Olivier Roellinger's Les Maisons de Bricourt

[Bu Pun Su]

In 2005, Alain Senderens (Lucas Carton) gave up his 3-star, Antoine Westermann (Buerehiesel) followed the same path in 2006. Then, near the end of 2008, another legendary chef – Olivier Roellinger decided to close his 3-star place for good. What’s going on? Most people already knew - the big pressure to keep Michelin’s highest accolade drove most chefs to throw the award that brought them glory. Chefs have given up too many things just for the sake of the 3-star: family, free time as well as savings. I missed both Lucas Carton and Buerehiesel, but fortunately just 2 months before Maisons Bricourt closed forever, I had a chance to savor the food of Roellinger, the connoisseur of seafood, vegetable and spices

Food (and wine) - 96/100

It took me more than 3 hrs to go to Cancale from Paris. It was cloudy with nice breeze. I reached the restaurant 15 minutes earlier, just walked around the area and visited the shop next door. There are more than 100 different spices, mostly with Asian flavors. Not many French chefs using spices in their cooking. Roellinger is such an expert in the use of spices that even Michel Troisgros uses Roellinger’s curry recipe for cooking the veal sweetbreads.

Anyway, it has become a habit for me to order the restaurant’s biggest tasting menu wherever I dine at Europe’s top places. I had “Image of St Malo country” menu. It consists of more than 8 dishes including cheese tray and desserts. A few of the dishes remind me of Asian foods. For instance, the cream of coconut with sweet prawns is similar to Singapore laksa and the clear broth of Tonkin tastes like Thailand tom yum – the different is that Roellinger’s versions are lighter, cleaner and of course better =.= Some of the memorable dishes will be: the tender lobster served in sublime sauce (a balance of lobster juice, sherry sauce and cocoa powder) – the 2nd best lobster I’ve ever tasted. I also love the juicy Aubrac lamb that work well with chutney and other mix vegetables. Fruit is an important element in the cooking at Maisons Bricourt, and as expected both desserts I had involve pear and mango. The food here is indeed as good as advertised. It’s sad news that Roellinger retired from haute gastronomy, but at least I tasted it once and it was memorable.

I only had 2 simple glasses of wine – 2002 Muscadet sevre et maine (Loire Valley) and 1998 Chateau de Pibarnon (South of France) – to accompany my tastring menu.The food here is one of the best I’ve ever had in France outside Paris. I gave 96/100 (solid 2 ¾* - equal to Le Meurice and Oud Sluis). With the food this good, I was surprised that it took a while before Michelin bestowed its 3-star to Maisons Bricourt. Oh also … the big degustation menu, 2 glasses of wine and 1 big bottle of Chateldon cost < EUR 200, wonderful food as well as value of money

Service (and ambiance) - 93/100

The service is professional; staffs show interest and cares toward their guests. The chef himself is very friendly and humble. He seems to be very content at this stage of his life. He often travels overseas to keep himself up to date. Even, Roellinger is quite familiar with many spices from Indonesia! The dining room is nice and comfortable. Facing a duck pond and simple garden, it’s a peaceful place for dining – nothing luxurious. The restaurant is about ¾ full, and mostly were locals. The overall experience of my dining is 95/100 (2 ¾ *, Michelin got it correct to bestow the highest grade for this place). How I wish I could ate his legendary John Dory with 14 spices or Turbot with curcuma and pineapple …

Here are the pictures, Maisons bricourt fall 08