Bu Pun Su

What's wrong with Rochat? Isn't he the last and truly disciple of Girardet? From this discussion, I got the impression that Girardet is the best among 3 Gault-Millau's chefs of the century John, Mind sharing what Passard ('s cooking) is like when he's still aiming for 3rd star in L'Arpege? From the interview, I thought Passard believes that he's better, more mature and his cooking is more refined right now, but you seem to think otherwise Also, didn't you love Ducasse when he's still chef de cuisine of Le Louis XV (before opening current many restaurants)? Thanks

The dining room looks beautiful I think you would have a good meal and experience there as long as you don't demand a very innovative/contemporary French cuisine And if in the lunch menu, you could try their famous macaroni and pigeon, it should be a good deal So is it confirmed that Briffard will no longer in Vernet by end of Spring or early summer this year?

If not mistaken, you mentioned Lasserre somewhere as a nice 2-star place in Paris. Could you tell us more about that? I thought it's just a piece of history now like La Tour d'Argent I heard that the chef - Nomicos is also quite talented in classical French cuisine, no? Thanks

Do Alleno and Piege do the same thing as Frechon and Roth at their respective hotels?

Sethd, are you serious? FIVE meals at Le Louis XV? Wow ... Look forward to the report soon, in particular the picture of the dishes as I hardly see any of them in the forum With the rumor that Cerutti will become the head chef of Monte Carlo hotels/resorts group, Pascal Bardet will probably be the no 1 there. Let's see whether the food is still as good as Cerutti's time

There are a few rooms in this restaurant Which one is for fine dining and which one is more casual? Thanks

Thanks for the reply Julot, learning new things about Michel Rostang Just visit the website, the "lobster" menu is incredibly expensive given the fact that it's "only" 2-star and not that popular nowadays, The seasonal tasting menu are closed to L'Astrance surprised menu What are your fav. 2-star in Paris at the moment? Rostang, Senderens, Bristol or Vernet? Another "advantage" of having 3-star meal in a short period of time would be ... one could do a more direct comparison since you're more likely to remember mostly of what you just eat as well as the overall experience

How do you decide a good combination in 2 or 3-star "restaurants pairings"? Is it because one complemented the other or even go the opposite? Julot, could you share more about Michel Rostang? How's it as of these days?

Actually John already answered what I'm about to write. Anyway, In my case ... It took me more than 12 hours to get to Paris The effort to get there is quite troublesome, that's why I just want to maximise my time there since there are hardly world class restaurants in area where I live In fact when I'm in Paris (or Europe in general) for dining, usually I only eat a proper meal once a day. For instance, a lunch at L'Ambroisie could last me until the evening and I just need to eat some snacks or sandwiches for dinner - this would "save some money" and the fact that I'm not that hungry (often still in the euphoria of having wonderful lunch meal). It's true sometimes I may feel "tired and bored", but once I sit down in the restaurant I reserved, zip a glass of champagne, open the menu and so on - all of those boredom and tiredness replaced by the joy of the fact that I'm gonna have a great meal there.

My top 5 current great 3-star would be (in order) 1. L'Arpege 2. Alain Ducasse Paris 3. Pierre Gagnaire 3. L'Ambroisie (tie) 5. Ledoyen 5. Chateau Robuchon Tokyo (tie) Current 3-star places I've visited that I like the least (in order) 1. De Karmeliet 2. Paul Bocuse 3. Jean Georges The current good 3-star would be (again in order) 1. Oud Sluis 1. Genyana Hamadaya Tokyo (tie) 3. Can Fabes 3. Calandre (tie) 5. Hof van Cleve 5. Troisgros (tie) 7. Sushi Jiro Tokyo It would interesting to see what others would share

There should be the review of Gaya somewhere If my memory serves me correct, there's rarely any positive review about it even at the much lower prices than Pierre Gagnaire I noticed in that many of the current's comments from the experts in this forum generally point that the current gastronomy is "declining" No matter how good the chefs cook, they always point out that the past is better Is it really the case? Or it's more "psychological" case ... when you talk to your grand parents, more likely they will explain things are much better back then (how come? with many advancement and refinement, r u saying that in many aspects people nowadays go "backwards"?) Frege, sorry for your bad meal there I thought Pierre Gagnaire is still one of the ultimate and most genious chefs in the world. Whatever he cooks, for me it's almost always enlightening. He could give all of the recipe details, yet we still fail to make the dish that's closed to the one he cooks in the kitchen. Guy Savoy ... I agree that it's very difficult to go very "wrong" there, but not easy to have a spectacular meal either

That's a bit too much if it's true. After all, it's just cooking ... people should be happy and enjoy it. Any history of Legendre's bad temper prior he came to Le Cinq?

What is Savoy in the 90's like? What is the different with the current one? I thought Guy Savoy is pretty much the same throughout the years, like L'Ambroisie and Bocuse

Hi Peter Green, Where else did you go in Tokyo? What is (are) you favorite place(s)? I don't know about the other places, but it seems that they're not that much truffle generally in Japan's restaurants. Not sure whether it's due to not-so-good harvest this year Well, there's always be next time. I also missed some places either I could not get reservations or don't know how to get there without any Japanese friends ... Japan (Tokyo) now ranks no 2, behind France (Paris) as my fav. places to go for food

I doubt Ramsay will be successful in Paris, but I still respected his guts I think it's most challenging thing that a foreign chef can do - open a gastronomy restaurant in France, in particular Paris and become successful (as in often full house and receive the 3-star Michelin or Gault Millau's 19/20) Is it supposed to be a high-end restaurant? Even if per se or Robuchon Mansion LV opened in Paris, they probably would not be as successful as where they're right now

Sorry for the long delay ... here is another review of my memorable meal in Tokyo. A year ago, I often asked if anybody ever eat here, but I hardly found any French restaurants' review located in Japan for this forum. Well, finally I found the answer myself and here is the report. If any of you are the fans of Joel Robuchon, there is no better place on this earth than Tokyo, it has everything about Gault Millau's chef of the century's establishments from top to bottom (Chateau, La Table and L'Atelier Joel Robuchon). Outside that, there are Robuchon's bar, cafe and boutique. Name it and you'll have it. After rather disappointing meal at Robuchon Galera, well I still think that this living legend chef deserves a second chance and this time, he showed why he's still in the upper echelon of the world's top chefs. Food/Wine (96/95) I order the full course of Robuchon's top fine dining. It consists of 16 small courses a la Japanese kaiseki - the amuse is a refreshing avocado puree flavored with olive oil and cheese - there are 3 caviar dishes ... the one with crunchy salmon and quail egg is divine, the one with asparagus needs a bit "more" caviar especially inside, and the last part with couscous is in right texture and temperature. Only Robuchon's caviar with cauliflower cream is better than these - then come the seafood dishes. The blue lobster is delectable in solid texture - the langoustine is intensely tasty with foie gras reduction. The black truffle doesn't do much - and the best is the sweet and creamy Hokaido sea urchin integrated with his legendary mashed potatoes and coffee powder - lastly it's a juicy scallop combined with fantastic pastas and their "sauce" - then come 2 interesting dishes that I don't expect to eat at 3-star places. Firstly, it's a custard of warmed blue cheese mixed with the flavor of tomato, almond and pear - secondly, it's an "oat-meal" veloute flavored with saltiness and crunchyness of chorizo and almonds. Both are smart - here come the fish dishes. the Scottish salmon is fresh and light, the lightly smoked cream is not too bad - the seabass is overcooked and the red wine sauce is too intense, and together they don't work that well - Japanese beef is the best in the world ... really. It doesn't have to be Kobe, this Sendai steak is I had is juicy and tasty. One can taste the "oily" part of the meat inside the mouth - just before the desserts come, here is the mouth-cleanser ... a mixture of fresh vegetables with couscous and Argon oil, very similar to the one I had in L'Arpege - the cheese here is decent. I enjoyed my goat cheese, mont d'or, comte and roquefort - the most common desserts everywhere will be fruit-based followed by chocolate based and this is no different here. After the food marathon, it's always nice to eat something slightly sour (from the citrus sherbet and soft cheese) and bitter (from the yuzu) - after that, I had a great bittersweet chocolate balanced with the chesnut's sweetness and ice cream The little surprising part is that there is no truffle menu in the restaurants, only 1-2 dishes containing small amount of truffle. The talented and humble chef Verzeroli explained that he did not use much truffle because he didn't want to charge higher to the degustation menu that's already one of the most expensive in Japan. All in all, in my notes, the food here is worth 96/100 (2 3/4 star), I think it's about the level of Troisgros or Calandre The wine collection is extensive, comparable to many great French restaurants even in France and as expected, very expensive. I enjoyed all of my wines by the glass which varied from Reims’ champagne, white and red Burgundy as well as Sauternes’ sweet wine. And if your wallet allows, Takehiro Nobukuni-san, the sommelier, could pair each course with different wines by the glass according to your taste and budget. Service/Ambiance (94/93) The hospitality here is comforting and professional. They want to make the guest feel comfortable without being intimidated. The weakest link is probably the fact that a few of them don't speak fluent English. I arrived at the restaurant closed to 730 PM, and it's already full (90% of the chairs are filled). I just realized that generally Japanese ate very early. By 10 PM, almost everybody's gone, yet they never rushed me. I enjoyed myself until my darjeeling tea and various mignardises and not until one hour later, I (the last person) finally left the dining room. The dining room is designed with the ornate of Louis XVI furniture blends with some of Tokyo’s fresh and contemporary style decoration dominated by the black and gold color. But, somehow one could easily hear the conversation in the next table, and the surprising part some of the Japanese diners were quite noisy. Anyway, I still enjoy the ambiance. I likes my spacious sofa, just about right, not too soft and not too firm When I browse around the internet, I found that about half of the dishes that I had are the same as the ones served in gala dinner at Macau as well as Robuchon at the Mansion. Probably, similar to his L'Atelier where the dishes are pretty much the same among Paris, Tokyo and New York, even for his fine dining places - the menu are quite "uniform". The final verdict: 95/100 (2 3/4 star). Along with Hamadaya, Chateau Robuchon provided the best meal and experience during my holiday in Tokyo last winter. Here are the pictures, robuchon tokyo pictures and a more complete review will be here, chateau robuchon report

Thanks for the reply How about another famous wine-pairing at Paris ... Le Meurice? Is it essential as well? I agree that Senderens is the master of wine pairing, but L'Arpege does not seem so despite the fact that Passard is another Senderens disciple. If it does, I think it will be too scary pricewise Julot, thanks for sharing great pictures at L'Astrance In your blog, you said that you don't really like L'Astrance or Les Ambassadeurs, but why do you keep coming back to these restaurants? Whereas, the place you like such as L'Ambroisie or L'Arpege ... I hardly see any reports from you

Hi tupac, Why is it essential to have wine-pairing here? Generally speaking, how do you decide whether or not it's necessary to have wine-pairing when you dine at 2-3 star places? Thanks

Any advice or tips for making reservation at Astrance? Last year, I failed to make one. I called 2 and 1.5 months ahead, then they told me only receiving the reservation 1 month in advanced. 1 month before arriving in Paris, I called them again, they said it's already fully booked ... this could only possible if Astrance already "accept" other people's reservations more than 1 month ahead which is contradictory to their own earlier statements. How much is the current suprised menu? Is it still below EUR 200? It's not that I'm crazy about it, it's just one of the interesting places that I've never tried yet

I actually never give tips at the European and Japanese 3-star restaurants since both of them are already included. If not mistaken, Europe tips and tax are about 19.6% while Tokyo would include 10-12% service charge automatically. In the US, like when I ate at ADNY last time, I left about 20% for the tips

Ameiden, The egg that you had looks very delicious - my egg experience in haute cuisine is rather limited Asparagus and black truffle? Hmm, they hardly come together at the same time, right? Tuber melanosporum is done near the end of Feb while asparagus is not available until early March? I always have the image of asparagus and morels together How do you describe the cooking there? To me, it looks like a mixture of classical preparation in modern touch. Does she (Anne-Sophie) pretty much cook the same food as her father? What's Pic like in the past (3-star under the father)? Thanks

Hi xdrixn, Thanks for putting up the pictures from Pic. If you don't mind, could you elaborate further about your meal? Good? Happy? Satisfied? How's it compare to your other michelin-star experiences?

At the end of Jan ’08, there is an annual wine, food and arts event held at Singapore’s oldest hotel – the famous Raffles Hotel (Somehow, I did not know about this in 2007). This year’s events could probably be the most extravagant one featuring 3 of the world’s top chefs – Thomas Keller, Alain Passard and Santi Santamaria, not only that some of French famous winery also sent their representatives such as: Chateau Latour and Chateau Ausone (the wine expert, Stephen Brook was also there). After spending some times in Tokyo, my budget is rather tight so I could only attended 2 events - lunch as well as cooking demonstration with Chef Passard. The events combining Chef Keller and Chateau Latour are the hardest one to reserve (the funny part: why is it when I asked others? Many people say – oh it’s because Keller got 7-star while the rests only hold 3 each, so they think he’s the best. Well, with respect to Keller, I think Passard and Santi contribute more to the development of (haute) cuisine and influence more chefs than the French Laundry’s master). Anyway, let’s go directly to what I had Food/Wine (96/93) - as I expected, the amuse will be that famous egg. I don’t want to put too much comment since most readers would know (and even eat one him/herself). In short, it’s good and tasty as usual - next come the (Maine) lobster which surprisingly good and not cottony. Passard cooked it simple with highly precision in which he successfully extract the lobster's sweetness along with firm texture. The sauce is even more incredible, you can sense the honey's sweetness balanced with sourness from lime juice/vinegar and olive oil. Excellent … probably one of the best during this lunch - in L’Arpege, the “radisotto” dish did not really impress me, but this celeriac tagliatelle is different. I would call this “pasta” is a success – the texture is there while keep the celery’s flavor not too overpowering - then came the best dish of the event – the veal (he prepared about 5 of 4 kg each and they are all uniformly cooked to perfection). The meat is juicy and delicious, and it makes Peter Goossen’s veal I had last Spring become bland. The side veggies especially artichoke chips and puree are incredible. Now, I realize that for me, I like Passard’s veggies more when they act as side dishes instead of the main star/ingredient - the dessert is simple: just white fruits, nice to “cleanse” the palate. They consist of grapefruit, mangosteen and rambutan (not many non-Asian people would know rambutan I suppose) - now come the dishes from his cooking demonstration. It starts with simple raw and cooked vegetables in amazing sweet and sour sauce (it tastes wonderful with the bread). This dish also plays with beautiful color for presentation - the pumpkin-based gnocchi lighten by some sage, mimolette as well as sour and salty sauce made of olive oil and butter create a well-balanced dish - the main course is actually the same as the 3rd dish above, except this time the sweet and juicy seared scallop bring the celeriac tagliatelle to another level, oh the black truffle also generates some slight pungent smell in a nice way of course - lastly, I had one of the best fruit-based dessert I've ever tried. Passard integrated pineapple's acidity with the ice cream's sweetness, however the smart part would be adding the slight bitter taste from the fennel so that it will not cloy. A wonderful way to end a light lunch meal Strictly from the food perspective, this meal is the best I’ve ever had in Asia (a tie with Chateau Robuchon Tokyo). I gladly gave it 96/100 (a high 2 ¾ star), about as good as my meal at Oud Sluis. My respect for Passard even grew since the ingredients he used can be considered “limited”, such as: no Brittany lobster, the milk-feed veal is “only” from New Zealand etc. (I suppose this is to save some costs for the hotel). Without a doubt that he’s a true 3-star chef - not only in L’Arpege, but wherever he goes The lunch at the first day featured champagne by Veuve Clicquot. I love this “buffet-style” wine. The 1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin La Grande Dame is multi layered, almost creamy and full bodied. In addition, it has highly aromatic nose of pear, apple and honey and the rather spicy finishing is very nice; while 1985 Veuve Clicquot Brut Rose is deep with some aromas of strawberry, cinnamon and maple syrup. The taste is very rich, and similar to the earlier one, the finishing is also spicy (and long) and excellently paired with the sweet and sour lobster. On the 2nd day, we’re accompanied by the white (2004) and red (2002) wines from Chateau La Garde Pessac-Leognan. Good foods and wines are inseparable Service/Decoration (93/92) I ate at Raffles Grill before and this time I noticed the improvement of the service (not that it’s bad before) because the hotel brought in the key staffs from all of their outlets. Moreover, the F&B director and restaurant manager also directly serve the customers, thus the service is great except you still could not discuss much about food and restaurants outside Asia with them since their experiences are quite limited. Since it was a lunch, the ambiance is more relaxed and tends to be “noisy”. The décor is very classical from colonial era with some chandeliers. My overall rating for the meal here is closed if not equal to my meal at Can Fabes: 94/100 (a solid 2 ½ star – which is very good considering it’s in Singapore, even my best HK meal in Caprice is only worth 92.5). During this visit, Alain Passard was accompanied by only 2 of his staffs from L’Arpege – Judy and Isabel. The presence of female chefs in L’Arpege’s kitchen is very important. Both Judy and Isabel explained there are a lot of freedom when they work under Passard, in fact, Passard always encourage his staffs to be creative and experiment with many things (He challenged them on how to make gnocchi or pasta without any flour and eggs which is not yet materialized – I don’t know whether it’s truly possible without egg?), but at the same time we must be cool and happy in the kitchen. Passard hates cooking in extreme temperatures which could easily destroy the essence of ingredients’ structures and hence change the food’s original taste. He likes things to be as natural as possible. For instance, he prefer to cook the potatoes first then peel the skins instead of the other way around (which is more common). Chef Passard also emphasized the importance of balance and harmony in cooking. He wants his dishes can be tasted in such a way that our mouth will be able to savor all the flavors (of the ingredients) – sweet, salty, sour, bitter etc. When asked about the current molecular gastronomy, according to him, only Ferran Adria really knows how to do it while many others are pretentious and confused with themselves. He’s not too keen of it, since the essence of cooking always involves fire and this often does not exist in molecular gastronomy. Here are some of the pictures from the event, Passard in Singapore 08

Here is probably more appropriate place to post my experience at Caprice I (usually) go to HK almost once a year around December. And this time, I visited Caprice, the signature restaurant of Four Seasons HK. Some would say that Caprice is the “mini” Le Cinq since the chef de cuisine, pastry chef, maitre d’hotel as well as the sommelier used to work with Phillipe Legendre in Paris. Since I have never been to Le Cinq, I could not comment how “similar” Caprice is to Le Cinq Food/Wine (92/92) The bread is normal and good. I try the baguette, olives and wheat bread … but the butter is special – it’s the Bordier’s from Saint Malo, I never find Asian restaurants using this butter even though it’s slightly inferior to the one in L’Arpege (not as salty). For the main course, after the discussion with Monsieur Jeremy Evrard, we decide to change about 1/3 of the tasting menu (a taste of Caprice) to be more “French”. So, here what I have -lobster carpaccio is light and fresh combined with the acidity from yuzu mousse and a bit saltiness from Aquitane caviar … simple and good - black truffle ravioli served with caramelized artichoke is not too bad - the winter vegetables consist of some potatoes and onions, the best part is the Jabugo ham, the best cured jamon ham I’ve ever had - my fav. dish of the night is the langoustine a la plancha. The langoustine’s tastiness is intensified with the girolle fricassee and balanced by the local asparagus. Well done! - the red mullert fillet is OK, I find that the eggplant is a bit too dominant since the fish’s meat is quite bland - I ate the game dish for my main course: hare a la royale. The dish is prepared is it’s supposed to be (traditionally French), but it’s simply not for me. I find it too soft and too tense (a combination of red wine, foie gras and black truffle) – without the linguini pasta as a side dish, I might not even be able to finish half of it - the cheese is from Alsace’s Bernard Antony (if not mistaken only 2 places in HK has such cheese - Petrus would be the other one). I loved my 4-year old comte and mimolette (hard but not crumbly, mild and nutty – perfectly paired with a small glass of white Belgium beer), the mont d’or is also quite good - the 1st dessert is a mixture of baked meringue’s sweetness with chesnut puree and the bitter/sour of the “grapefruit” – very refreshing especially after the cheese and my wild rabbit - the 2nd dessert theme is (dark) chocolate - it’s melting and bitter, the nutty flavor is good Overally, I am satisfied with my tasting menu – I don’t regret my choice of hare since I need to try it soon or later. For me, the food here is about equal to Sant Pau Tokyo (92/100 – it’s a low 2 ½ star) This degustation menu is accompanied by a half-bottle of white Burgundy. The sommelier recommended 2004 Puligny Montrachet 1st cru, domaine JM Boillot. It has the aromas of fresh mango and nuts with lovely intensity. In addition, it's also quite crisp and well-balanced with fine acidity. It goes well especially with my crustacean dishes Service/Decoration (94/92) The staffs here are friendly and courteous, honestly the maitre d did make a difference. I was lucky since I was served by him at the beginning (during the menu decision) and he did it as smooth as any 3-star manager in Europe. Even for the local staffs – they’re above average, only Pierre HK may “beat” them, but definitely above the rather poor service I had at Robuchon Galera and Gaddi’s. Here, my napkin was always replaced with a new one whenever I left my table The restaurant, located at the 6th floor, is quite big (it should be able to sit in about 100 people at the same time). My dining table is very nice – at the “lower” lever overlooking the spectacular Kowloon Peninsula. The sofa chair with a pillow to support your back is really spacious and comfortable. Even though the dining room can be said luxurious with several giant chandeliers, but the atmosphere here is not stuffy at all. The kitchen is “open” – you can see them in action without having to worry about the smoke to “dirty” your clothes. Lastly, the price here I would say is quite reasonable. My tasting menu is almost USD 30 cheaper than Pierre or Atelier JR in HK. I would be happy to conclude that so far Caprice is the best French restaurant in Asia (exclude Japan of course). The score for the overall experience is 92.5/100 (2.5-star) Pictures, please visit - Caprice HK Thanks

Thanks for sharing your interesting dining story Abra Hey, the pictures look great to me and glad that you have a good time there The way you describe the service and food, it seems that this place is indeed 1st class