paris – le cheateaubriand part 2
right, so after all of my pre-dinner drama, I finally sat at my table for one… Squished between two very loved up couples. couldn’t help but giggle at how pathetically loved up they were, while they were probably laughing at me for being alone. meh, phuck the haters.
I can say this in hindsight, it’s really great to eat at a place like le chateaubriand alone because there’s no one sitting opposite you distracting you from the amazing meals being laid out in front of you. this sounds so lame, but I loved it because it was a very thought provoking meal in the sense of the combinations. I get distracted far too easily so this was a welcome change.
okay, the food.
I didn’t get a photo of the first appetiser, because I was obviously hypoglycaemic, so I smashed them within seconds. but they were cute little choux-pastry cheese bite things. infact, that’s probably not at all what they were, but in the waiters broken english, I heard cheese, so we’ll stick with that.
also considering I nearly fainted twice in the hour before being seated, I probably shouldn’t have decided to have matched wine to each course… but phuck it, you only live once, may as well make it memorable.
scallop, coriander flower
this beautiful little bowl was actually the size of a shot glass, which “you take in one”, according to my waiter. absolutely delicious, so much flavour in approximately 30mls.
shrimp, tamarind powder
won’t lie, I did feel a little strange eating the shells and everything of these baby shrimp (which feels really strange calling them that, they’re prawns) but they were so yummy and the tamarind powder was delicious
squid, elderflower, sesame, goat cheese
oh my, this was exquisite. the photo quality isn’t very good but there were about a million hundred thousand little elderflowers in this dish. the squid was divine, silky smooth and so much flavour.
fennel, coffee broth
at least I think that’s what this was, couldn’t really catch what my waiter said, plus it’s kinda fun just eating something when you have no idea what it is. so I think this was a coffee and fennel broth, at least that’s what it tasted like. horrible photo.
red snapper, broad bean, fennel, peas
this was pretty yum, nice to have some vegetables in a dish in paris! the fish was so delicious.
I should mention that each dish came out with its own paired glass of wine, cider or some sort of distilled alcohol. the wine that came out this time, was unbelievable. jacques sellose champagne grand cru 1986, officially the oldest wine I’ve ever tasted, actually the oldest champagne I’ve ever tasted, and it was to die for. I had the biggest grin on my face and up to this point, I thought I was in foodie heaven… and I hadn’t even had my favourite dish of the night!
barbue, arroche, acacia
this dish was my favourite. and I can’t even translate what it was. definitely fish, a white fish that fell apart when you put your fork in it, with purple leaves and a creamy sauce that was a little bit acidic as well. I’m such a sucker for acidic things, especially with fish, and this was to die for.
pork, samphire, chive flowers, tomato
and this one was probably my second favourite dish. my first experience of samphire and I loved it, really cool texture alongside tender slices of pork.
cucumber, lemon sorbet, pistachio crumb
obviously a palate cleanser, the cucumber was slightly frozen. I think it might have even been my first ever palate cleanser, there’s a first time for everything
tocino del cielo
so the name of this dish is a classic spanish dessert, though there was nothing classic about it. it looked like a mini tart, but turned into a liquid as soon as I ate it. salty, caramel-y, a bit fruity like it had apricots or something there, as well as sitting on a base of amaretto like crumbs that was sort of like fairy floss – you know how when you eat fairy floss it gets all hard and chewy? it was just like that, so good.
fresh strawberries with anise lolly things
I’d already experiences french strawberries prior to this point, but not with fluoro green anise flavoured lollies. delicious.
fennel/anise seemed to be a bit of a recurring theme on this night, not definitely not an overpowering flavour. when I got my coffee, little mini chocolate biscuit drops with fennel seeds.
overall, one of the best foodie nights of my life. dinner by heston was amazing, but in a different way. tasting menus, I think, truly represent what a chef is all about. inaki is a pretty complex bloke, by the looks of things, who is truly creative and willing to explore the weird and unusual.
definitely worth almost fainting twice.
travelling alone 