Le Taillevent the grander restaurant is a long term institution in the Parisian fine dining scene, yet from a Michelin 3 Star restaurant status it began to succumb to the same fate as the equally institutional Tour d’Argent, with it’s 3 Michelin Stars stripped to only 2 around the time of 2007. The original Le Taillevent at the restaurant side might not be all fanciful in it’s food recipes but I do vividly remember my meal there many years ago to be really well cooked. Fast forward to 2012, the Le Taillevent group in May has yet opened another new Brasserie Les 110 de Taillevent. Initially my plan was to spend the dinner time eating seafood at La Maree, a Michelin 1 Starred seafood restaurant just a street down. But passing that 1 Star meal up for Les 110 de Taillevent was exactly what I am aiming to do, just because I trust my instinct when it tells me the food and menu here sounded even more promising. (Don’t mention the fact that most of the hottest tables around town in Paris need months of booking in advance, which I can’t easily organize around them sigh..)
110 Wines by the Glass are served here at the new Brasserie by Le Taillevent -
The sommelier looked familiar to me, and it was coincidental as he has worked in 2 of my favourites shops in Melbourne for a few years and I must have seen him there before!
Le Taillevent was great -
How about one of it’s cheaper and 2nd Class brasserie?
I am about to find out.
Some Cheese puff sticks to begin with -
2010 Montlouis Sec, Domaine de la Taille aux Loups (Collection Taillevent) - Euro 5
Taillevent also operates a wine shop called Les Caves Taillevent, found in a few spots in Paris and also in Tokyo of Japan, in fact there is one right next to this brasserie. I deliberately ordered this because it is more of a house wine and every dinner course on the menu can be paired with a selection of 4 very different wines as already by the Taillevent group and sommeliers. This has a grapefruit dryness, and not surprising despite the lowish price, it worked almost perfectly with the below ceviche dish.
Le Sandre Ceviche, Gingembre, Pamplemousse et Moutarde Violette – Euro 16
A ceviche of Pikeperch is served with French grapefruit, Moutarde Violette and a hint of ginger. I was actually surprised at how great this semi-raw fish dish tasted, as the fish itself was very sweet and slightly thickish, but the pamplemousse and moutarde made it so refreshing for the weather. The above wine also carried a similar grapefruit note and was a perfect pairing too. ~ 10/10
Bread Basket -
The exterior was very crisp yet thin.
This was no doubt high quality and very fresh bread and hard to find elsewhere.
A flight of Wines here, never mind the 2006 Vieux Telegraphe CdP on the left -
The middle wine is also a Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Domaine Belmont 2009 Lot Le Blanc, which was again one of the 4 options available for pairing with the below veal innards dish. As much as I am a big fan of the Vieux Telegraphe - I have got to admit defeat as the house selected CdP was actually a better balanced option as it was less peppery and earthy like, but more fuller bodied and sweeter and spicier to cut through the heavy sauce and thyme herb.
Le Foie et Rognon de Veau, Sauce Porto, Puree et Moutarde en L’ancienne - Euro 24
Veal liver and kidney are cooked in it’s own jus and port wine sauce. Served with a potato mashed with l’ancienne mustard. The foie was a little dense but for a veal foie gras this was expectedly to be cooked more closer to well-done! The Veal Kidney and the sauce was very well cooked and the sauce was compacted and reduced in flavours but not overly salty, enhanced by a bit of thyme influence. Lovely. ~ 8/10
Side of Potato Mash with Seeded Mustard L’ancience -
This was drop dead gorgeous!! It has a strong potato taste, the mash still retained the potato cells structure without being overly whipped and breaking into a more watery form. The butteriness was apparent but not over powering. This mash beats the one at Robuchon L’Atelier by such a large margin it is not remotely funny, and it is also better than the Robuchon au Dome served in Macau. This is probably one of the best Pomme Puree mashes I have tried before. ~ 12/10
L’Ananas poche a la Coriandre, Baba,
Gelee de Rhum, Cremeux Coco ~ Euro 12
A more exotic version of some vanilla, herbs and spice cooked dessert,
served like a tower.
With a Total of 110 Wines on offer by the Glass -
Apparently this is the first of it’s concept in France. The food is great and backed up by the famous 2 Starred Le Taillevent kitchen, but the food is on par with that standard but available at a fraction of the price. This brasserie has only been open for 2 weeks from my visit but word was already spreading fast as it was fully booked even on a weekday. Even the 1 Starred La Maree seafood restaurant down the road wasn’t as so full on the night. One can imagine here to become a very hot spot in the Parisian dining scene in 2012 and beyond..
Price: Euro $50 ~ 60
Ease of Access: 2/5 (Around 10 minutes walk from Arc de Triomphe.)
Food: ♕♕♕♕♕ ~ ♕♕♕♕♕ 1/2
Opening Hours:
Tues to Sun - 12:15 pm-2:30 pm, 7:15 pm-9:30 pm
Address: 15 rue Lamennais, Paris, France.
Ph: 33 1 44 95 15 15
No comments:
Post a Comment