La Grenouillère

Best delirium Guide 2012
Le Guide Fooding’s 2016 Man of the Year

Pigging out at Alexandre Gauthier’s place is a little like seeing the latest Malick film: you’re not sure if you understand everything, but you know that it’s pretty damn beautiful! In his culinary Garden of Eden architected by Patrick Bouchain (a fern garden, a forge, a smoker, a hops dryer, cottages where you can spend the night), Alexandre the great sets off some fireworks. The night we went the 11-course menu featured: an incredible amuse-bouche of razor clams, corn and egg white; a Matrix-esque white sphere that looked like a Mentos and tasted like roasted chicken; an incredibly comforting blini with flavorful tourteau crab; sublime red mullet with wild strawberries and a shot of organic liver; umami-esque veal sublimed by raw yellow zucchini; spinach space cake; a goblet filled with chèvre that was somewhere between a cheese and an ice cream; Mara des Bois strawberries simply chilled; an incredible spoonful of honeycomb; before the herby knockout finale, a blown sugar sphere filled with mint ice cream, sorrel and herbs. // F.P.

FEELING THIRSTY? Your choice: sophisticated food and wine pairings (a Sainte-Victoire rosé from the Château Grand Boise; Les Hautés, an Auxey-Duresses from the Domaine Lamargue; La Bégou, a Corbières from Maxime Magnon…) or a rich wine selection with 500 labels (the prices aren’t shown) and even a few wines served by the glass: Nuits d’ivresses, a Bourgueil from Catherine and Pierre Breton (€16), a Gevrey-Chambertin from the Domaine Marchand-Grillot (€22)… Not to mention the mead served using a pipette directly from the demijohn (€9).

PRICE: Tasting menus €115 (lunch), €145 (dinner except Saturday and the days before national holidays) and €175 (dinner), food and wine pairings +€58 and +€75.