La Bigarrade

[ajgnet]

I had a wonderful spring lunch at La Bigarrade a few days ago.

I took pictures and videos of my meal, in case you want a visual, and my full writeup is here.

This was a light meal taken straight from northern Italy exemplifying what it means to cook with seasonal ingredients. Our tasting menu of 12-courses was full of peas, wild onions, and asparagus in different forms, with very airy and fresh flavors. There was no meat, only white fish. The total came to 45€ (!!).

Here's what the menu looked like during my visit:

1. Oyster in bonito bouillon gelée with lime and wild pepper.

Lightly poached clam in wild sorrel with grapefruit bouillon and olive oil.

2. Soup of petits pois, sepia, and black garlic.

3. Yellowtail belly with jamón ibérico de bellota, small wild onions garnished with lemon zest

4. Line caught mackerel, caramelized and acidulated onion, garden herbs, fresh watercress

5. Pollock with wild red sorrel, small shrimp, wild onion leaves

6. Cheese course of Reblochon and Crottin with prune reduction.

7. Fava bean soup with nèfle broth

8. Lemon pot de crème, saffron gelée, rosemary flowers

9. Pistachio crème anglaise, mango reduction, pimpinelle leaves

10. Tobacco-infused oatmeal mousse garnished with cocoa powder

11. Chocolate mousse with coffee reduction and melted chocolate from Domori, Genova.

12. Petits Bavarois with thyme and candied almond.

I went ahead and made a second reservation to return essentially as soon as I could get a table. Really fabulous meal that truly makes use of cooking with market fresh ingredients.

[felixhirsch]

I can only support that! I had a stunning meal here too. Not everything was perfect, but out of 14 odd courses, there were at least a good 10 that I loved. At 65euro for dinner, that is unbeatable! At least in Paris with food of such a high level. The food was incredibly beautiful, tasty, interesting, and different, which I hugely enjoyed.

All of the rest: wine list, service and decor are at least as charming, and make this really worth checking out. Book early though, as you won;t get in if you give it no less than a couple of months.

[daemon]

Great report ( and pictures), that I can only second;

My meals there were among the best I had in 2008 and 2009.

I would only add that the first time I have tasted the amuse you found average, I was blown away by the olive oil (Recioppella from the Zamparelli farm)

The only reason I have stopped going is, as you mentionned, the never ending wating list.

[felixhirsch]

I don;t know if I would go as far as saying that it is the best meal of this year, but it certainly was a highly enjoyable and very good one.

THe olive oil was good, but I didn't really notice anything special (can't remember anything, and didn't take notes)

[PhilD]

...and now the rumoured second star is confirmed in this years Michelin.