Bu Pun Su

Probably what I meant by "cooked" is served hot (I thought it was "cooked" since the truffles are inserted in between), like the picture on the link below cheese brie de meaux

I'm just curious whether Vert Brise cooking Alain Passard's food (i.e. the way Alain Ducasse runs Beige) or it just happens that at that time Passard cooked there as a distiguished guest chef? Thanks

Hi Dave, You actually brought up a very interesting question. From my experience (including in Italy and Spain), the restaurant (or the cheese-person) is very flexible. I asked jokingly a few times whether I could try one of each, they said sure - when I see their expressions, nothing is really hidden (though I've never done it). On the average, like you said, I take 4 (when I'm full) - 6 (when I'm still hungry) kinds. I almost never skip desserts (and the petit fours), so usually I limit my cheese intake myself - especially when 3-4 year old comte or l'abbaye de citeaux is not available. Economically, if we eat the chesse course as a la carte and it's expensive (EUR 30 or more like in L'Ambroisie or L'Arpege), I might tend to take more to make money worth it Where's your favorite restaurant to eat the cheese course in France? Do you also like a "cooked" cheese like brie de mieux?

My euro trip this past spring, for the dining part, I slightly put emphasize on "respect the tradition" and yes it means that I put more weight to dine at the restaurants with a long history in the haute cuisine world or have been awarded 3-star michelin at least for 10 years or so. Among those, one of them is Troisgros - the restaurant that currently enters the 3rd generation and does not show any sign of weaknesses. Food/Wine (95/91) I ordered the tasting menu - "Impressions de printemps", the price is quite reasonable compare to 3-star in Paris. However, I changed some of the dishes on the menu and fortunately the restaurant is very accomodating. I didn't feel like eating the John Dory or foie gras (not a really big fan of duck liver) so instead I subs them with some of the Troisgros' classic dishes. Troisgros is known to be in the frontline in terms of cooking using sorrels - dated back as early as 1960's if I recall correctly. The dishes with sorrels are: - Warm oysters wrapped in sorrels. The sorrel is as expected to be acidic, but the oysters were not really in their top season - it's not very fresh. Even the simple cooked-oyster preparation at Sushi of Gari NY taste better. No wonder Oud Sluis was not willing to serve any oyster dish. - Salmon (firm texture) with sorrel sauce. This dish on the other hand is superb and especially the sauce is simply divine - a classic sauce preparation at its best. An wonderful dish The other 3 dishes are - Pan fried's frog legs - another excellent dish. It's flavorful and very tender. Simple ingredients elevated to gastronomy level food. Sorry JG, your frog's legs dish is inferior compare to this one - Troisgros also gave me the best piece of lamb's meat I've ever tasted. The lamb almost has no fat or skin which makes it more difficult to prepare, especially to get rid of even the slightest "funny" smell - it's very succulent and the flavor spreads equally. I simply forgot about the side dishes - some vegetables and cream of eggplant. A perfect lamb's meat - Crayfishes wrapped in leek and olives. The prawns are quite good, but the combination was not too fantastic. I was not really moved with this dish Oh before I forgot, in the beginning as amuse, I was served - Frozen green peas soup, very refreshing to start a meal - Razor clams served with garlic. The clam has good texture and taste is right, not as salty as it looks. - The cheese selection is up to the standard of 3-star restaurants. For this trip, I would say that Hof Van Cleve collection is the best. Troisgros has a very good Saint Marcellin, Saint Nectaire and Epoisses, while the local wine cheese is ok. - 3 small desserts are served towards the end of the meal (probably one of the most interesting ones during this trip). It started with mikimoto - a very sweet meringue balanced with the rhubarb's acidity and grapefruit's sour taste. - A small pie served with peas and wild strawberries. Again, another combination of the pie's sweet taste along with sour taste from the fruits and the jelly. - Cherries with ice cream. It's always good to end a meal with a fresh ice cream/sorbet, the mint element inside pretty much clear up any after taste left from the meal. Great combinations of small desserts. While it's often considerend as the best restaurant by many people, this is not even in the top 5 of my favorite meals unfortunately, yet I would still gave a very high score - 95/100 (2 3/4*). Probably I need to come again one day in different season to try to understand better about the cuisine here, the a la carte menu looks interesting too. The restaurant is also known to have one of the best wine selection in the world as explained by many wine experts in this forum. It's indeed the case, but with a limiting budget for wine (as I was going to Paris the next day), I chose to drink wine by the glass. - The house-brand rose champagne is refreshing with a lot of gas - not too bad - The white Condrieu is explosively rich with strong and round flavor in the mouth. A perfect pairing for the salmon - The red Saint-Joseph is rather terrible. It's rather "bitter" with some "medicine-like" smell The choices of wine pairings (about 5 glasses priced at EUR 130) look intriguing. I almost ordered it. Service/Decoration (94/92) The service here is more on the conservative side, but very impeccable. Many of them spoke decent english, even better than a few 3-star restaurants in Paris. The maire d'hotel was very flexible when I requested to change some of the dishes from the degustation menu. I came almost 30 minutes late (arriving around 130 PM) since I missed the earlier train, however I did not feel being rushed at all during my lunch. The restaurant is comfortable and very spacious especially the middle part. The design is simple yet elegant, decorated in neutral colors - white and brown. Along the walls, there are many contemporary artworks. The cool part - the side part of the dining room is connected to the hotel's intimistic garden - very green and peaceful. If I have to quantify the overall experience here, it would be 93.5/100 (A solid 2.5* by michelin-standard). The potential of many other great dishes I saw at the menu is high, I could probably just touch the surface of what the restaurant is capable of cooking. If one has time, it's probably better to stay overnight and dine here 2-3 times and sample as many dishes as possible. Last but not least, below is the link of the pictures I took there (enter the gallery). Thanks troisgros 07

Excellent review by Molto E and David I never really thought of having fine dining for Chinese food I always grew up with the idea that eating Chinese food, we're seating at a round table with 4 people or more and share many dishes in the middle (with rice or noddles). Who's the chef Wing Lei's Macau?

I went there last near, it's ok - nothing is really special. If I have to suggest, I would say try the paella for sure while the seafood is just fine. But given the price and quality comparison, it's a reasonable place to be

Doc, as usual, great pictures and reviews I think the pictures you took are one of the best in this forum - consistently clear The food presentation looks wonderful, sorry that you didn't have a good one Is it because the expectation is too high? Or, perhaps you could not help but to compare with El Bulli, which seems to be your fav. rest.? Where is it by the way (big or small town)? Is it hard to reach the restaurant, like Can Fabes? Thanks

Hi Gaf, Excellent pictures and review. I also just ate at Oud Sluis early this month and the menu is 90-95% identical, so I guess I do not need to put my review since I think you better explained them. Personally, Bomba paella rice dish is my favorite. Somehow at that time, I did not eat them as a combination but more like a plate contain many dishes standing almost independently. I did love a small piece of the langoustine - very firm structure and flavorful. I agreed with you regarding the tomato of the first dish if only I had not tried Arpege's tomato from the chef's garden (yes, just a plain tomato cut into smaller pieces, I'm not referring the tomato used for the dessert). Yet, I was still wondering where he got the tomato from ... almost taste like seito tomato. And the lamb ... I really loved it, one of the highlight for my meal. Top 3 lamb dishes for me (still could not decide when comparing to Troisgros' or Passard's). The combination is great - mine has more crispy skin and slightly more fat attached to the pink meat ... very yummy. Did you go for the wine pairing? I thought it's quite good and not overpriced at all. Sergio seems to be on the right track to carry the cuisine evolution in many more years to come. I could not say much about Keller's comparison since I've neither been to per se not the French Laundry

Here is my review for De Karmeliet ... it was the first place I visit as part of my dining spring/summer euro trip at the beginning of this month. I opted for the full tasting menu. The restaurant is quite strict in terms of changing the content of the degustation menu, they rejected my proposal to insert (change my main course, even I'm willing to pay more) chef Hecke's signature dish - Fried farm egg in a Crust of breadcrumbs. Food/Wine (92/88) It started quite well for the amuse, especially asparagus mousse (the smell and taste were rather light) with the quail egg inside. The in-house butter is really good (light in saltiness but very refreshing, if not mistaken they bought it from local village - Diskmuide) The 1st dish - asparagus with poached egg and lobster - the presentation is quite interesting, but the overall taste is bland, including the lobster. The next 2 dishes are very good though not spectacular. 2nd - prawn (tender and quite sweet) with coconut's crust and pork (flavorful) with mexican spices. These combined with mild curry yoghurt to get rid of the cloying effect. 3rd - seabass with a crust of tapioca, morels and asparagus. This is the best dish of the night, the fish has a good texture, while the morels are excellent - a bit firm and flavorful. The overall taste was intensified with 2002 Chateau de tracy Pouilly fume (Loire Valley) 4th - Baked marinated tuna (almost medium-well) served with gooseliver and creamed sweet potatoes. This is an example of a dish where it has many elements and did not go together when you combine them. I ended up with mixed feelings - similar to the dish that mixes many things 5th - Bresse pigeon served with smoked cheese. During the trip, I think this is the worst main course I had among 2-3* restaurants. The pigeon's taste is strong, still not enough the spelt along with the cheese even more dominant. The soup (Chinese style with some "medicine" taste) serving pigeon's leg did not help much either. 6th - Most of the cheese are imported from the local distributor. The variety is on-par with European top restaurants. The comte is good, charolais is mild but leaving a long aftertaste, the stilton-like one is expected to be very strong. Overall only ok 7th - In the end of spring, I guess fruits are the dominant ingredients for desserts. The one I could say to be good is apple "ravioli" served with sour sorbet, whereas the chocolate with mint cream did not taste as nice as it looks You could see the pictures here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/7124357@N03/s...57600515265541/ I would not deny that the price is relatively on the low side compare to, let's say Paris 3*, but starting this summer they will increase the price by EUR 10 for the tasting menu. The sommelier here is very young (not sure if he's the head) - about mid or late 20's, not very confident in explaining the wine. My 2002 chateau de tracy did not disappoint though, it's crisp with refreshing body. The collection is quite vast, the wine's lovers should be happy. The average mark-up is 2-2.5 times I supposed. Services/Ambiance (87/91) The place is quite comfortable aka spacious with cool bathroom where the water and the lights use the motion sensor. From the outside, the restaurant did not look to be that big, but inside it has a large terrace and beautiful flower gardens as well as a pleasant lobby/bar. The service is a bit "American" where certain table is served by certain waiters throughout the whole night. They're ok though I find it a bit below average compare to other 3* places. The place is quite empty, I observed only 15 people dined that night. Jacket and tie are not strictly required, even there's one walked-in diner, he did not think that this is a fine dining place In general, I would say the cooking style of Geert Van Hecke to be modern classic. He likes to use many ingredients where hardly any of them intended to be dominant (act as the main ones). I'm not too keen of this place and unlikely to return sometimes in the near future - there are 2 other places around Brugge that I think is much more superior - Hof Van Cleve and Oud Sluis. For the food point of view only, I gave De Karmeliet 92/100 (equivalent to a weak 2 1/2 out of 3* in my standard), while the overall experience - in my note, I graded this place 89.5/100 (a flat 2* out of 3). Just incase any of you don't know, my overall best dining experience so far is my 1st visit at L'Arpege (97.5/100). Thanks for reading

Robyn, Did you put your Japan's experience somewhere in this thread? Any chance to go to Beige or Chateau Robuchon? I might plan to go to Tokyo late this year or sometimes next year. Thanks

More than 2 years ago, I had my best buffet experience at Bally's sterling brunch - not sure whether they still have it. The menu includes free flow of champagne, evian water, lobster, crab legs and some middle-quality caviars. The cost last time was about USD 60 I think before tips and tax. The desserts are also quite good - loved the big and sweet chocolate-dipped strawberry.

David, What are your most memorable dishes from Guy Savoy? Any pictures or more details review about your private dinner? How often does Guy Savoy come to LV and when? Foodie-Girl, It seems that Robuchon was quite bad for you, what's the main issue? Had the service been fine, how would you rate the food there? When does Robuchon himself come and cook at the restaurant? The report from everyone makes me curious to find the service there comparing to another great maitre d'hotel like Denis Courtiade (ADPA - he's very good in running the team) or Laurent Lapaire (L'Arpege - the best manager to run a restaurant - very warm, friendly and full sense of humour) or the most famous one - Jean-Claude Vrinat (Many claim Taillevent's hospitality as the world's best)

Hi Robyn, thanks for your advice about Germany restaurants. Most of the 3-star restaurants there, other than those 2 in Cologne, the rests are quite difficult to reach, right? Actually I considered to go there for my summer trip this year, but instead I decided to go to Belgium and surely both Hof Van Cleve and Oud Sluis are fabulous - more of these will come later at the Benelux forum. I could not tell much about Per Se since I've never been there yet. Last time, I was more interested in ADNY and had one of the best meals in my life (before I visited some of the 3-star in Paris). In Europe it's quite common among the 3-star staffs to visit each other restaurants since they're quite closed and have mutual respect with one another. While I was at L'Arpege, Laurent Lapaire - one of the best restaurant managers - just visited Les Ambassadeurs the week before. My maitre d'hotel at Ledoyen often visited L'Ambroisie. I think it's true that cultural difference and customs play important roles here. When I had lunch at Les Ambassadeurs, I was stunned when I saw a couple only wearing T-shirts, then even more surprised at the another table, a guy wore a plain collarless T-shirt and jeans - well guess what, where were they from? They're American. Though the staffs might not be too happy, perhaps since the restaurant only half-filled, they just did not care as much, but I've never seen this for dinner in Europe's starred restaurants.

An interesting information. Last time when we (5 people - almost guaranteed 2-3 bottles of wines, right?) booked at Daniel for 545 PM, we're told that we must clean up everything by 830 PM - of course many of us were not happy and decided to go to JG instead where there's no issue about the time at all. Despite many good reviews about the food, maybe this part what makes Daniel is not really a 3-star restaurant. Hmm, maybe I should try to go to Cologne sometimes ...

Thanks for the great report Robert. Do you have any pictures of the dishes? How to get to the restaurant from Paris (or from Strasbourg) if one is not driving? Thanks

DutchMuse, Thank you for giving insights and sharing your experiences of the legendary Robuchon for the new foodie lover like me. I only tried once at his Macau restaurant and it was nowhere near the 3* (in both food and service), even Pierre Gagnaire's HK is better than Robuchon a Galera IMO. Who were some of the sous chefs at Jamin? Were Claude Le-Tohic or Alain Verzeroli already with him at that time? In the old Jamin, I assume that some of Robuchon's famous dishes like pommes puree, mille-feullie of tomato with crab meat or caviar in a fine jelly with cauliflower cream were created at that time (we could enjoy them this time around as well) ... so what are the differences? Aren't many chefs already catching up with what he's able to do? What's wrong with the Mansion - foodwise (I heard the ambiance and service are excellent)? Then, what are you current fav. restaurants on this planet? Hmm ... too many questions I guess. Again, thanks

Guys, For those of you who are lucky enough to eat at Jamin while Joel Robuchon was still around, do you mind sharing the differences between Robuchon's in the past and now? Many of the food experts said that the current Robuchon's restaurant is nowhere as good as the one in the past, but do not confused what he's able to execute in the past. My questions: The current Joel Robuchon is the same person as the one behind the Jamin's stove, why couldn't he produce dishes as good as the ones before he retired? Does it because ... 1. It is actually his teams/staffs at Jamin that were really good? I thought many of the chefs at his restaurants are his former chefs cooking or learning from him in the past 2. Robuchon's ability/culinary skills are going down the hill? Which I don't think it makes sense at all 3. Robuchon lost the motivation to cook anymore? Or maybe it's just like Paul Bocuse, he's good in the past but at this moment he's just one of the good chefs but not in the peak anymore? Lastly, the peak of Passard, Veyrat, Pacaud, Ducasse or Gagnaire etc. ... how are these people compare to the peak of Robuchon (I don't even know who Robuchon is by the time he retired)? Thanks

Doc, That's really fantastic. Glad to see all your dishes in El Bulli Honestly, were you really full? Imagining my self, I might still feel hungry after eating there. So now, I think the numerous small dishes in El Bulli could be similar to Alinea and/or L'Arnsbourg. Does chef Achatz follow the step set by Ferran Adria? Thanks

Bistrot du Sommelier looks very interesting - love to try one day Amaiden, have you been there before? What's it like? My little observation While the restaurant's wine collection is huge, I don't find Laurent Roucayrol (ADPA) is a really good sommelier. He hardly listens to customers and showed "unhappy" when his suggestion is not followed On the other hand, Stéphane Thivat (Arpege) is a fun and very knowledgeble one. Don't let his young-age look translates to "inexperienced" in choosing the wine Regardless of that, it's still vague for me whether they're "a 3-star sommelier", but the food there is certainly a very solid 3-star

First of all, I'm sorry if it's not the right place to raise this question. We all know that Michelin 3* is the most widely accepted standard for the restaurants in the world, with the main concentration in cooking and the chefs become very famous when their restaurants are elevated. My question is - is there such thing as 3-star sommelier? Does the sommelier work in the 3-star restaurants imply that they (in most cases) are better than the 2 and 1 or even non starred restaurants? For those of you the wine experts, would you mind telling me your 3-5 top sommeliers (some explanation would be very appreciated)? I'm kind of thinking that one day I would like to visit La Villa Madie - not really for the sake of the food, but simply because I would like to experience the wines selected by one of the world's top sommelier - Enrico Bernardo? Many thanks

Personally, I think Ramsay will do about the same as he does in New York so far. I doubt if he will get 3-star in Paris, but still look forward to it. It would be great if Ramsay dares to open the restaurant somewhere in 8th Arrondissement where most of Paris top restaurants located. Just my 2 cents ...

Hi David, I hope you would a great time in LV and look forward to your review. Just wondering, how do you know your menu at Guy Savoy? It seems to me that you do the wine-pairing there, how much is it? I thought that the degustation menu would consist of about 10 dishes ... or you get a TGV menu? I ate at Renoir (Mirage), can be said as my 1st fine-dining experience, 3 years ago, and it was very good with a very formal service. I believe you will like chef Strata's new place at Wynn.

John, Thanks for sharing your wonderful experiences and pictures. How did you get the reservation there? I failed in the past 2 years. I guess, one need to stay overnight around Roses area since El Bulli only opens for dinner? How does El Bulli stand compare to your other Spanish gastronomy, like Can Fabes? I'm curious to try, but not very sure if I will like molecular gastronomy, but my experience of Gagnaire's in Hong Kong is very positive. Could we actually put Gagnaire's cooking similar to Ferran Adria's and Heston Blumenthal's?

Hi John, The info from website below (eGullet NY discussion forum) shows that the tasting menu is USD 190. That's why I'm a bit confused with the price differences between LV vs NY L'aterlier Robuchon NY

Great pictures and review Docsconz. If I'm not mistaken, the price in L'Atelier Vegas is at least USD 50 cheaper than the one in NY? Did you get the chance to ask or it's simply NY, and hence should be more expensive ... I'm supposed the menu should be the same (or very similar) between L'Atelier NY and Vegas? Did you experience any differences when eating at Vegas vs the one in NY? Thanks