the cookbook store blog: Paris Restos Fall 2012: Le Comptoir, Le Chateaubriand, Semilla, Lunch at the Crillon, Epicure Restaurant at the Hotel Bristol, Crystal de Sel

Le Comptoir

Chef Yves Camdeborde's set menu is only offered once every 2 weeks. Dinners and lunches available 7 days a week are a la carte from an extensive menu but reservations are only possible for guests of the hotel (on the premises that he owns, Hotel Relais St. Germain).

Creamy risotto with cepes, parmesan emulsion and parsley mousse with small cepes "bouchon confits".

European blue lobster and pied de porc enhanced with black current juice, green beans, sweet corn, bearnais sauce and young mustard greens.

Very young farm raised veal, puree of artichokes, artichoke heart, leeks, soft sweet peppers "jus iodee".

A plate of cheese from the pyrenees from the cheesemonger, Sander's (no photo).

Shortbread tart with figs, hay flavoured cream and buttermilk ice cream.

Chateaubriand

This super-hot resto of the moment is extremely difficult to reserve.

Light as air gougere topped with poppy seeds.

Grapefruit juice sauced mullet cevice. Interesting.

Lightly fried breaded frog's legs. Simple, but tasty.

Flour dusted fried eggplant (creamy consistency), with physalis (cape gooseberry) possessing a tomatillo like flavour with fried capers.

Soup of puree of green tomatoes with goat cheese and oregano.

Tuna from Saint Jean de Luz, onions, dill flower et raspberries. The tuna sauce was made from the head of the tuna. Several different kinds of pickled Italian onions were used in this dish.

Fresh brill (barbue de ligne) with capuccine leaves, butter, green beans and fresh unroasted walnuts.

Presa Iberique (Spanish black ham), sliced turnip, sliced radish and sliced pear topped with a small piece of sardine.

Frozen and grated buttermilk, herbs, beurrre noisette (butter that is browned to a hazelnut colour), seaweed, meringue and mint.

Tocino del cielo (a typical dessert from Basque country) with caramelized egg yolk and sugared, almond flour pastry.

Figs covered in candied fennel seeds.

Semilla

This resto, for me, was one of my great "finds" of this trip, and this only by accident because another reservation that I made had the date confused. A new "must" for Paris!

Parsnip veloute, farmer's cream, cepes and raw nuts. This was a delight.

Pan fried cepes with beef gravy. Eating this wonderful seasonal mushroom dish put me in a special heaven.

Pomme de terre grenailles (new potatoes) baked in the oven with candied garlic.

Open ravioli of snails, forest mushrooms, persillade (chopped parsley and garlic) and crispy bread crumbs. A memorable dish and perhaps my very favourite snail experience!

Blanquette d'agneau (lamb stew in a white sauce), parsnip, a plethora of cepes shavings, cream and lamb jus. A moderne take on L'ancienne cuisine. A most pleasing dish.

Verbena and peach soup with house made brioche. A refreshing, palate cleansing end to the meal.

Fruits de bois (raspberries, blueberries and fig), almond biscuit, vanilla ice cream and meringue, topped with chopped pistachios. What, ...more! Incredible harmony of flavours and textures on this plate.

Lunch at Hotel Crillon

I just had to report about this quick lunch I enjoyed at the bar in the Hotel Crillon. Their version of a club sandwich.....but, what a presentation with the bacon feature on top of the sandwich! Good fries too.

Epicure Restaurant at the Bristol Hotel

Chef Eric Frechon oversees this 3*** restaurant.

Kugloff, to begin.

In the spoon, cucumber jelly surrounding a fresh oyster; Lollypop prawn with olive oil and dusted with tandoori spices; foie gras "royal", slightly smoked, with a foie gras/avocado mousse. Each taste experience out-did the next.

Mousseline of artichoke jelly with coriander and artichoke foam, cockerel and crispy croutons.

Frog's legs.

Purple sea urchin, simmered in their shells with tongue and sea urchin broth created into a smooth scrambled egg mousse, with sea urchin butter (in the wrapper, on the top right) and toasts. An exceptional sea urchin experience.

Bresse farm hen, poached in a pig's bladder.

The Bresse farm hen, "supreme" (breasts), sauce of vin juaune, "royal" jiblets, freshwater crayfish and chanterelles. This chicken experience will easily be the best you will have enjoyed. Incredibly tender and flavourful, juicy, perfectly cooked chicken.

The presentation of the soup created from the leg and thigh meat and bones.

The soup, made of the leg and thigh meat and the chicken oyster, an intensely flavourful chicken stock with leek, potato and foie gras, redolent of the smells and flavours of black truffles. This experience will be the greatest chicken soup that you will ever encounter!