Taka

Are you from the US? I'm asking because I ate rhubarb twice in the US last year, at two different places (JG and Ssäm bar, exactly) and I found it too sweet, on the contrary, lacking the sourness I like. I'm not sure if there's a difference in the variety of rhubarb used here and there, or if it's treated in a different way... And, well, maybe the one you had at Le Meurice was really too sour after all. Yes, I am from the US. I very very rarely ever eat rhubarb, but the strong acidity of the preparation at Le Meurice was simply sour- I just didn't like it. I don't want my dessert to be sour and especially sour to the point of overwhelming all of the other flavors in the dish. That was simply poor execution IMO. Taka

I was at Le Meurice on October 7th- is that recent enough? I don't know where this info everyone has gotten came from- chef Alleno was definitely there when I had dinner- I saw him come out to the dining room a couple times and I recognized his face. I cannot comment on the state of 3 star restaurants in Paris as this is my first experience at a 3 star restaurant there, but I was very pleased overall. However, there were definitely some downsides to the meal: The foie gras dish that was prepared with kombu had too many lobes- three big lobes is too rich and too heavy- that really weighed my stomach down and made it difficult to finish the rest of the meal. I finished the whole thing because it was so good, but that didn't help. The grouse dish was far too salty and rather heavy-handed- intense flavor but to the extreme and with too much salt- I didn't enjoy that dish at all. The first dessert with rhubarb in it was too sour and not to my liking because the sourness overpowered everything. The second dessert was chocolate-based and was much better. My parting thoughts are these- the whole dining experience was lavish and spectacular. I felt that the service and the ambience and the wine pairings really highlighted the food. Even though there were some dishes that I didn't like, I felt that overall it was a great dinner. I've eaten at many French restaurants in the US and in Japan, my first time to Paris and I thought the food was prepared to a very high standard. Obviously, each individual's tastes differ, so it's not that surprising that a prix-fixe meal would have some dishes that someone may not like. I didn't feel that this detracted from the meal, if that makes sense. I hope this helps. Taka