Dean C.
Yelp
9/5/15: Bestest meal in Paris, ever. My gf popped this surprise on me the night we landed, and it turned out magnificent! Probably one of the most extraordinary dinners of my life. A bus with an entire roof of clear glass. All fancy inside. Multiple wines served. Started as the sun was setting, drove by all the famous spots lit by the setting sun, and ended lit by romantic street lights and the moon. What could possibly top that!? Oh.... and the food...
1. Tartar of sea bream with chives, artichoke and apricot, lime zest and capers: Very lightly seasoned. You can totally taste the nuances of the fish. A little plain for me, but was good. 7/10
2. Duck foie gras, rhubarb and strawberries, seasoned with a proto reduction sauce: Little did I know that I was about to eat more foie gras in France than I have in my entire life so far, but at the time I loved this foie gras. Later we would try more rustic, and more deeply flavored versions, but I would say this one was standard for a terrine but very good still. But what really made the dish was the rhubarb and strawberries. I've never had a combo like that before, and it was wonderful. 8/10
3. Sea bass, courgette cream, cherry tomatoes with a saffron sauce: Unlike all the other dishes served, this one was the odd one out, with the fish being sloppy--the skin was torn and it just didn't look pro-style. But it tasted fine. Not especially memorable. 5/10.
4. Fillet of ducking, potato puree, roasted aubergine and passion fruit: Good tasting meat. The skin was mushy though. I dunno if it's a French thing, cause I also had duck maybe 2-3 other occasions during this trip and they all have skin that's not crisped. I would think that's a culinary rule, kinda like how fish skin needs to be crispy. But anyway, the meat flavor was good. The passion fruit seeds were really different--usually that's the stuff that's thrown away. It was cool they actually used that as a up-front supporting ingredient! 7/10.
5. Fresh goat's cheese, honey, cherries and rocket: It was good. This seemed like their version of a salad. Damn good for a salad then!--had lots of sweet, tangy, and.... planty, ha ha, together. Great! 8/10.
6. Shortbread biscuit with red fruits, mint jelly and white chocolate ice cream: The ice cream wasn't really strongly tasting of white chocolate... maybe a hint. Tasted closer to standard vanilla to me. I love the little translucent and clear mint jelly--was cute! The biscuit wasn't anything special. Overall it was tasty, but doesn't stand out much in the way of taste. 5/10.
So, the food was closer to a 4/5. But they prepared it in a moving bus! That can't be easy right?
The drive was really romantic. No guide talks to you though. They give you these cool pens that you point to dots on the map they give you and it's supposed to talk to you like a guide. Well.... ours didn't work. Then they gave us another one, and I don't think the waiter could get it to work either. So the map/pen/guide thing was a fail. But it was alright. No one used them anyway.
If you're looking for something romantic and very unique, this is it! (And apparently have deep pockets too--my gf didn't tell me how much it costed but I do see the 4 $ signs on the Yelp page, so I guess this was really expensive, but definitely was worth it!)
Would be so cool if they had this in America! But I guess there really isn't anything around here that's like Paris, where you could drive around for an hour and see all romantic things. I gotta say, Paris is definitely uniquely beautiful!!!--and this is one amazing way to enjoy it!
ps--I tried to take some pictures of the food, but it was nighttime, in a moving bus, so.... well, they'll have to do. Hope you enjoy!
5/5
#france #french