The restaurant itself was very...cozy. It had a long bench along one side of the wall with tables placed quite closely together so that to get out of the tables required quite a bit of movement of your neighbours. On the other side were two other tables and a small bar type on the short end facing the street. We were seated rather close to our neighbours and the kitchen but made do.
We were first served a nice, albeit a bit too cold, amuse gueule of a layered shot of white, creamy mousse topped with what I think was creamed shrimp mouse with tiny croutons. I forget what the white cream was but I do remember it being fairly tasty, whetting our appetite for our starters.
The starters on other tables looked disconcertingly similar to our amuse-gueules with layered salads but we went with the choices and I started with Langoustines cooked "a la minute". Which turned out to be simply half a dozen steamed Langoustines served with a small dish of mayonnaise. I was undaunted and happy to dig in and get my fingers dirty but I was disappointed. The flesh of the langoustines were mealy and was not firm and sweet as I had expected.
The boy ordered what he termed a "posh prawn cocktail", which was lumps of crab meat with mayonnaise like sauce, topped with iceberg lettuce and a shrimp mousse that was a lurid shade of orange. It tasted... like a posh prawn cocktail.
Our mains consisted of a "pave de lieu a la plancha", which was like a pan fried sea bass with a crisp skin, plated with beans and squid, surrounded by Parmesan foam and a circle of balsamic reduction.
The other main, was a white fish, similar to John Dory with a buttery flesh, plated with a potato mash with leeks and I *think* celeriac, again surrounded by the Parmesan foam and a circle of balsamic vinegar.Truth be told, I wasn't that impressed with either of them. Although in hindsight, I'm not sure what I expected, being a fish restaurant but I did expect some unusual combinations or something clever to be done with the fish. What I got was simple pan fried white fish paired with something quite average and plated not at all in an interesting fashion. I am not a snob but was surprised to see different dishes plated in the same manner, not really what I expected of a Michelin starred restaurant.
The theme continued onto dessert where orders of a chestnut and apple compote and a cherry and freeze dried banana compote arrived looking remarkably similar and uninteresting. As Umami rightly puts it, it looked factory-line made.All in all, I don't think I'd return. It was average food and over priced for what it was. It didn't make me want to try Christian Constant's other starred restaurant, Le Violon d'Ingres.
I remarked to the boy as we left, "this restaurant's a bit squishy". It's funny how "cozy" becomes "squishy" after an average meal carrying high expectations.
Les Fables de la Fountaine
131 rue St-Dominique, 7th
Tel: 01 44 18 37 55
Metro: Ecole Militaire
2 comments:
I agree with everything you said. I would add too that we were so disappointed we are laying off french food for a while.
omg, their presentation look nothing like what i seen on PIM's blog! that's sounds like a bad introduction to french cuisine.
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