paulbrussel

Strange enough: I didn't have breakfast! :-)

Robert, the prices: Le Grand Véfour: menu: 75 €; Champagne: 18, Saint-Véran: 29, water: 4, porto: 16, coffee: 5,50; total: 147,50 €. [Tasting menu: 227 €, not at lunch time.] Apicius: tasting menu: 104 €; 1 1/2 water: 12, 4 whines by the glass: 36; total: 152 €. Le Carré des Feuillants: tasting menu: 138 €, Champagne: 18, Saint-Aubin 1999: 55, water: 8, coffee: 7; total: 238 €. [Lunch menu: 58 €.] Les Béatilles: menu 45 €; half white wine: 26 € (for an excellent Saint-Joseph 2001), 1 liter water : 6 €; total: 77€.

Is it (still) true that they have two settings for dinner? I heard that those who have reserved for the first, must hurry quite a bit with their meal, especially when they take the tasting menu. When I was at Ramsay's for lunch last year, that was the reason why I didn't order the tasting menu, but afterwards there was no need to hurry at all...

L'Astrance takes reservations from August 26, I thought. But you have to ring very early (10 in the morning, local time) since it is extremely difficult to get in and they only take reservation one month ahead.

Txs. Changed into Guy!

First lunch was at Le Grand Véfour, a three star restaurant in the old buildings of the Royal Palace. Chef is the young Guy Martin. At lunch time there is only the lunch menu: four courses (starter, main course, fromages and dessert) with a choice out of 3 for the three courses. Or you can eat à la carte. After my glass of champagne (Taittinger), I chose half a bottle Saint-Véran – Château de Beauregard 1999, which was good. The meal: starter was : Sardines marinées aux aromates, purée de pois chiche et menthe - excellent sardines, filled with a very soft bean puree. Then: Dos de cabillaud cuit meunière, croûte aux olives de Nyons, huile verte, tomate et cèleri blanche. Well prepared cod, but the interesting about this was the crust of olives. With the cheese I took a glass of > 10 years old port of Nieupoort. As a dessert: Mille-feuille aux framboises, chutney de mangue au pollen, which I found a bit normal. Good service in very classical setting. [My personal ranking: 18.5/20] Dinner was at Apicius, a two star restaurant with Jean-Pierre Vigato as chef. There I took the Menu dégustation of 5 courses, with different wines. After the amuse-geule: P’tit Pot de Foie Gras à la Vapeur – Réduction de Porto. Excellent steamed (!) duck liver with the nice sauce of porto. Wine: Banyuls La Rectorie 2000. Next course: Ravioli de Homard – Jus de crustacés au basilic, with: Pernand-Vergelesses – Rapet 2000. Half of the lobster was cooked too long, and not OK. They offered me an extra course to compensate this. Third course: Cabillaud rôti et artichaut violet and whine: Quincy 2001. Good cod and very nice with the young artichoke. Extra course: Rouget, hachis d’huître et cresson, same whine. This was really excellent. Nice red mullet, but much more interesting was the mixture of oyster and cress. For me the best dish this evening. Main course: Suprême de Pigeon sous le grill; as a whine I got a glass of the magnum of another table with one of the best wines: Pichon Longueville – Comtesse de Lalande – 1989. Very good pigeon, and I did enjoy the wine very much, although it was still very young. After the cheese followed the dessert: Fondue de Framboises et Glace Pistache Minute. Good restaurant, although I was not really excited about any of the dishes. [My personal ranking: 15.5/20] Next day I went lunching at Le Carré des Feuillants, a two star restaurant with the famous chef Alain Dutournier. After the Champagne Delamotte “ Blanc de Blancs” 1995, I chose the Menu “Idées de la Saison” which consisted out of seven courses. For the whine, I chose a bottle Saint-Aubin – La Pucelle (Domaine Roux) 1999. Good wine. First course: Huîtres Spéciales “Gillardeau” et Caviar d’Aquitane – accompagnées d’un tartare de laitue de mer et d’une mousse d’huître crémeuse. Astonishing dish in three parts. The special oysters with a jelly, a mixture of avocado and oyster and thirdly a cream of poached oysters. Second course: Homard bleu, Fenouil et Amandes en Escabèche – Fraîcheurs du jardin, pince en bouillon glacé au lait d’amande. Excellent lobster that came with almonds and the fenouil. Second service was the icy soupe of almonds with lobster, also very, very nice! Next course: Pavé de Bar de Ligne en fine croûte de coriandre – Légumes d’été en tajine. Good sea brass that came in a sort of bouillon of herbs which was very fine too. After a surprise came the next dish: Les langoustines pimentées et rôties – Nougatine d'ail doux, réduction de muscat au piment d'Espelette et cébettes. Ingeniously prepared langoustines in different ways, well combined with the sauce of muscat whine. Main course: Filet de Pigeonneau Cuit Rosé, Flanqué de Foie Gras Caramélisé – La cuise compotée en rouleau, quelques girolles et petits pois. Very well prepared young pigeon breast with the spring roll and the liver. A red whine by the glass was suggested. Then: Brie de Meaux et Truffe d'Eté, Litchis à la Gelée de Rose and Les Cérises Burlat en Jubilé "Façon Forêt Verte" – cerises flambées au kirsch, petits babas chocolatées et verveine crémeuse. One of the best meals I ever had, especially because of the top class ingredients and excellent preparation. [My personal ranking: 19/20] For dinner I ended up in Les Béatilles, a one star restaurant. I took the more simple Menu d'un Soir with three courses: Petit farci à la tomate et escargots, girolles et jus de persil simple, Parmentier de ris de veau et champignons des bois, jus clair and Feuilleté léger au beurre demi-sel, poire et fenouil confit. Good value for money. More modern cuisine but not always harmonious. [My personal ranking: 14/20]

Still it is the best restaurant of Rotterdam -I have lived there over 10 years and I do know Parkheuvel since 1988. One of my favourites is also ZeeZout, but the quality is less stable. That is the same for La Vilette (one Michelinstar) which has an awful poor winelist...

No, they weren't surpised, I think - well, they saw me enjoying the food that much... And, I must admit: talking French can help a lot, as it did at Gordon Ramsay's where the maître and half of the staff is French speaking... (At Thornton's lots of them are French too.) I do it more often, I must agree. Last Tuesday I was in a ***-restaurant and they had a 'simple' 3-course menu for 50 € - I asked to add one course as well - no problem at all!

The sea bass carpaccio I had as well: very nice... Well, for me it was very good value for money, quite interesting, and since I had to suffer a bit at Santorini (well Selene was good there, but bad service and overpriced) and Paros (Le Sud was very nice!), it was very nice to me...

Good to know, Robert, since I am planning to go there much more often - well, for me goint once a month to Paris is no problem since it is only 1h30 minutes by train...

Sorry: I was there alone, just on a day trip to have lunch at Thornton's. In fact I had 3 starters, 2 main courses and 1 desert - alle taken from the lunch menu.

I am afraid I am much too late. The best, I think, is Calla's (1 Michelin star), and second best will probably be Seinpost in Scheveningen (coast). Nevertheless The Hague is quite poor food wise... By the way: Garoeda is not very interesting. If you want to have Indonesian food, do visit Tampat Senang. It rains fishes may be interesting but is more expensive.

Strange enough, I think Vermeer (2 Michelin stars) hasn't been mentioned here... I consider this restaurant as one of the top-three of the Netherlands (together with de Librije** in Zwolle and Oud Sluis** in Sluis). Also La Rive** must be very good (very exquisite in the most beautiful hotel of Amsterdam: the Amstel) - but the last time I was there was with the chef Kranenborg who is now chef of Vossius*.

For me it is the most disappointing ***-restaurant of Belgium. It is not innovating at all, and the last time I was there, some of the dishes were not well prepared (fish cooked too long...). I tried it for the 3d time, but for me it is finished. The wine list is terribly expensive: wine that I drink at home for 6 €, they offer for 50 € a bottle. In any case, there is no bottle of simple wine below 50 €... I prefer Bruneau*** in Brussels or De Karmeliet*** in Bruges, although Sea Grill** in Brussels remains my favourite.

Well, I was there for lunch in March 2003 - there is a not too expensive lunch menu. it was my favourite restaurant of Dublin since I came there for the first time in 1998. I took almost all the dishes of the lunch menu - that is to say: you can make a choice out of three for each of the three courses (starter, main course, dessert - 40 €). After the champagne I had the amuses, then the three starters, two main courses and 1 dessert. I had, after the glass of champagne, a bottle of white wine, one glass of red wine, and I paid only 134 €...

Indeed: I was quite astonished! It was my first time there, but I was very much surprised. I went to Le Grand Véfour*** the day before, but Le Carré des Feuillants was just (for me!) more interesting - well, I took the lunch menu in the Palais Royal and the tasting menu in Le Carré, which can be quite a difference... Apicius** however, for dinner after Le Grand Véfour, was a bit disappointing...

Txs Robert! I was worrying a bit since there is one negetive comment here about it. Of course, you should not compare everything with El Bulli - I am more worrying about the tendancy to copy Ferran Adrià everywhere... I hope to find something different, I mean: personal, at Can Fabes. I will tell more about the restaurants when I have been there, although I know all of them, except Can Fabes. And Neichel was about 5 years ago; the rest I have visited last November.

I have followed this restaurant from 1988 and the last time I was there was in July 2002, just a few months after it got its third star. Food is excellent, although don't look here for a very creative cuisine. On the contrary: service and wine list are quite poor for a restaurant of this rank...

Should not or should? A couple of weeks ago I was at varoulko's and did enjoy it very much, although it doesn't deserve more then 1 Michelin star, I think. Nevertheless there were some original dishes and all the food was well prepared. The sommelier gave nice advice about good, and not too expensive Greek wines.

I don't travel a lot to Italy, but I have been twice to La Pergola this year. The second time I was even more impressed then the first. Modern, original with Italian touch. Excellent wine list and one of the best service I have ever seen.

Well, since I don't know Savoy by own experience, I would recommend Gagnaire. I have been there three times last year and I was never disappointed - on the contrary: it has become one of my favourites! I always tried the lunch: 85 € for about ten different plats. Dinner is much more exepensive, as every where in top restaurants in Paris...

You should have had a look at "Le Carré des Feuillants" (two stars but deserves 3) - I was there a couple of weeks ago: excellent cuisine and wonderful wine list. "La Régalade" was still very nice in December 2002, but I haven't returned.

And by the way: a very interesting, modern and not too expensive restaurant should be open as well: "La Table d'Anvers" (see: latabledanvers.com). This restaurant is closely working together woth the university professor Hervé This who published many books about the relationship between cooking and science (unfortunately all in French, I think).

One of my favourites in Paris is open: Pierre Gagnaire. Try the lunch: about 10 different 'courses' for 85 €. Dinner is as expensive is every where in Paris three starred restaurants. Otherwise it will be very difficult to find a good restaurant open in August in Paris.

Cy, it seems you enjoyed Jean-Luc Figueras more than I did, which is not to say that I didn't appreciate or enjoy it, just that it was not that high on my pantheon. Nevertheless, we found it interesting and satisfying from start to finish and enough so to want to return. I hope you will serve us up a review to whet my appetite and lend me some additional insight into the food. I guess I'm saying we found a one star meal in one star restaurant in a city with good food, but if there's a three star meal to be had there, I want to find it next time. Indeed, I think JLF to be considered as the best of the world perhaps too much. But still, I liked it very much last november. I will retry in a couple of weeks, as I will go to Neichel, Can Fabes, Gaig and Abac as well. Is Can Fabes (which I don't know yet) really disappointing? And strange enough, no one is mentioning Abac which is quite a new restaurant and that got its Michelin star right after opening.