Dinner at "Le Beurre Noisette"

Résumé en français :
Après réclamations (!) , je vous propose quelques lignes synthétiques en français : Le menu dégustation à 40 euros est d'un rapport intéressant car il propose 2 entrées, 2 plats, 2 desserts. Les plats étaient assez bons dans l'ensemble à part un pigeon si peu cuit qu'il en devenait presque impossible à mâcher. Mais le principal problème était le service, qui, quoique sympatique, était d'une lenteur tout à fait anormale. Cela en devenait pesant ! Il y a aussi eu un malentendu : nous avions réclamé un menu sans porc et sans gelée, or le gaspacho servi en entrée exhibait fièrement de gros cubes de gelée !! Mais ma conclusion est plutôt encourageante : mérite une seconde chance !

Date of dinner : End of May 2007.

The Chef

Thierry Blanqui has worked for one of the finest restaurants in Paris : "La Tour d'Argent" and "Le Pavillon Ledoyen". He has opened his own restaurant "Le beurre Noisette" in 2001.

The Food
We chose the Tasting Menu : for 40 euros per person, the Chef choses 6 dishes for you (the same for the whole table) which consist of 2 starters, 2 main dishes and 2 desserts depending on his farmer’s market purchase. Our only request was “no pork” and no jelly (which often contains pork).

First plate was a mini gaspacho (cold tomato and bell pepper soup) served in a nice glass. Some cute toasted "croûtons" were on top. But what a surprise :  some cubes of jelly were floating in the soup !! Was it a joke ? Don't ask me why, but we felt too intimidated to complain to the waitress; so two of us could not eat that appetizer. For those who could taste it, it was actually very good…After that little amuse-bouche, we were served shrimps wrapped in a phyllo pastry with an exotic sauce as a dip. Portion was a bit small (2 shrimp per person) but it was excellent and the side-salad greens was pleasant.

The roasted salmon on a « little bed » of spring vegetables (perfectly cooked and pleasantly crunchy) was well executed but not salted enough. We all had to request for salt. The green sauce made with blended fresh herbs was very tasty.Then came the roasted pigeon bird and its parmesan polenta. The polenta was really to die for, I can still feel the taste of it. As for the pigeon, it was only the second time in my life that I tasted one, but I am very used to eating duck which tastes a bit alike. But really that one was so rare that the flesh was difficult to both cut and swallow !!

All the  desserts were perfect : we had poached peaches served with home-made honey/lavender ice-cream. Served at the perfect temperature, it was very refreshing. The second dessert was the highlight of our meal (unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture) : Cold Milk Chocolate soup with its little milk foam, and served with delicious home made madeleines aside. A simple and wonderful dessert. I would never dare serving chocolate soup to my guests, but I was so pleased to taste one there !As it was our friend’s birthday we also had a big Rum baba with a candle on top. It was melting in our mouth and not too rum-ey.
Overall, the presentation of the dishes was nice, as you can see on the pictures.

The wine
As we did not know what we were going to eat, we chose a consensual Rosé wine. I am not fond of Rosés except under an olive tree in the South of France, but it was OK. Sorry, can’t remember the name.

The customers and the decoration
Mostly French customers, apart from a group of 8 Japanese tourists who ended their dinner very early.The decoration is contemporary but very basic. Nothing to write home about. A very small terrace too.

The Service

Well, that was the main problem. I really can’t say the service was rude nor arrogant. No, actually it was even quite nice and friendly (especially from the young girl with a foreign accent), but it was sooooooooo slow ! Oh my God, we could not believe it ! I don’t know whether the problem was coming from the kitchen or from the waitresses, but we waited very long for the first plate and for all the others…I have to confess that our friends arrived 20 minutes late (but hubby and I were on time), so maybe this caused some problems for our “hosts”.
Another problem was that we got very few explanations about the dishes that were brought to our table. As we chose the tasting menu, we had no idea what we were going to have but the waitresses did not help a lot. On 2 or 3 occasions, we had to ask them “so, what is it ?”.

The choice and the Cost
3 course menu for dinner (appetizer + Main dish + dessert) for 32 euros. Beware, that, like in many Parisian Bistrots, you’ll have many « plats canaille » on the menu (dishes with pork or organ meat) . The Tasting menu (2 appetizers, 2 main dishes and 2 desserts) was very reasonably priced.But if I had to return to this restaurant, I would chose the 32 euros menus to avoid any “misunderstanding”.The food was good apart from the undercooked pigeon.

As a conclusion
I have mixed feelings about this dinner. The slow service really had bad consequences on our overall impressions, as well as the misunderstanding about the jelly and the lack of comments on our dishes. Maybe it was an « off » night because all the reviews I read were outstanding. We saw the Chef at the end of our meal and he seems like a very professional and nice person.
So, as a conclusion, I would say : this restaurant deserves a second try.

Practical Information

68 rue Vasco de Gamma 75015 Paris. Tél : 01 48 56 82 49. For the Map, click here.
Open from 12.30 pm to 2.15 pm and from 7.30 pm to 10.15 pm (11 pm on friday and saturday). Closed on Sunday and Monday.