Saturday, January 24, 2015

La Maison Astier

Gary, Sandi and I took the channel from London to Paris to meet Ramon and Milena who just arrived this morning.

We had reservations for this restaurant that Gary, Ramon and Milena have been to before and they raved about the food and the only bad thing was their waiter had body odor so every time he handed them a plate or reached for something, they had a whiff of the sweet smell of success.... but the food was so good that they were willing to go back and just hoped that he was off for the evening.

We got there shortly before it opened at 7:00 p.m. We were the first customers. They led us upstairs in which looked like a private room though it had 3 other tables that sat around 8 or so. There was boar's head on the wall; I don't really know if that was supposed to enhance our dining experience.


The menu has changed because Milena and Gary wanted to order what they had before even if they didn't remember exactly what they had. Gary had the pictures on his phone and when he showed our waiter the pictures, all he said was" " I don't know, I can show it to the chef". So we studied the menu. Milena and I ordered the Butternut Soup with bacon and green cabbage. She has had it before so I went with her recommendation. It was very good indeed. Gary, Ramon and Sandi just watched the two of us. We did offer them a taste.


For our entrees, Ramon ordered the Salmon roasted in Label rouge with macaroni, fennel and squid sauce. I had a bite of it was good. Gary had the Roasted Veal Filet with melted endive, beet chutney and walnuts. It was apparently the best entree though I never got a taste of it as he devoured it. Milena and Sandi had the Lamb Leg Roasted with fresh herb crust, beans and chantrelle mushrooms.  I ordered the Braised Pork Shank with stewed cabbage with paprika and double cream. Sandi and I were to split both our orders. The lamb was a big disappointment. It was well done and tough even when we ordered it medium.  When Milena complained to our waiter in French, he apologized and later explained it was because of the cut of lamb per the chef. I have never heard of such an excuse. It the cut is not good, then they should not have it on the menu. My pork shank was 85% fat and had very little and I mean very little meat so Sandi and I were not too happy with that.



Dessert was their famous Baba Rum which was served with whipped cream. That was very good. The other dessert was a Chocolate Mousse, hazelnut salty streusel. Everyone liked. I didn't get excited because it had a strong hazelnut flavor.



By the time we left, the restaurant was packed! The question was would any of us return to this restaurant again......the answer was no.

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