Michel Bras, Laguiole

[grace3]

sorry if im off-topic, SD, Toulouse not qualifying as a small town... but a nice lunch at two-star Michel Sarran would be a great addition. Check out his food at www.michel-sarran.com, and forgive him the cheesy music!

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Thanks for the M Sarran info. I will be flying in/out of Toulouse and will probably spend the night before my am flight somewhere near the airport. I could have a nice dinner at M. Sarran...it looks convenient to the airport, too.

Any thought from anyone for my overnight near the airport???

Joan

[MobyP]

Does anyone have, or know where I can find, reliable directions to Bras?

The website is appalling at the moment - almost un-navigable.

All help appreciated.

[tony h]

go to viamichelin.com & print off maps at different resolutions

its very easy to find - just to the east of laguiole, the knife place.

when are you going - wanna sell me your reservation?

[MobyP]

My reservation is on the 9th. On my own. I expect the clouds to part, the angels to sing, and the pristine vegetables to nuzzle their way into my heart.

Edited August 4, 2005 by MobyP (log)

[milla]

My reservation is on the 9th. On my own. I expect the clouds to part, the angels to sing, and the pristine vegetables to nuzzle their way into my heart. 

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Don't forget to have breakfast there in the room, Moby. Really good...

[pim]

Does anyone have, or know where I can find, reliable directions to Bras?

The website is appalling at the moment - almost un-navigable.

All help appreciated.

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Oh Moby it's not that difficult, really. We took a rental car from the most unhelpful Hertz counter ever at the Montpellier train station. They had no maps, nor any idea how to get out from there to Laguiole. We ended up with a very vague direction from the lady next door at Europe Car, who told us the way out of town and then to follow the sign eastwards to Millau.

Along the way we picked up a map from a gas station and found our way to Bras. Once you are in Laguiole it's impossible to miss Bras.

If we figured it out, so could you.

[Bux]

. . . . 

Along the way we picked up a map from a gas station and found our way to Bras.  Once you are in Laguiole it's impossible to miss Bras.

If we figured it out, so could you. 

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I'd urge anyone driving in France to have a good Michelin map. They've always kept us out of trouble and on the right road. For local driving I like the ones at 1:150,000 scale. Laguiole is a bit off the main highways, but not hard to find. I suspect Moby is more concerned with finding Bras, than getting to Laguiole. I can't remember all that clearly, but once you get on the right road out of Laguiole, you can't miss Bras. There really aren't that many roads out of town either. My recollection is that you pass the Philippe Starck designed forge on the way. You can't miss that with it's large knife sign. I also seem to recall the Bras was further out of town than I expected so we felt we might have passed it before we actually got there.

I've had other people recommend other maps, but I've found the Michelin maps easiest to read and follow. GPS is a more comtemporary way to go, I suppose. I've not used it, but a friend bought a used car in France with the system installed. It seemed to work alright, but the restaurant we were headed towards, and at which they had made a reservation, was closed when we got there. I try not to hold that against the GPS.

[pim]

I'd urge anyone driving in France to have a good Michelin map. They've always kept us out of trouble and on the right road.

We had one, but it did no good in keeping us out of trouble, you see, since it was sitting happily on the bookshelf in Paris!

I suspect Moby is more concerned with finding Bras, than getting to Laguiole. I can't remember all that clearly, but once you get on the right road out of Laguiole, you can't miss Bras. There really aren't that many roads out of town either. My recollection is that you pass the Philippe Starck designed forge on the way. You can't miss that with it's large knife sign. I also seem to recall the Bras was further out of town than I expected so we felt we might have passed it before we actually got there.

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There is no way anyone could miss Bras once you are in Laguiole. Yes, that Starck's Laguiole Knife factory/store is on the way, and you could see that other unmistakable Bras building perched up on top of a hill from miles around.

And if you are really directionally challenged and manage somehow to get lost, ask anyone in town, in fact, you could probably ask any Aubrac cows roaming the hillside, and it could point you to chez Bras.

Edited August 5, 2005 by pim (log)

[MobyP]

I finally ate at Michel Bras, and simply found no reason to return. In my opinion, it has become an exercise in corporate catering. A cavalcade of the same dishes, prepared almost simultaneously, brought to each table there. There was a basic sense of cloned execution which came through in the tasting. Although the conception and sourcing of the dishes might be at the highest level (with one pretty foul and one fair exception), the execution never reached the highest levels. It was, at best, acceptable - and who gives a shit about acceptable when you have a genius in the kitchen?

In our room, off to the side rather than in the main room, there were two five tops, another deuce, and my table (also a deuce). As everyone had ordered the decouveture tasting menu (with what began to feel like a sort of Disney land logic), and as we were staggered to be the last table in the cycle at about 5 minutes behind the one before (a five top), we were condemned to receive the 13th and 14th repetition of each of the dishes for the whole afternoon. As a dining aesthetic, it's not more than a couple of steps above being served airline food (you see that cart rolling down the aisle? Well eventually it will get to you).

The wine and water service was prompt and satisfactory at the beginning, but by half way through we had to refill our own glasses as the staff had wondered off. As far as these things go, and this isn't something that particularly bothers me, they also failed the napkin test - on both occasions - although I did get an escort for half the distance to the loos.

To the food, it has all been described before, and well enough so that I'll just focus on a few dishes. First, and in order of it being served, the big failure. The seared foie was, I thought, a disaster of a dish. Alongside an acceptable portion of foie, now famously slow-seared, was a morass of accompanyments. A small pile of barley with a brunoise of pineapple, a smear of pesto on the plate, a fruit chutney, a few drops of of sweetish something (possibly a vinegar), and a small green salad. As far as I could taste, none of the elements really complemented each other. The barley was a poor idea, and the addition of pineapple didn't improve it. Having both the pesto and the chutney on the plate just made no sense to me. The foie itself is slow cooked (apparently) to produce a custardy interior, and then seared or blow-torched on the outside. Sure enough, the texture was there, but it felt dull to me. By half way through, there was nothing left to learn that you hadn't already in the first three bites (probably the reason there are so many accompaniments, in order to keep your interest). By the way, this is not to rail against complicated or savoury foie dishes. The roasted foie at the Fat Duck with crab tuile and seaweed and various other things, I thought was fantastic. And for an 'alternative' texture, more successful.

The first big success was the entremets of celeriac, cut almost into a thin linguini, and served with a black truffle vinaigrette. The vegetable was cooked wonderfully, still leaving the slightest of bites, and it was delicious next to the truffle - which must have been preserved, but wasn't overdone.

The second success was that we had been given the good advice to substitute the meat course for the gauloise blanche chicken. This was certainly exceptional, with far more flavour than its Bresse cousin. My only complaint is that in the cut of breast they included the tail-tip thin end, which had slightly overcooked when placed next to the thicker neck-end. This seems like a foolish mistake at such an establishment. The poaching, however, had left a wonderful flavour. The skin was perfectly crisp, salty, and delicious. The accompaniments, some small violet artichokes, was modest. The small mound of toasted sesame seeds were a very nice choice.

The desserts, which should have been bacchanalian, were prudish, overly restrained (not to mention overly-conceived), and also tired in execution.

If I was to return (on someone else's dime), I would definitely avoid the set menus at all cost. I think you would have to go ALC, if only to shock the brigade into cooking something that - at that moment - they don't have 15 other orders for. You know, I just don't want to pay 200 bucks for 14th portion of foie. Especially if it tastes like it.

[tony h]

moby - sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. For me it was one of my all time best meals

then again - i hated arpege & was bored silly with Ambroisie. ah, well...

[MobyP]

Tony I'm sure it used to be a great restaurant. I'm just also pretty sure it no longer is.

[Andy Lynes]

Moby - I take it you are not suggesting that the restaurant has gone downhill in the four months since Tony ate there? It seems unfortunate that you were seated where you were; if you were in the main dining room and unaware of your position in the pecking order so to speak, do you think you would have had an appreciably better time?

[MobyP]

I'm told that Bras took a long time to achieve its 3rd star, for basically the reasons I outlined - primarily that of consistency. The pecking order issue is secondary for me (or at least, where I was within it). The problem was the food - too much of it tasted flat, tired and reproduced. After a while that much duplication comes through on the plate. You begin to taste it. I'm sure you can still get the odd good meal there, though I don't know what criteria would have to be satisfied. We happened to be in a smaller side room, but the larger room also had tables, so for all I know mine was the 43rd foie gras churned out and then the 43rd turbot. It becomes a business practice. Who would travel 5000 miles to have the cheap lunch option? Certainly no one on the day I was there. Everyone comes looking for the Bras meal - which is equated with this particular and only occasionally changing tasting menu. So, it becomes not just an aesthetic or culinary issue, but a business one. If you're the 5000th person that month to have exactly the same dishes prepared by the same guy, who has been in that position since the beginning of April, you're going to taste it. As far as Bras is concerned, people are travelling from around the world (myself included) to have thw Bras experience. He isn't doing what Keller does, rotating several hundred dishes during the course of a year. He's presenting several fixed menus and an alc which presumably last mostly unchanged for the entire season.

Believe me, I don't get to eat this way more than two or three times a year. I spend a lot of time thinking about where I should go. I travelled a long way to have a spectacular meal, and it just wasn't there that day. What I had felt like an imitation of a great meal, without actually achieving its own greatness. No one's more pissed off about it than I am.

[Andy Lynes]

So perhaps it had gone downhill in those four months? Fresh faced and full of youthful vigour at the beginning of the season; a little tired and over rehearsed towards the end, like an actor who has perfomed Lear one too many times.

[tony h]

No one's more pissed off about it than I am.

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pissed off now - just wait till the credit card bill comes in

[Matthew Grant]

No one's more pissed off about it than I am.

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pissed off now - just wait till the credit card bill comes in

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I'm going for two meals in 2 weeks!

Strangely, the only gripe I would have had about my last visit would have been our tables position. Wilst not quite in the "xtra room", we were the last table before it and we commented at the time that we didn't think this end was the greatest for service. This wouldn't account for Moby's poor food however.

[robert brown]

Moby, your report back was very enlightening and shocking, especially to those of us who had the good fortune to dine at Michel Bras beginning 20 years ago when he had a simple hotel-restaurant in the center of town whose relative humbleness, I believe, accounts for the long time it took him to obtain a third star. We made it a point to go way out of our way nearly every summer from about 1985 to 1997 to visit and have at least two meals. I remember succulent dish after succulent dish based on the obscure-sounding herbs and flowers of the “neighborhood”. My favorite recollection is going with him in our friend’s car to get some of these materials. I though he would direct us to a garden, but instead told my friend to stop on the side of the road where he took out his scissors and cut the herbs right there. Some of the ingredients you mention are those I couldn’t possibly imagine him ever using. What you write is not only an indictment of him and the restaurant, but a glaring example of “restaurants only get worse” and the state of cuisine at the alleged top in France. It sounds to me that he is in the midst of turning the restaurant over to his son who is trying to play in some other culinary bailiwick.

[MobyP]

What worries me the most is that this is a wider trend, catering to a new crowd of mobile diners coming from much farther afield, as the most efficient way of sustaining a profit level. It has less and less to do with a single individual standing in a kitchen or by the pass, trying to really cook at the highest levels, rather than turn their cuisine into one of repetitive fun-fair ride for an infinite line of customers.

How many true individuals are left?

[pedro]

Moby, the scenario you've described, where waves of the same dishes reach the majority of the tables of the restaurant spaced by the difference in the arrival times, is becoming more and more common among top tier restaurants. I agree that this approach has many downs -- some chefs I know in Spain are against it -- but it would be unfair to single out Bras.

[vmilor]

Moby,

I actually have a reservation there on October 9 and I have second thoughts about it after reading your post. Maybe I should cancel it??

Do you think Michel Bras will cook if I order ALC?

Is there a particular table I should ask for 2 people?

Vedat

[MobyP]

Vedat -

I would not presume to tell you anything about dining at this level. My only comments would be, firstly, that they do not serve turbot on the bone; something which I know is a bug bear of yours. It is also not a great dish, though it uses citrus in an interesting manner. Secondly, if the room is anywhere close to full, do your damnedest to create your own tasting menu, if that is what you fancy, out of different dishes to the ones suggested, substituting what you can, to your liking and not theirs.

As to Bras cooking - do we think he still does? My suggestion to order from the alc was more about shocking the brigade from an endless stream of cooking exactly the same dishes for each table, all day. If I can taste the difference, I have no doubt that you could as well. From someone who had such a reputation for hands-on and (by the sounds of it) somewhat instinctive cooking, what do you think would be required to pull from Bras something individual, unique and passionate?

[seanw]

Moby,

Sorry you missed out on the unique Michel Bras experience. I was fortunate enough to be their when he was 2 star & we won the third the following year. I can assure you missed something special, i doubt any 3star chef worked like this man, he needed to be fit enough to run a marathon(he ran several). The growth of the restaurant operations has been phenomenal over a short space of time (considering his lengthy involvement in restaurant operations). Books have been written, a restaurant exists in Toya, Japan & recipes have been licensed for mass production etc......But time exists in winter for such activities & considering the energy of the man it does not surprise that so much has been achieved. I think the whole modern dining experience(at that level)is a problem, in that it costs so much money! Large revenues need to be made to ensure survival, all the big names will whore themselves out a little(easy money). Maybe fine dining experiences are increasingly about entertainment rather than soulful satisfaction, the experience is important but i go to restaurants to eat & drink, i gave up playing with my food as a kid. MG movement seems a little like smoke & mirrors,& apt for contemporary desires, my particular sensibilities make it difficult to invest passion in such novelty(although of course others do,& not consider it to be novelty, in fact i do not discount modern scientific understanding of food just the overkill of it). The process can supercede the end product......Interesting question can you tell the difference, when a chef has invested a profound understanding of the ingredient & creatively considered it's means of preparation? (the critical part of the question being profound understanding of the ingredient) When i was at Bras i could answer yes to the question posed. Bit of a ramble......& contentious.

[MobyP]

Sean -

I envy you indeed. It must have been a great time to be there.

[tony h]

Moby,

I actually have a reservation there on October 9 and I have second thoughts about it after reading your post. Maybe I should cancel it??

Do you think Michel Bras will cook if I order ALC?

Is there a particular table I should ask for 2 people?

Vedat

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don't cancel - moby's experience (who usually gets it right) seems at odds with everyone elses. perhaps it was an off day - him or bras or both - dunno. but to me & many others its a very, very special place. go & make up your own mind

[Matthew Grant]

Reports of the demise of Michel Bras are grossly exaggerated . I had two meals there over the weekend, whilst the first was not as memorable as my previous visit, I would have happily died peacefully in my sleep in the sumptuous bed moments after finishing my second, probably safe in the knowledge that life can't get any better.

We had been wondering how to order and Moby's report convinced us that a la carte was the way to go for our first meal. The usual eggs and cepe tart (amazing) and spoons were taken in the reception area as the sun went down on the horizon. Louis Roederer champers to accompany. Moving into the dining room we started with 2 different versions of Garguillou (one the classic dish and the other a cold version) we were surprised at their size and how filling they were. It was as good as I remember it from last time but towards the end I did feel like I was munching my way through the dish in order to get to the next one. A smaller portion would have been better appreciated. In this instance the classic gargouillou didn't have much in the way of the smears and purees.

Moving on, Rachel had the Monkfish with Black Olive Oil. Perfectly cooked Monkfish as you would expect but for me the Olives added and unpleasant grainy texture to the fish, slightly disappointing. For me Langoustines with a cauliflower and very finely chopped sweet peppers and ham. The four Langoustines were split lengthways with the head being covered with the accompaniments leaving the tail unadorned. Relatively simple but I was won over by the incredible Langoustines, cooked incredibly perfectly so that they almost melted like butter, the Langoustine itself outshining anything else on the plate. Exceptional quality but o it should be at €62.

A further dish of the gauloises Blanches chicken with Steak tomatoes had fantastic chicken as previously described. To me the steak tomatoes was an unusual thing to serve alongside, almost ugly in their presentation (they were cut into strips like French fries). "Une Alliance du Nord & du sud de l'Aveyron Autour de la peau de lait & des truffes - Comprégnac -; le filet de lapin fermier poele au beurre demi-sel, des racines" This was another large dish consisting of a miniature rack of the rabbit, a single chop with a kidney (?) and what was presumably the saddle rolled and served as the fillet. This was a rich buttery dish that I thought was actually from the truffle sauce but may have arisen from the cooking method. Reasonable flavour from the truffles. However the dish was spoilt by the rolled meat being littered with small bones making it difficult to slice, the outside of the meat had also gone a little hard in areas. Reasonable dishes but certainly not mind-blowing.

Dessert of Coulant with truffle worked reasonably (sorry for the sketchy details, incredibly full by this point) and an interpretation of a Mille-Feuille were rich finishes to the meal, actually they weren't really the finish, miniature lollypops (good), a nasty grainy carrot thing and a couple of other petit fours followed and then finally a fennel candy floss.

Overall a good meal, certainly not as bad as Moby's but nowhere near as good as my previous visit. A thing to note is that we were "recognised" (meaning, picked up on the Computer database I presume) and greeted warmly when we arrived at the restaurant, a nice touch.