Paris Part 2 - Les Lundis de Fulgurances

Les Lundis de Fulgurances, Les Combustibles, 75012 Paris

The whole reason for my Paris trip was tonight, my brother Sam would be cooking at the premier evening of ‘Les Lundis de Fulgurances’ a restaurant concept night run by Hugo Hivernat and Sophie Cornibert which is showcasing up and coming chef’s from around the world. My brother is currently working as sous chef in the fantastic Noma restaurant in Copenhagen with head chef Rene Redzepi which only this week beat El Bulli and became the number one restaurant in the world which is just totally amazing to think about, biggest possible congratulations to all the Noma guys and I can't wait to eat there for my birthday in a couple of weeks! It's through this that Sam's been gaining great exposure in places like Paris and also London where at the beginning of this month he’ll be guesting for three nights at Nuno Mendes’ Loft Project which will be a different experience having only 16 guests compared to the 60 he was doing today.

We went for the €75 menu option which meant we got matching wines with the courses and this seemed like good value compared to what I’d expect to pay for same thing in London.

Bol de radis

Radish Bowl

First up were two snacks with the radish bowl being one of the most strikingly presented dishes I’ve ever seen, the terracotta pots were filled with edible soil and mud which seemed to be made from combination of rye bread, hazlenuts and possible olives – buried just under the soil were the peppery radishes, combined with the soil the radishes tasted nothing like I’d expected and looking at other peoples faces they too were nearly dumb founded with the whole experience.

Salt & Vinegar Crisp

Salt & Vinegar Crisps

The salt of vinegar flavour came at you from all angles here, the sauce had a superb acidic bite to its creaminess and when scouped up with the super crisp crisps it all made perfect sense. The salted flour on the crisps didn’t have any robustness like you’d expect with heavily salted crisps from a packet and I suppose this is a throwback from the light seasoning they use at Noma. To go with the snacks we were given a glass of a unusual sparkling wine, 'Opera des vins, Nuit de Tokyo' appeared to have the flavour depth of a medium to high quality champagne but I’m sure the price was a lot more favorable – I’d buy instantly if I ever come across in a shop in the UK.

Carotte en croute de sel, crème, thym, lingonberry

Carrot in salt crust, cream, thyme, lingonberry

Again the salt wasn’t the driving force in this immaculately presented dish. The texture of the components was contrasting but the ingredients blended together effortlessly to create a rich but delicate flavour. I think the vibrance of a dish such as this is a real eye opener for what raw food can actually taste and look like.

Maquereau cru, lait de noisette, pain de seigle, moutarde

Raw Mackerel, hazelnut milk, rye bread, mustard

I was really excited to see this on the menu because surprisingly I’ve never tried raw mackerel and was intrigued by the combination of this and the hazelnut milk. The milk provided a different than normal type of sweetness with all the heat the dish needed was provided by the mustard coating the mackerel. The mackerel itself just melted in the mouth and tasted like I’d always hoped raw mackerel would. I must mention the tiny balls of cucumber that seemed to freshen your palate with cool liquid as soon as you bite into them and the tiny tapioca balls would brilliantly both for the appearance and added feeling in your mouth. The wine match for this course was a very oaky white ‘Hauts de Madou 2007, Blanc Cheverny, Christian VENIER’, defying what I know about wines this 3 year old white seemed much older due to its colour as well as its strong aroma, a good wine but I doubt I’d buy and I didn’t really feel it was complimenting the food as something simpler and more refreshing would have been better for the raw fish – I would have gone for a Sancerre but then again I’ll always go for a Sancerre with fish or salad, think I’m bit stuck in my ways with that one.

Huitre, algue verte, sabayon de pomme de terre

Oyster, green alga, sabayon potato

Again fantastic presentation like every other dish, it was served just warm and I felt a touch more heat would have benefited it but this didn’t detract from the sublime feeling when popping one of the different textures into your mouth.

Pied de cochon, biere, poireau brule

Pigs Trotters, beer, burnt leek

You knew as soon as you saw this dish that it was something special and it was a total triumph, the intense reduced beer gentle disguised the tender morsels of pig trotter with the burnt leek providing yet another cunning addition to the plate. Now was time for the red wines to come out and the first one was a nice robust one Morgan 2008 Vieilles Vignes, Jean-Paul Thevenet with deep fruitiness but wasn’t anything special. I think it’s interesting you consider what you should drink when the dish contains something like beer – I honestly believe that a well matched beer can match and sometimes beat a wine pairing, I think because you drink beer differently than wines (larger mouthfuls) you can get a more complete taste. I would have loved to have tested a few different beers with the dish especially some slightly darker ales and possibly a mild type bitter, something not over-hopped.

Joue de boeuf, oignon, rose

Beef with Rose Onion

Just wow, really wow – the beef which had been cooked for 24 hours in hay was unlike anything I’ve ever really eaten before, the intensity of deep rich flavour of the meat was unbelievable. Served with three different types of onion every mouthful was slightly different, it needed these contrasting flavours because with just the rose flavoured onions it would have become overpowering before you’d finished the dish, the way it was just did it right. Thinking about this it was very simple dishes compared to some of the others but for me it was the stand out dish due the sheer depth of flavour – the type of food you put in your mouth and instantly want to tell everybody how good it is even before you finished chewing the first morsel, queue lots of people with full desperately trying to swallow to explain what they’ve just tasted.

Olivier Cousin Grolleau Vieilles Vignes

This wine was perfect match for the rich beef, it was intense with a taste of real quality aged wine and that was the stand out taste, quality. Very ruby in colour I could have drank two bottles of this with the meal instead of any other wine – gorgeous.

Parfait de malt, neige de panais, fraise sechee

Malt Parfait, snow parsnips, dried strawberries

The presentation for this was just awe-inspiring as you can see in the pictures, the malt parfait had such a deep rich malt flavour and with the hint of parsnip and the textural delight that was the dried strawberries this was a totally complete desert and didn’t take long to accept the second one I was offered. The dessert wine Gewurstraminer 2006, Schueller was revelation to me, sweet but not too sweet I really liked it, in fact I can’t think of a dessert wine I’ve ever enjoyed more than this.

I'm very conscious this is quite a long entry and I'm sure you can understand why - thanks for getting this far, most posts will be much shorter I promise!

Big thanks to all other chefs who helped especially Sam & Oliver.

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White Mischief Cabaret

Proud Cabaret, City of London, EC3R 7AH

Hidden in the cellars of the hugely impressive modern gothic building on Mark Lane it has a nice intimate private members club feel as you wander down the dark stairway. When you get to the bottom it opens up into an old speakeasy style bar along with round dining tables facing the small corner stage, there was larger booth seating makes up the edges of the dining area - I liked the old 1920's feel, what I imagine the characters in Goodfellows were use to. The exculsively female waiting staff were styled to match the interior, all with subtle variations on the theme.
You have a choice of two menus to choose from; the cheaper one at £38 and the more expensive one at £48 - why they choose to do this is beyond me really as each menu has at least 4 starters, 4 mains and 4 deserts to pick from, so you'd have a large-ish Ala Carte menu with 8 choices per course. We wanted to pick a starter from the cheaper menu and a main from the more expensive, this wasn't a problem but of course you just end up paying for the more expensive menu - am I missing something because i just don't get the point of it? Also with the desert being part of the menu you are asked to order this when placing starter and main order, again seemed a bit odd but with my massively varied desert palate "Can I have the cheese please" - it didn't make a difference.

Carpaccio of beef, fois grai and beef tartare, balsamic mayonnaise

Extremely thin slivers of vibrant red carpaccio worked well with the cube of steak tartare which had a generous paprika topping to add spice. I really liked it and felt the addition of fois grai was an ingredient too far for what is a simple dish at heart, maybe the quality of the fois grai was a slight issue but it didn't take away for my enjoyment.

Wild Rabbit and salsify terrine, pickled walnut and celeriac

Beautifully pressed white rabbit flesh made it worth straying from the expensive menu and it honesty sounded much more appealing than most of the other starters on offer. If I was to go back I'd probably have this dish to start, very good.

Tobacco and orange, truffle honey roast duck

I was intrigued to try this after hearing my brother talk about using tobacco in a restaurant he worked at and how good it was. The tobacco flavour was subtler than I imagined and I felt the strong duck flavour could have taken a bit more of it, where the truffle was I really didn't know but the honey glaze on the crispy skin was superb and contrasted the perfectly pink meat.

Neal's yard daily cheese selection and oatcakes

Good quality Neal's Yard cheeses served exactly at room temperature meant I was a very happy man. I'd forgotten how a good Leicester not served cold could be and Neal's Yards goats cheese rarely disappoint. Actually the quince jelly didn't even taste of quince to me and I ended up opted for the cheese by itself. A very easy cheese course to serve but all the same it was executed well.

La Chamiza ‘Polo Amateur’ Malbec 2008, Mendoza, Argentina

This wine was a perfect match for the steak tartare and more surprisingly for the rabbit too, while with the duck they seemed to cancel each other out, I wasn't expecting this and can't explain the reason. I'd certainly buy this wine again especially to go with beef.

Being a cabaret there was various entertaining acts for the course of the evening, if you're going to go here though I wouldn't book a table until half eight at the earliest as the acts start later than expected. A fire breathing burlesque lady opened and was followed by an acrobat and what could only be described as a sadomasochist - very funny though. The highlight by a mile was the German oompah brass band playing pop tunes from last twenty years, just brilliant fun.

As we'd finished our meal and wanted to watch the rest of the show we had a couple of post dinner cocktails. For me it's a bold move to have a Sazerac as the first cocktail on your menu as I know how easy it is to cock-up having done it many times myself, but my hope when ordering it was rewarded with the washed absinthe background flavour just poking through enough to compliment the whiskey and numerous bitters, really finished off the evening well. I'd go back to Proud Cabaret but I won't be rushing back to eat there, it was very good food but expensive and even though I'd pay more for a meal elsewhere I never felt I was getting amazing value.

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Bath & Blue

Green Park brasserie & bar, Bath, BA1 1JB

Only a five minute walk from the amazingly old Roman baths this brasserie is set in the old Green Park train station. Inside it has raised seating along either side of the bar and main dinner area areas and this breaks the room up nicely without making it seem too expansive. The service was nice and relaxed but this may have been mainly due to the snow outside seeming to keep it relatively quiet inside. This actually suited us really well as with a jazz band playing we wanted to eat slowly and enjoy the whole evening here, which we duly did with a couple bottles of red.

Seared Scallops with White Pudding and Celeriac Puree

The scallops were nicely cooked but a tad over for me and the white pudding was a good effort at something a little different than the usual black pudding. But then again white puddings just don't hold the same depth of flavour as a good black pudding and just remind you what you're missing. The celeriac puree was nice if under seasoned and overall it was a nice starter.

Beef Satay Skewers with a Soy and Lime Dipping Sauce

Beef wouldn't be my first choice for this type of dish but the skewers retained some succulence and wasn't as dry as I'd worried. The dipping sauce was just ok really; no particular bite from lime or chilli, definitely needed some depth and kick.

Spiced Rack of Lamb with Aubergine Tabouleh Salad

Nicely moist the meat was very neatly prepared, the flavour was succulent lamb and the spice didn't take away from that. Actually the spice on the meat didn't really add much and if anything I'd have liked it to be more heavily spiced to go with Tabouleh, which was a nice accompaniment to the meat.

Grilled Fillet of Brill with Stirfried Spinach, Fennel and Coriander

I went for the only fish dish available for main course and wasn't disappointed, the quality of the fish was a little surprises and it benefited from the simple grilling. The fennel and coriander flavours worked in quite a subtle way. It's hard not to please me with basic spinach as I just love the stuff, this was nice but faded from memory quickly.Feeling hungry we also had side dishes of Dauphinoise Potatoes and Maple Syrup Roasted Carrots and Squash. I feel a lot people wouldn't have enjoyed the lavishly creamy dauphonoise as much as me but on the flip side the carrots and squash felt satisfyingly healthy enough for me to finish the potatoes.

Selection of Fine Local Cheeses, Wife of Bath, Bath Breeze, Bath Blue and Worthy Farm Mature Cheddar with Homemade Chutney
A bold statement in the use of 'fine' meant I was never going to turn down the opportunity to sample the cheese board. The menu recommended a glass of port which we didn't hesitate it ordering also, although I didn't hesitate also in forgetting its name. I asked the waiter to delay bringing it to us for at least twenty minutes as we were feeling little full from the mains, this was no trouble whatsoever and twenty minutes later the Port and cheeses arrived. The Port was lovely and complimented the cheeses very well, but it would have taken a bad one to detract from the awesome cheeses. Seriously I haven't enjoyed a simple English cheese board this much for a long time, standing out was the Bath blue and superbly creamy Wife of Bath. I'm positive that I was being prejudiced by the fact they were local regional cheeses but I kind of think that's the point isn't it? The chutney was a nice one but the cheeses were what stuck in my mind more than anything.

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