered one of each flavour. So they had vanilla, I think the pink one was raspberry/strawberry, green tea, double chocolate, cappuccino.

 

Looking at the bright colours, you'd expect a single bite to be an explosion of sugar within your mouth but they were alright. Some macaroons are just so sweet that they leave that sugary(in not a good way) aftertaste lingering in the back of your mouth and throat, well, this one was not one of them. I wouldn't say they were fantastic, but they were just...alright.

 

I paid I think around 20 Euros for these babies. So they were a little bit expensive, but then again, Europe is expensive. They weren't too bad, so maybe I'll be heading down to Paul's later...

Vive La France!

So after Copenhagen, Paris! For all the hustle and bustle of Asia, there's just something about Europe that just seems to spring intrigue and wonder. I think the city of love needs no introduction, so I'll just leave you with a few pictures of Paris in all her lustre and glory...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But anyway, off to the food! So the first restaurant I visited in Paris, was this little( from the outside at least) place near the hotel called Le Taillevent. Apparently, its a 2 michelin star joint, so gents, please put on your sunday best. A little background info about this restaurant, it's located at 15,rue Lamennais, 75008 Paris, France, just a stones throw away from the main shopping belt in Paris, Champs-Élysées. It's been around for ages, I think, according to Wikipedia since 1946 and it used to hold 3 Michelin stars. Apparently, the restaurant's attention to detail is such that even the pastries and chocolates they serve up are prepared fresh daily at their very own pastry workshop.

 

This is the official website of the restaurant : http://taillevent.com/le-restaurant

 

You can check out the décor of the place via the website, but basically I think its in French so non-speakers will probably have a hard time figuring out what they're on about. In any case, here's a portion of the menu

 

 

Sorry if the pictures aren't that clear! It was a combination of the lighting and the fact that I'm using my iphone as a camera(ok more of the second reason). So anyway, from the menu you get an idea of the prices. Honestly, I don't remember what half of them mean. I do know I had a lamb dish for 2(the other portion to share with my companions) and it was excellent. For those of you(myself included) who do not understand French, the waiters and sommeliers who wait on you are more than happy to explain the menu for your convenience.

 

So basically, you order a starter and a main, and if you feel like it you can order dessert as well. I confess. I have a sweet tooth. That coupled with the fact that France is famous for her pastry meant I was definitely going for dessert.

 

First up came the rolls and breads westerners are so famous for. Accompanied with butter and olive oil, perfect. Then for my starter, I had an escargot risotto recommended by the friendly waiter at the restaurant. Yes I know...snails. But I've had escargot countless times and honestly, I have yet to taste a bad escargot dish. Plus, being in France, I just had to have escargot. As they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do!

 

 

Don't be put off by the greenish hue of the dish. It was delectable! The flesh of the escargot had a little bite to it. If you've had escargot before you'll know what I mean. And the risotto was creamy with a little nutty flavour. They added shaved white truffle onto the dish, so that deep musky mushroomy flavour gave the dish an extra kick. It was a little bit on the salty side, but having said that, it really was delicious. At first glance the portion seemed a little bit small, but after a while you get why it comes in this size. Had they served a bigger portion of it, after a while, you get sian.

 

Then came my main, and the star of the show...

 

 

I think, I THINK...it was veal kidneys with lamb. The pinkish portions were definitely the lamb. I should have documented it better, but when I was in  Europe I hadn't decided to come up with this blog! The dish was served with a side of wild musthrooms and small potatoes. But anyway, if you're really interested in figuring this out, you can translate the menu. I definitely had the Selle D'Agneau de Lozere en Rognonnade. And using google, apparently a rognonnade is a piece of meat rolled around its kidney.

 

The flesh was extremely juicy and yet still had a little tension within the meat. It was slightly chewy but definitely not tough. I had expected kidneys to taste a little bit gamier but it was surprisingly light. The sauce went perfectly with the entirety of the dish. I'm not quite sure what was in it, but definitely black pepper, and perhaps some red wine.

 

We had 2 portions of this dish so the other dish went round the table and received rave reviews compared to what my companions had. So all in all, I would say good choice by me!

 

Last but not least...

 

 

Dessert was a pastry of some sort, crispy, apple strudel type top drenched with tangerine syrup and cream in the middle. I had expected something sweet, but it was sour. Apart from that it was still a pretty decent dessert though I have to say I was a little bit disappointed with it because like I said, I have a sweet tooth. But to each his own, I'm sure some people will find this to their palate.

 

The whole meal took about 3 hours. I think, that's the average time you have to commit to dinner if you really want to be out and about having a good meal in Paris or Europe for that matter. In Europe, dinner and dining in restaurants is a form of entertainment, nobody rushes through their meals. Everybody enjoys their food over good conversations and good wines. So meals take a long, long time...relative to how we dine over here in Singapore where the dishes are served thick and fast.

 

It certainly does take some getting used to, but if you can get past that, then the culinary experience you can garner from spending some time in eateries like Le Taillevent can be truly rewarding(albeit a bit expensive)!

 

Vive La France!