Review - Le Chateaubriand, Paris

I thought I had lost the menu from my visit there in September – it was a fabulous meal and evening. I may not remember everything from that evening but I do remember a fabulous meal.

It started by us turning up @ around 7:45 for our table booking @ 8:00pm. It was looking a bit strange with most of the staff sitting down and the maitre d' telling us to come back – 'the bar over the road was good' he said. We were now worried and whilst surveying the restaurant from a different bar from recommended, we mused over various delivery vans coming and going to the restaurant. We had theories from 'they have gone bust' to 'all the food is prepared elsewhere'. Never was it thought at any point that we were just, well, early.

The restaurant is not brightly lit, there are no pictures on the wall and the tables are small. The bar is typically French with a large mirror and prospective punters await at the bar whilst enjoying an odd aperitif etc We returned to a heaving restaurant and were escorted to our coffee table sized patch. The fixed menu (€45 per head) was given to us and were were asked if we had any allergies – with a firm no, he proceeded to tell us, very politely, about the forthcoming meal – it looked exciting:

• Amuse Bouche
• Encornets, cocos, Tomates
• Limand Sole, Carottes, Beurre Noisette, Noisette
• Boeuf d'Hugo Limousin, Aubergine brulee, faiselle
• Fruits Rouge, Chantilly ou
• Fromage du jour

I'll translate as I talk you through the experience. The amuse bouche comprised of sliced gherkin, salad, herbs, sliced radish and a sweetish dressing – a perfect opener! Then came the next course, this was lightly fried squid on a bed of pureed coco bean (a speciality over there). On the side was a tomato salsa and also halved cherry tomatoes, black olives and fresh basil – it all tasted very good indeed. Then the fish course! A small filet of lemon sole with miniature 'al dente' carrots in a sweet butter, caramel sauce and hazelnut on the top. It really was getting better. Then came the beef. This was like a strib of rib beef (no bone) and was delicious and very tender albeit quite rarer. This was served on a bed of rich and smoked aubegine puree – it looked fairly black – and this ensemble was accompanied by finely sliced pickled red cauliflour. By now my tastebuds were tingling – Some of these flavours were just incredible. After a well earned rest, we had both the pudding and the cheese. The former was an upmarked Eton mess and the latter included some of the finer and stronger goats cheese around. The house wines were sensibly priced and all enjoyable – but not memorable!

The style of food is simple yet very tasty food – no Michelin presentation here – just served to perfection. Have a look at this clip on YouTube. You can also see here that it jumped in as the 40th best restaurant in the world - thats better than the Gavroche! If you are in Paris, make the detour but remember, you will be well advised to book!