paulbrussel

La Régalade, 49, Avenue Jean Moulin, 75014 Paris, 01/45456858

Then I will ask for "Anarchy" Of course I will take the degustation menu as well, but since I will be there for lunch as well as for dinner, I will take perhaps à la carte for lunch, and with a friend from BCN for dinner the menu. (By the way - do you know the best wine shop in Girona? - Otherwise I will ask the friend from BCN to bring some wine, e.g. one of the best I drank lately was the El Dorade de Murrieta – Rioja Blanc – 1998 which was recommended in Can Fabes last month and which I bought the follwoing day in BCN.)

Well, I must admit that I wasn't very convinced of Espaisucre - but I also must admit that I am not a dessert lover. That's why I was in a way determined to be able to be convinced, since many people say he is the best dessert chef in the world... It didn't happen. Perhaps I am not the right guy to give opinions on this restaurant. (Nevetheless, the wine was not that good either - and I do love wine! ) I am very curious for Can Roca, since I will be there in a couple of weeks and then I will certainly give attention to the desserts!

Not the chef of Espaisucre?

Simon, how very nice and interesting that you are now at Can Fabes. Do enjoy! I can admit I was there last month and I was very much impressed by it's perfectionism. Of all the 8 degustation meals I had in those couple of days in BCN, the one at Can Fabes was by far the best, although not the most exciting in a way. And I will certainly go back. In a couple of weeks I will fly for a day to Girona to El Celler de Can Roca where I will have lunch and dinner the same day; I hope to update on that restaurant which doesn't seem to be very expensive. It is easily to reach by train from Sant Celoni. Hope to hear from you again!

Of course Christmas Day will be very expensive for dinner in the top restaurants. Wouldn't it be a pity if you have to spend all your money you saved on the flight for a dinner that is at that very day twice as expensive as usual? Perhaps a nice idea: Brussels is about 1h25 minutes by TGV (if you book in advance, a return ticket will cost you 50 € per person) and Boxing Day is not a holiday in Belgium (neither in France by the way) so restaurants are open. Go to Bruneau*** or Sea Grill** and have a great lunch! (Don't go to the famous Comme chez soi***: it will be expensive, and might be disappointing.) EDIT: I can't recommend Au Pied de Cochon either.

Txs again! Well, I did consider St John (I still do) - but the website is very unclear about their opening hours, so I wasn't sure...

Then I would very much appreciate your comparison between the two restaurants next week! (Since I have been to Gagnaire several times, and I count it with El Bulli and Le Carré des Feuillants among my favourite restaurants, I do think that Sketch does have similarities with his restaurant.)

I also must admit that I liked it the best the first time I had the Comtesse 1988; the other times, I was less impressed. To make it even more interesting: this year I wanted to taste the Baron, of 1993 - I found it all right, but far less impressive as the Comtesse. And how very nice you are so familiar with these wines of the last 50 years! It makes me envy you .

The best three star lunch in Paris? That is very personal, I would say. For me, it is definitely Pierre Gagnaire!

Yes well, I had both this year. But I drank the 1988 out of a half bottle, the 1989 out of a magnum, the latter having been opened about 3 hours before I drank something out of it. After that I thought that I liked the 1988 more, although indeed the 1989 is considered to be better. I must admit that after a while in the glass, the 1989 opened more, but still. And I also do admit that half a bottle and a magnum, you should not compare.

Indeed: very expensive then! Well, if the meal is rather cheap, it doesn't make much of a difference. Although lunch at RHR is 35 £ for three courses. And I had a bottle of good Saint-Véran there for 28 £. But Matthew, are you able to say anything about my two first questions, or are you not able to compare Sketch with PaT or Gagnaire?

Isn't La régalade considered to be a bistro as well? Many think that is a great place (as I think too).

The two interesting reports seem to indicate that actually the three course lunch consists of about 5 starters and 2 main courses and 4 desserts? Is it much comparable to Pierre Gagnaire himself? (Because Gagnaire offers such a lunch as well.) (Anyway, now I am puzzled whether I should go to Sketch instead of Pied à Terre, in a couple of weeks.) EDIT: And are the wines really very expensive here? If I read elsewhere: "half bottle of 1989 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande at £135 " which was last year at RHR 110 £ and in my favourite one star restaurant in Brussels 55 € (of 1988, I must admit, but there is not much of a difference; last year it still costed 38 € though and I have been drinking this superb wine several times for the 38 €), I think it is really very expensive...

Le Grand Véfour is indeed not too expensive at lunch time, and I liked it as well. Anyway, Guy Martin's recent book Toute la cuisine is excellent too, and the dishes in there are very simple to prepare. I am a bit surprised that the oyster dish at Au Trou Gascon is about the same as the one I had at Alain Dutournier's two star restaurant Le Carré des Feuillants. Of course both restaurants are Dutournier, but still. Anyway, I liked that dish as well! (And by the way, it was completely described in the French version of the quarterly magazine Culinaire Saisonnier.) (And Au Trou Gascon only had no star in 2002.) [i reported a.o. on my meals at Le Grand Véfour and Le Carré des Feuillants elsewhere in the France forum.]

tarka, balex and oenomania: txs a lot! Your replies do me think: 1) that in London not many people go out for dinner early, and 2) if they do, they don't go to a European restaurant

Well, I did enjoy the one Michelinstar restaurant Varoulko where you can go to by cab - and since cabs are very cheap in Athens, that should not be a big problem. I was there lats August and then it was not located in the normal restaurant place in Piraeus.

In a couple of weeks I will be in London, mainly for having lunch at Pied à Terre. But before taking my train back, early in the evening to Brussels, I would like to have one or two courses in another top restaurant, just to take advantage of my being in London. Are there any restaurants opening early? (The only one I saw was the Savoy Grill of Marcus Wareing / Josh Emett.) [by the way: I have to be at Waterloo Station at about 7 p.m.]

The owner and the director of Amnesty International France are the same: "Le 6 décembre [1999], Thierry de la Brosse a pris ses fonctions de directeur de la section française. Marié, père de quatre enfants de 20 à 13 ans, il a été recruté au cours d'un processus de plusieurs mois avec l'assistance d'un cabinet de "chasseurs de têtes". Il a une expérience de banquier d'affaires et d'industriel, et a travaillé une douzaine d'années en Angleterre et aux Etats-Unis. A cinquante ans, il souhaitait quitter le monde de l'argent et consacrer aux autres le reste de sa vie professionnelle. Alors qu'Amnesty va renforcer son action sur les acteurs économiques, il est intéressant d'avoir un directeur issu du monde des entreprises."

I am afraid I can't completely agree with you. A couple of weeks ago I went to 8 restaurants in BCN and only one was really Adrià-like cooking (Comerç 24). All the others were not Adrià-like at all, although modern influences were present (as it should be). Furthermore, I can't agree on the prices either. Being used to good restaurants, I think my meals in BCN were extremely cheap compared to those in two or three star restaurants in the Benelux, not to mention the awfully expensive similar restaurants in Paris. Thirdly, since the wines are extremely cheap in Spain as well, a meal with wines won't cost you a fortune as it does elsewhere.

I was at La Régalade last December, but I can't imagine it has changed a lot since. Although it gives the impression of a simple bistro, it is quite an interesting, modern and not too simple cuisine. The chef has worked for years at Les Ambassadeurs, the famous restaurant of the Crillon, in it's best days. The menu is quite simple. Normally you have a meal of three courses for 30 €, with several choices. There are always dishes which change daily. You can make it much more expensive by choosing lobster for example; then you have to pay a supplement. Wines are rather good too. They have good but simple wines but also excellent, quite expensive wines. I can certainly recommend this restaurant.

Don't you think these places are extremely difficult to find? And even eGullet is almost more in higher hemispheres to talk about this sort of places. But I wrote this week about a place in expensive Brussels where they offer a great 3 courses menu for 19,60 € as well, and that I also visit because of the very interesting, not very known but very good wines. People just tend not to believe me, although I write mostly about Michelin starred restaurants. And then I went to an "innovative" cuisine (according to Michelin) in Northern France the next day, which was highly disappointing and to me very old-fashioned. We paid 30 € a meal for this ordinary meal...

Nice post! And I know everything about kn now (and I will keep my mouth shut about Ibiza when you want to talk about Croatia! )

Dutournier I respect more than I could have presumed since my last meal (see other thread). Marius and Janette is more of the normal bistrot like kitchen, I think. Will its new thing be interesting? Apicius has (at the same tour when I visited Dutournier) disappointed me in a way. Si, I am not sure whether its new restaurant will be interesting as well? Nevertheless, (Northern) Europe seems to find its way to cheaper formulas since it is really going down in restaurant business (they all blame the €, but that seems too easy to me), I think. And it seems to work too.

Yes, it was! It was a great and elaborate meal, you are right. And having excellent meals for low prices in BCN - you get used to it, and you almost forget that you seem to be in another world. Used to great and expensive restaurants in the rest of Europe, Spain is a bargain and very interesting - it is so easy to get bored elsewhere. But I notice that I compare more cuisines inside Spain / Barcelona with each other without comparing to the 'normal' world. For my 'normal' standards, Comerç 24 is very nice, compared to the other great meals I had in those days in BCN, it was just a very good restaurant.