So guys, I apologize for the long absence. Had a pretty hectic week here, with 2 papers due plus a friend's birthday. Anyway, I've caught up on the comments you've left so if you were waiting for a reply, go check again. The other reason I've been putting this post off is that I haven't had a chunk of free time long enough to do the whole thing. I'll warn you now... this upcoming post is officially the longest post ever.


Saturday night was it - the main event of our trip. Dinner for three at Guy Savoy, a Michelin three star, and the first three star meal of my life. My grandma, grandaunt, and two cousins were staying behind on this one so that my dad, aunt and I could go the distance with Savoy's biggest tasting menu. It's a menu I'd been studying for a couple of weeks already, since the planning stages of our trip. The "Textures et Saveurs" menu has 11 courses, and costs 285 euros per head, easily making it the most expensive meal that's ever gone into my belly. You can imagine how excited I was to go. I mean, how much better could it get than the meals I'd already had? So at about 8PM, I put on my suit and tie and off we were. A quick cab ride later, we were there. It's a fairly inconspicuous place from the outside. A dark, wooden front with simple sans-serif letters are all that you can see, along with a doorman. Inside, the place doesn't look that big. It doesn't have the grand ceilings or open space of the other restaurants. Actually, the restaurant has an extremely modern design throughout, a shocking contrast to the flashy Baroque grandeur of Le Meurice the night before. Dark, sleek woods, contemporary furniture, and a variety of interesting art decorate the interior. The place is actually divided into several different smaller rooms. The host led us to our table, which is in a smallish room in the back. On the way we passed Danny DeVito getting ready for his dinner, in a room across the restaurant from ours. Our room had 4 tables, populated by an American couple, a French couple, and a big group of some 8 or 10 Americans. The French couple, at the table next to us, appeared to be VIP, as Guy Savoy came out several times during the night and had extended conversations with them. We at least got to watch. I decided rather quickly that despite the amazing Le Meurice dining room, I felt a lot more comfortable in Guy Savoy. I really digged the cool, minimalist decor and atmosphere. I guess most people my age would...

foie gras and sourdough toast Literally the moment we sat down, we were brought these little single-bite skewers of foie gras with toasted sliced sourdough. Delicious - I started getting really hungry. We didn't have to think for long as we already knew we were getting the big dog d�gustation.

chopped cauliflower and broccoli with tomato gaspacho, tomato stuffed with goat cheese Soon came this first cold amuse, a refreshing tomato broth with a healthy-tasting dose of veggies. The bite-sized cherry tomato with goat cheese was hidden under the right cover thing. A very solid start.

l�hu�tre en nage glac�e Next came one of Savoy's signature dishes, and the first listed item on the menu. This is simply an oyster sitting in an icy gel�e of its own juices. You guys know I'm not big on oysters, but I really liked this a lot. I've never had anything that tasted quite so much like the sea before. The oyster lovers must be drooling at this one.

lobster, crusty and soft, raw and cooked, sauce made from its juices, snap peas, spring onion This one looks beautiful, doesn't it? This was the next listed dish, lobster served in a variety of ways. In the center is a lobster tartare, split in half by some kind of crunchy lobster 'cracker', if that makes any sense. Around the side are pieces of perfectly-cooked, tender lobster meat. The drizzled sauce had a hint of sweetness to it, as did the tartare. The snap peas and onions added a refreshing crunch. I freakin' loved this.

small peas served all ways This little spoon wasn't listed on our tasting menu, but it was an item on the regular menu as well as the summer tasting. It had some pea puree, peas, pea sauce and a small bit of egg yolk. Boy, did it taste as green as it looked. It was the most intense bite of pea flavor I've ever experienced, and I definitely enjoyed it. I doubt I could eat a whole plate of the stuff though, which is what the French woman who ordered it a la carte was doing right next to us. One spoonful was perfect.

colors of caviar This dish was pretty cool. It came out without the top layer, and displayed a generous amount of caviar at the top in all its glory. The bottom two layers are cream and pea puree. After a quick 'oooh', the waiter poured on the top layer of sabayon which kind of hid the caviar. When eaten together, the ingredients created a delicate balance of creaminess, veggie-ness, and saltiness. It actually had a similar feeling to the cauliflower panna cotta with caviar that I had at French Laundry a few weeks later - I'll write more about that in a while. Very good stuff.

'chop' of fat turbot with egg and spinach sprouts... Another pretty dish - this time just a simple, delicate piece of turbot with a beautifully-poached egg and some raw spinach. The waiter drizzled some very good olive oil on top. The fish was moist, tender, but still full of texture. As we ate, we wondered - why the hell are there holes in our plate? Is that just to look cool? Meanwhile, the valuable yolk and olive oil seemed to be falling through.

turbot part 2 - the soup underneath! And when the three of us finished our pieces of fish, the answer was revealed. Our plate was actually two pieces - the holes were just a cover for this bowl, which had a turbot consomm�, potatoes and spinach in it. The egg yolk and olive oil had dripped through. After lifting off the cover, the waiter also added some more pieces of turbot, explaining that these are different cuts of meat that come from the side of the fish. This fired on every cylinder. The broth was delicious, still very hot, with a strong flavor from the fish and the olive oil. The fish itself did taste a bit different - a little fattier, I'd say. The soup was actually in the description on our menu, we'd just forgot about it when we got the first part of the dish. This one gets 68 billion style points.

roasted duck foie gras with a red cabbage nage, horseradish puree and mustard The requisite foie gras course this time was pretty unusual. Instead of some kind of sweet fruit, it came with a red cabbage sauce, which added an interesting sweet/bitter element to it. The mustard and horseradish gave it a bit of kick. The foie itself was, of course, excellent. Pretty unusual take on a regular item.

artchike soup with black truffles with a mushroom and truffle brioche This is Guy Savoy's major signature dish. My dad had been hyping it up, claiming that he doesn't even like artichokes but can't get enough of this. It didn't disappoint. I actually do like artichokes, and soup had heaps of artichoke taste (like my Aussie speak?). The truffles and cheese added some variety. The brioche (way in the back) was soft, flaky, and pretty much heavenly.

all-veal Finally came our main dish, a variety of veal. The bottom was a braised veal shank with parsnip puree, followed by a filet on the left. The top was a lightly-breaded sweetbread. On the right is a kidney, and the center is a fried tongue and some girolle mushrooms. I'd say in my order of preference went sweetbread, filet, shank, kidney, tongue. The tongue was a little bit weird for me, to be honest. It was fried and had a sort of chewy texture. But I loved the four others. The kidney had a great distinct kidney flavor. The shank was meltingly tender, though slightly underseasoned. The filet was simple but well-executed. The sweetbread was masterful - a perfect balance of crispy breading and delicious, almost creamy gland.

red fruit moelleux I apologize again for stupidly forgetting to take a picture of my cheese. Just believe me that I had some and it was good, but not really anything you haven't seen yet. Now, the first in a barrage of desserts - this was one of the 3 listed on the menu. I'm not sure how to translate 'moelleux', but it's a sort of soft but semi-solid puree. From left to right, they were blackcurrant, raspberry and strawberry. It was quite refreshing, and a neat, steady progression from sour to sweet.

blackcurrant with pistachio, madeleine, wrapped raspberry These things were good but less memorable. Pretty much tasted like a blackcurrant and a raspberry. The madeleine was definitely good, but not quite as impressive as the bigger ones we had at Le Meurice.

cerise � l�exotique I thought this had a cool French name. The second listed dessert, this so-called exotic-style cherry was actually pretty complicated: cherry gel�e with lychee sorbet, cherry chips, and aloe vera. This was my favorite dessert of the night - cool, refreshing, sweet, and very inventive. The cherry gel�e and lychee matched together perfectly, while the jello-like aloe vera balanced out the sweetness.

chocolate disc with tonka bean, cocoa sorbet Our final listed course, this deep, rich chocolate was flavored with tonka bean. I had no idea what a tonka bean was at the time - apparently, it's a South American bean that is sometimes used to flavor alcohol and cigarettes, and has a taste like tobacco. That didn't really occur to me - it tasted like chocolate and chocolate mousse/cream to me.

earl grey tea sorbet The menu was over, but stuff kept coming. This one was another winner. A light tea flavor to cleanse the palate a bit. This and the jasmine cr�me brul�e we had at Capelongue made for a high success rate with tea-based desserts.

lemon marshmallow, chocolate mousse What were we cleansing our palate for? Well... At Guy Savoy, after you finish dinner, they apparently come around with a frickin' DESSERT CART stocked with all kinds of goodies for you to pick and choose. Candies, mousses, ice creams - all kinds of stuff. I started off with a lemon marshmallow - fluffy and citrusy. Then I eyed their jar of chocolate mousse, which was creamy and delicious.

vanilla and toffee ice cream As our waiter introduced all the stuff on the cart, I sort of embarassingly asked how many I could pick. He told me as many as I wanted, so of course I tried all kinds of stuff. The ice creams were great. You can see the specks of vanilla bean, and believe me you could taste it. The toffee was like Haagen Daaz dulce de leche on steroids. Amazing caramel flavor, but not too sweet. I also got an apricot macaroon that came out blurry - it was good too. And that was it. 18 courses, and the most expensive meal of my life. Was it the best meal I've ever had? Well, I feel pretty safe saying it's the best Western meal I've ever had, but I can't really compare it to Asian food. Needless to say, this was extremely satisfying. And though the three of us were extremely full, we never felt disgustingly stuffed. I don't know how considering the quantity of food. How did Guy Savoy rate compared to the other meals? Well, the third star clearly meant something. The service was just out of this world - a perfect balance of professionalism and friendliness. My dad noted that despite what you might first expect, the service is not at all stiff, snobby or condescending. Our waiters were genuinely interested in our having a good meal. It sounds cheesy, but it was a noticeable difference. One of our main waiters was a Nordic-looking but very French guy, who perfectly skirted the line between being a classy professional and being your best friend. When we chatted with him he'd joke about people never think he looks French, which doesn't get him a ton of respect in the restaurant biz. The teamwork that went on throughout the night was seamless. To be honest, we didn't have to ask for a single thing during our 4 hours there, and I mean that literally. I stood up to go to the bathroom, and before I was completely upright, one of the floorpeople had already read my mind, walked up to me, and offered to show me the way. It was an eye-opening experience. Anything negative about the meal? Well, for one, I'd say it isn't completely fair to compare this meal with the others because we didn't have the big dog tasting menu anywhere else. Secondly, the bathroom that I was led to was a bit on the small side. That's about it... I hope I've recounted the experience well enough. Out of curiosity, I just did a word count of this post and it's longer than both of the papers I had to write for this week. I'm now officially way behind on my posting, like I am after every summer... It's seriously like a month and a half delay now. I have a few more France meals to post about, a bunch of SF and Vancouver meals, and then finally some Sydney stuff. I'm honestly afraid that I might not catch up though. :P

Alright, so it appears the FTP issues are being caused by the wireless router we got over here. Hopefully I'll be able to sort them out; either way I've been able to upload files using a different connection. In the mean time, I've been having a blast here in Sydney, and some good eats too... but those are for later. On the Friday of our France trip we finally bade farewell to our base camp in Maillane and got on an afternoon TGV for Paris. It turns out that on that day there was some kind of injury on the track that was causing delays throughout the country. Luckily for us, it was only for the southbound trains, so ours was fine. Hope the guy was okay... we had dinner reservations to make though. We arrived Paris in the late afternoon and checked into Hotel Scribe, a Sofitel-run spot at the edge of the 9th arrondissement. My dad had done his research well, and we got 3 connecting rooms with a big living room meeting area. The hotel is right near La Madeleine and walking distance to all the big shopping action.

Our dinner for Friday night was booked at Le Meurice, a Michelin two star that was this year awarded the title of "espoir." The translation is "hope", and it is a new designation in the guide for restaurants that appear to be approaching a promotion to three stars. Le Meurice has certainly been getting a lot of buzz throughout the blogosophere; most people seem to think the place is excellent and that it will get its third star soon. The chef, Yannick Alleno, actually used to helm the kitchen at the restaurant inside Hotel Scribe until he went to Le Meurice a few years ago. Since then Le Meurice's reputation has been growing. The dining room is just off to the right when you walk inside Hotel Meurice. If I had to use one word to describe it, I'd use grandiose. There are some pictures on the website that give you an idea of the place, but it's a pretty impressive sight in person. The place is extreme, formal, even gaudy. It kinda feels like it's meant for royalty, with crazy chandeliers, paintings on the wall, extremely fancy furniture, the whole deal really. I, being the modern high-tech jetsetter that I am, would say it's a bit stuffy of a place to eat at regularly, but I do admit it really is beautiful, and would be a great spot for that special occasion.

ham bread I actually sat a bit later than everyone, because I'd stupidly left my camera at our hotel, and I wasn't going to miss out on these photos. So by the time I got back, everyone was seated and had already had a bite of this ham bread stuff. It was browned on the outside and almost croissant-like inside. Very tasty.

melon gelee They had an interesting tasting menu that looked great, but there was a certain main dish that I really wanted to try, so we went a la carte. This amuse came soon after, and it was a great one. You can't see, but there are a good number of little chunks of melon inside, and the whole thing was sweet, refreshing, and very fresh. It got us all very eager to eat more.

lightly smoked back of Balik salmon in potato scales, leek cream and French caviar from the Aquitaine region - 68 euros I'm not usually one to order salmon, but this appetizer called my name, and I have to say this was the most exceptional piece of salmon I've ever had. At the time I had no idea what Balik salmon meant, but after the fact I looked it up and apparently it's one of the most prized smoked salmons in the world. It's a prime center cut from Russia, also known as Fillet Tolstoy. The potato on the edge cave it a light, crispy edge, while the meat itself was impossibly tender and smooth. The leek cream and caviar did a wonderful job salting each bite. I'm not caviar pro, but this stuff was good to me, although I don't think I'd ever had caviar from France before. Simply delicious.

breast of chicken from Bresse region, foie gras between skin and flesh, chanterelle mushrooms and stuffed turnips - 85 euros From there we moved immediately to our main dishes, which was mildly disappointing because I expected some kind of inter-course freebie. Can't complain too much though. This dish, which I saw on their online menu, was the major reason for me requesting Le Meurice as a stop on our trip. Foie gras between skin and flesh? How awesome does that sound? Thankfully, this dish absolutely delivered. When they served this, the foie gras was still actually between the meat and the skin; the photo above is after they cut it up and plated everything. This chicken was just ridiculously tender. Re-frickin-diculous. The turnips were also great - soothing, almost juicy, with a delightful chopped mushroom filling. And, needless to say, the foie gras was silky smooth. Of course, I'm sure you're all asking: "Well Arthur? Which chicken was better, Le Meurice or Baumani�re?" And to that question, I honestly have to wimp out and say I don't know. They were both delicious. I think the one at Le Meurice had a more pure chicken flavor that interacted with the chanterelles, while the one at Baumani�re leaned a bit more on the sauce. I guess I'll have to eat a few more Bresse chickens before I can make a more concrete comparison...

poached filet of beef with bone marrow, early onion raviolis flavored with ginger - 58 euros I had to sneak a picture of this dazzling main dish that my dad got. We were perplexed as to how Alleno achieved such a perfect beef texture through poaching - we still don't understand. The beef was just cooked on the outside, and perfectly medium rare throughout the entire inside. The buttery bone marrow melted right in. The bite I had was amazing, and for 58 euros this was a relative steal on the main dish list.

white cow's cheese, Livarot, Pont-Levec I tried a couple of new ones this time around... Didn't catch the name of the fresh white cow's cheese, but it looked better than it tasted. It looked really nice and creamy, but was actually a bit dry. The Livarot was nice... a bit stronger than the Pont l'Ev�que.

chocolate shell with cream, strawberries with lemon sorbet and basil, macaroon with rose cream and berries These pre-desserts were excellent. Although I didn't care too much for the chocolate one, the macaroons with rose cream were delicious - very light, with a strong berry flavor and a very noticeable hint of rose. I had 3. The sorbet one was very refreshing; my aunt Agnes will attest to that. She had 3. Lucky for us both, there were people at the table who were too full to clean up their portions. :)

Caribbean chocolate fondant, speculos ice cream - 24 euros We'd yet to have a truly satisfying dessert experience - the stuff we had in Provence usually had an element that was overly sweet. At Le Meurice, the dessert finally started coming together. This chocolate was like a very rich cross between a cake and a wafer. Very satisfying for chocolate lovers, and well-balanced by the speculos (a type of cinnamon) ice cream.

vanilla, coffee, or chocolate: napoleon your favorite way - 24 euros My dad's dessert was a much more elaborate operation and very worthy of a story. The waiter brought a trolley over, a sort of millefeuille cart. On it was a huge pile of millefeuille-style pastry in plain and chocolate, a few containers with different flavored creams, as well as a few different sauces and a few toppings. My dad got to pick what combination of creams, pastry, sauce and nuts he wanted, and the waiter plated it at the table. This picture shows plain pastry with vanilla, coffee, and chocolate cream, chocolate sauce, and pistachios. My dad couldn't stop fawning over this deconstruction of the millefeuille - it was like a Cubist interpretation of the common dessert. He ate his whole portion as well as half of my aunt's. I will say right now that in 21 years, I have never EVER seen my dad eat more than one portion of dessert, so the fact that this actually happened should earn Le Meurice some kind of gold star. No... platinum star. Le Meurice, I salute you.

lemon and olive oil madeleines With our coffee came these plump, green, healthy-sized madeleines. And they were the best madeleines of the trip, browned and crusty on the outside, buttery and cakey on the inside. The lemon and olive oil were both subtle but definitely there. Delicious. This was an amazing meal, and a great start to our Paris stay. The only bummer, and I'm nitpicking here, is we didn't seem to get as many freebies as some other places. It would have been nice to get a hot amuse after the melon gelee, or something in between the app and the main. Still, the food and service are all class, and like Pim said, it seems a matter of time before it gets its third star. Maybe next time we should get the d�gustation...

Okay, something really weird happened. I swear I posted 2 updates here from Sydney in the past few days, but the site somehow seems to have rolled back and lost them. I really hope that doesn't happen again. Anyway, in case you don't know, I just moved to Sydney, Australia for the semester which is why I haven't been posting this past week. I'm ready to continue now though. :)

Next up on our trip was Le Bistrot d'Eygali�res "Chez Bru" in the small village of Eygali�res. This was Thursday (about 1 month ago now), and we had a pretty interesting day lined up. For lunch, we had reservations at aforementioned Chez Bru, which is a tiny Michelin 2 star that just got promoted in the guide this year. For Thursday dinner, we had booked Jardin des Sens in Montpellier, which is also a Michelin 2 star, but was actually a 3 star that got demoted this year. We thought it would be quite interesting to try both on the same day. Anyway, Jardin des Sens is coming up later; for now I'll talk about Chez Bru. Eygali�res is pretty close to Maillane so our drive was pretty short. The village is also quite different from Bonnieux and Les Baux. It's much more quaint and simple, without the extravagant views of our previous 2 star meals. Chez Bru's setting is vastly different - it's in the village center on the side of the road, with a little sign and a small porch. From inside the little restaurant you just have a simple view of the sidewalk, with the occasional car passing by and person looking in through the window. It was far less awe-inspiring than Capelongue or Baumani�re, but comfortable in a homey, simple way. Chez Bru certainly took home the prize for coolest menu cover. It had this little metallic, raised (I think the word is embossed?) drawing on it, and just looked really cool. I had to take a picture. Compared to the modest outside of the restaurant, the design of the menus, the chosen silverware, and the all-black waitstaff were surprisingly modern in style. The words "chezbru" on the menu, unlike the old-style logo outside, were in a futuristic, lower-case, sans-serif font. Anyway, this was the only lunch we had at a starred restaurant. The menu had 2 choices of tasting menus - a regular tasting that listed 6 courses for 75 euros, and a Chef's Surprise tasting with no details for 90 euros. They told us it was okay for people at the table to get both, so my dad and I quickly jumped on the surprise menu while the others went with the regular one. My aunt soon changed her mind and joined us.

cured ham While we were having the menu discussion, we were given a couple of trays of this cured ham. I didn't get the details of where it came from, but I should have. It was very smooth and tender - a bit leaner than prosciutto but with just as much flavor and a soft texture.

pied de cochon with balsamic vinegar, mustard, tomato, cucumber and asparagus This first dish (I guess it would count as the amuse) was an absolute all-star - easily one of my fondest memories from the trip. I haven't really tried much pied de cochon (pig's trotter) before, but from what I've had I really love this stuff. This had a deliciously soft, fatty texture, and the balsamic added a perfect balance of sweet and sour to the whole thing. The veggies on top were a nice refresher in between bites of the trotter.

marinated tuna with avocado cream and and ginger caramel This appetizer came from the regular menu, and like at Baumani�re this tuna was the weakest part of the meal. The sweetness of the caramel was a bit overpowering, and the fish itself was just okay. After my two tuna experiences, I'm becoming convinced that the Japanese are just better at using it... :)

duo of langoustines - a croustillant of langoustine with soy vinaigrette and a tartare of vegetables, and a simple sauteed langoustine with a lemon/olive oil mousse This dish was another all-star. These were easily the two best langoustines I've ever had. The croustillant ("crusty" is the best translation, I guess) on the left came from the regular menu (and was on the regular tasting too). It was a langoustine wrapped in some kind of bready crust and deep-fried, and it was wonderful. The crust was extremely crisp without being greasy. The langoustine on the inside was searing hot but retained a beautiful, bouncy texture. I think my dad found the vinaigrette a tad too sweet but I thought it was perfect. The vegetable tartare was a delicate complement. The langoustine with lemon/olive oil mousse on the right wasn't listed, and it too was absolutely delicious. The mousse was light and fluffy, with a strong lemon flavor and aroma but little sourness. The langoustine was cooked perfectly. There's just no other way to put it. It was simultaneously tender and bouncy, without losing any substance. This is what all clawed shellfish should aspire to taste like.

lobster in a potato mousse with truffles, baby spinach and Marenne oysters This lobster was another winner. We thought at first it might be boring to have lobster right after langoustine, but that thought went away right after a whiff of this little bowl. An intense aroma of truffle tends to make you forget, I guess. I must say that while the lobster itself wasn't as good as the langoustines we'd just had, the potato mousse with truffle made up for it. The spinach and oyster are hidden beneath. I'm not a big oyster-lover and I thought it was a bit weird here; I probably would have liked the dish more without the oyster. The spinach served to cut the heaviness of the potato. Very good all around.

cream of foie gras with fig confit and saffron mousse No, you're not reading that wrong. It does say "cream of foie gras," as in a foie gras soup. This was a special part of the surprise menu, and you guys should have seen our collective jaws drop when the waiter explained what it was. And it was really good. Yeah, it was the richest soup I've ever had - so rich, in fact, that we were convinced they put the figs in just to cut the richness a little bit. But it had a very pure foie gras flavor. It was like an essence of foie gras. The bit of saffron and truffle evened things out a little. I sure am glad I had this; I mean who else can say they've had cream of foie gras soup?

croustillant of milk-fed pork with a rosemary milk mousse We were contemplating what main dish we'd get. My aunt doesn't eat lamb, so she was really crossing her fingers that it wouldn't be lamb. My dad and I were down for anything. We were happy when we got this pork dish, since we hadn't really seen any pork on the menus during our trip. The skin was crackly and caramelized, while the meat was tender and salty. At first it seems comparable to a Chinese style crispy pork, but it was actually quite different, with a sweet sauce and altogether different texture. The veggies on the side (those are girolle mushrooms under the foam) were all pretty good. This was the only pork main of the trip, I think.

camembert, pont l'Ev�que, fresh goat cheese It felt a bit much to get cheese during lunch, but I guess the French can handle it. All three were quite nice; I still like Pont l'Ev�que the best.

madeleines, nuts, chocolates Total party foul on my part: I forgot to take pictures of the dessert. This is really the only photo that I completely forgot about. We got a duo of red berry desserts - a red berry gazpacho and a red berry creme brulee. I remember the creme brulee being a bit on the sweet side and the gazpacho being light and refreshing. The plate had a cool hard sugar design on it. Also, these madeleines were great, but not quite as good as some of the ones we'd have in Paris later in the trip. In the end, I'd say the food at Chez Bru is on the whole excellent. This meal contained some of the most memorable dishes of the whole trip for me - the pig's trotter, the langoustines, the foie gras soup - and the quality of the food can certainly run with the big boys. The service is admittedly not at the same level as places like Baumani�re or the Paris restaurants. The waitstaff was very friendly and professional, but the service wasn't as thorough and complete. Still, I'd go back in a heartbeat. The food was superb.