We had the table by the window and I had the view of the dinning room. I found the dinning room to be cold and sanitary. No personality or charm. However, I like the spacing of the tables and the accoustics of the room is good.
The wine we decided to have for the dinner was Le Chemin des Fees 2003. A nice wine from the region. Good fruit, accidity and colour.
The amuse bouche was parmentier de boeuf. The french version of a mini shepard's pie. For a small cup, it was full of flavour.
The first starter was coquillages; marines au basilic et au citron vert sur un tartare de betteraves. Pesto, d'estragon et julienne de Grany Smith. A beautiful presentation; the contrast of black slate with bright red and green sauces, golden brown tempura and the other colours on the dish was all eye candy. The dish tasted very good. But; somehow, we felt it was a bit too complicated. Too many flavours trying to get our attention and in the end we did not know what we were eating.
The second starter was saumon fume; par nos soins en roulade moelleuse et mascarpone au citron vert, vinaigrette au wasabi. Petite conserve d'oeuf brouille. Another lovely presentation. This one was more pure than the first appetizer. The saumon fume roulade was a nice way to present this dish. I thought the vinaigrette au wasabi could have been more strong to add some constrasting flavour. However, I am sure the chef did this on purpose because the people down here do not like very strong or spicy ingredients. I thought the Petite conserve d'oeuf brouille was brilliant. Intense, rich and creamy. Very nice. The tempura was pefectly deep fried to a golden brown. The deep fried bread sticks were a waste of space and totally useless on the dish.
The first main course was lotte cuit a basse temperature, nage de moules de bouchot et choucroute de choux rouge. Fricassee de champignons des bois. Again, the dish was a lovely presentation. The fish was cooked very nicely. The flavours of all the different seafoods was very good. However; again, we felt this dish had too many flavours fighting for our attention.
The second main course was filet mignon de cochon, cuite letement, petit ragout de cocoa facon cassoulet et mousseline de topinambours. Pate de citron confit. This was a nice and simple dish. One of those comfort foods that you look forward to in the cold winter nights. The amount of cochon was plentiful. The couchon was cooked to a perfect pink and was tender. The accompaning side dishes paired very nicely with the cochon.
The third main course was canette cuite a basse temperature flanquee de morceaux de coings braises. Puree de carotte parfumee a la genievre et jus de persil fort. The canette was very tender and cooked to the perfect crimson red. The coings added the sweetness to accompany the canette. However, I often do not think canette needs sweet fruits to accompany it all the time. I also liked the idea of puree de carotte instead of pomme puree.
The first dessert was chocolat et cafe dans deux tasses 'surprise' croustillantes. A very nice and creative presentation. The tasses were made from chocolate crispy biscuit and filled with chocolate and mocha mousse. The flaovours of the mousse were just lovely. At the bottom on each tasse was a surprise cake, also flavoured of chocolate and mocha.
The second dessert was ananas en differentes textures sur un financier et une mousse legere au caramel. Sorbet pinacolada. A refreshing and also creative interpretation of the ananas. The ananas was served in different textures. From dried to freshly diced, all with fantastic flavour. A nice dessert because it was naturally sweet.
We liked the food; it was good and creative. However, we thought it was too complicated. It had too many flavours to concentrate on. The chef was being too creative for our own good. I actually like it when chefs are being creative or even inventive. However, the flavours need to be precise and more focused. And, that is what I think the chef Lauzun should do.
The service was friendly and efficient.
Click here for directions to Restaurant de Lauzun:
Great photos and commentary - what a fine service you are giving the world. We enjoy de Lauzun as it provides a great contemporary contrast to your other favorite of the area Le Mimosa. Agree some of the dishes could be simplified - we're normally highly critical of over elaboration. That said, having eaten some of then several times, they are gowing on us as combining the elements (on one's fork) generally works.
ReplyDeleteWe also prefer it to O Bontemps who takes a more tapas approach (rather than putting together an integrated dish) and often the tapas seem disjointed. That said, we need to hike over to Magalas to see how it's going - both have been terrific recent additions to the area.