the UK based Restaurant and Hotel Review
the UK based Restaurant and Hotel Review
Café M juts out, glazed in typical Parisian fashion, onto the sidewalk of
the Boulevard Malesherbes. It's only a stone's throw from the Place de la
Madeleine with its plethora of wonderful gourmet food shops, such as Hediard,
Fauchon, and La Maison de la Truffe. You should wander round them
before lunch just to get your appetite going. Inside, Café M is discreetly modern,
relying on shadows and focussed spotlighting to create a sophisticated yet
low-key ambience.
As I was on the look out for somewhere that would demonstrate the nec plus ultra of Modern French cuisine, I might quite easily have been put off by the name. A Café it may be called, but the menu, although not groaning under the weight of centuries of haute cuisine, is one that will set the discerning foodie taste buds prickling with anticipation.
Chef Guillaume Joly is young, enthusiastic and innovative. His credentials are impeccable - he came to Paris from the Michelin 3* Troisgros near Lyons. His style is modern, with interesting but restrained use of flavourings and techniques which reach beyond the established culinary traditions of France. He was out front talking to the Maitre d' when we arrived, so I said hello and asked him what he would recommend for us to try. We quickly established a rapport, and we decided to let him arrange a menu degustation for us.
Those of you who read my reviews regularly will know that I love to be surprised by a succession of dishes, planned by a chef who really wants to delight you, because he knows that you are as enthusiastic about fine cooking as he is.
We began with some crisp spring rolls filled with langoustines (65FF) and a sort of avocado guacamole. This was an imaginative reworking of an oriental favourite. Next, another transformation, cannelloni (70FF), but not made with pasta. These were made of smoked salmon, with a soft creamy filling that was absolutely delicious.
At this point, I need to tell you that we were drinking a remarkable 1986 Vouvray from Marc Brédif. At 150F a bottle at the table this has to be one of the great restaurant wine bargains of the millennium. It was full and rich, and age had imparted a nutty background flavour that was irresistible. I bought another bottle to take back to England.
Then, (a fanfare of trumpets please) came the foie gras, as soft and voluptuous as your wildest fantasies could conjure. It came with translucent walnuts and pomegranates and the reduction based on the pomegranate jus was tangy enough to offset the richness. This was gourmet heaven indeed.
Now it was the turn of Neptune - Paris gets to you like this - and the ugly but beautiful lotte, or monkfish (160FF), whose dense texture was quickened by mango and fresh ginger. After this we needed a pause, if not a brisk walk around the Madeleine.
The finale was slow cooked Asian spiced lamb (150FF), which may well have been done in a tagine, but it was not served in one. The meat was very moist and gorgeously gelatinous (not a good word to use perhaps, as it's often taken to mean slimey which this emphatically was not). True foodies will know what I mean by gelatinous; Elizabeth David uses the word to describe the way shin of beef goes in a really well prepared Daube de Provence. It was supported by deliciously moist gnocchi in the shape of quenelles made from couscous with herbs.
For dessert, I had a good old fashioned English pudding: a beautifully
executed apple and grape crumble (50FF), enlivened with ginger and a dash of very old and
mellow balsamic. Have you noticed the way people have started leaving off
the word vinegar after the word balsamic? Perhaps it's a way of
disowning (at least in Britain) any associations with the fish and chip shop!
Oddly enough there's chippie near us in SW London called Café S. Café S is as far removed from Café M as a MacDonald's is from a properly made Tournedos Rossini, or as the British Telecom tower is from the Eiffel Tower. I'm so glad I overcame my Café prejudice and ventured in, I hope you will too.
Dine Online strongly recommends Café M for great cooking and value for money.
Clifford Mould December 1999
Café M
24 Boulevard Malesherbes
Paris 75008
Tel: (33) 01 55 27 1234
Fax:(33) 01 55 27 1235
Email: mailto:sales@paris.hyatt.com
Web site: www.paris.hyatt.com
Please send your comments to us at: Dine-Online
NB
Dine Online is an independent review magazine. We have no business
connections with any of the restaurants and hotels we write about. We
do not make bookings or reservations for you!
Dine Online Copyright Clifton Media Associates December 1999, All
rights reserved.