Eating a 31-Year-Old Time Capsule Auberge de L'Ill

[Laidback]

Thanks for the report; your photos add so much to the review. I assume from your avatar that you are a devotée of one of my favorite restaurants in Vienne.

[ameiden]

Thanks for the report; your photos add so much to the review. I assume from your avatar that you are a devotée of one of my favorite restaurants in Vienne.

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You are absolutely right, Laidback. If I had a time machine, I would travel back 60 years and go for dinner at La Pyramide ...

[Andy Lynes]

This is still a great timeless dish worth three Michelin stars. And if you are greedy enough like me, you have it as a starter! Went down well with a 2001 Riesling Frederic Emile from Trimbach.

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I ate this dish last night, except I was in London. It was cooked by Andre Garrett, head chef at Galvin at Windows in Park Lane. The sous chef there Armand Sablon has recently returned from a 3 month stage at the Auberge as part of his prize for winning the Roux Scholarship chef competition and the restaruant has been running a "La Decouverte de L'Alsace" to celebrate the success.

The dish I ate appears to be an exact replica of the original expect that it was served with a pastry straw. Simple, elegant, delicate, delicious. Timeless is right - it's obviously an "old school" dish yet doesn't seem to have aged. Its the perfect restaurant dish in that its more than just an assembly of ingredients (as so many dishes seem to be these days); there's real thought behind it and so its becomes more than the sum of its parts.

Edited February 1, 2008 by Andy Lynes (log)

[IFS]

An update on the cuisine at L'Auberge e L'ill. Still classic, Marc tries to modernize his cooking gradually and we found him still in a transition period.

However, some dishes really touched us and are memorable, still. Especially a very classic veal with morels and white asparagus was truly outstanding. Dessert are sub-standard.

The new interior is benchmark indeed - be sure to go in summer to have the aperitiv on the terrace - it is just beautiful to have the view on the Ill.

For the full short report see my blogpost

http://highendfood.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/auberge-de-lill/

Enjoy!