3 /5
Reseña
★
★
★
It 's great to have a notable restaurant in Durtal and the chef 's efforts deserve the 2 Michelin forks. The problem all of us had at dinner was the shared opinion that the kitchen 's creativity was not based on taste but, rather, a desire to demonstrate creativity. For us, it just showed the limit of the chef 's abilities. This feeling was echoed by the restaurant itself. What could have been an elegant dining room was marred by garish paintings and large coloured vases a large lit tongue? which, however expensive they might have been, looked cheap. It were as though someone didn 't know when to stop. The wall of floor-to-ceiling windows would have been fine except that it looks out directly on a 2-lane divided road and a large block industrial-looking garden cooperative. We felt, quite simply, that the owners ' lack sophistication was present in both the decor and the food. But we appreciated that he was trying. A delicious beet puree with a touch of acidity from tomato vinegar was paired with a banal smoked salmon mousse that reminded us of the tunafish salad we had in grade school. Overly generous portions of strongly flavoured slow-cooked rabbit rillette pressed rabbit were paired with unattractively presented parmesan flans and surprisingly tasteless guacamole. The acidic raspberry-red pepper sauce didn 't work with the other ingredients. We hadn 't seen raspberry vinegar since the late 1990s. And this was the problem: the 'inventiveness ' was out-of-date, as though the chef 's techniques and inspiration came from 20 years ago. The slice of duck was perfectly cooked: too bad the tough silver skin hadn 't been removed. But the shallot tatin a good idea was poorly executed. If it had been halved, caramelized shallots on puff-pastry, as the name implied, it would have been wonderful. The dessert was a ball of a sort of chocolate mousse with a crust of chocolate. The taste was good. But the overly-strong yuzu cream rosettes that circled the plate what chef still pipes rosettes? with a sliver of dark chocolate sticking up in each one not only didn 't go with the mousse, it was also unattractive. We enjoyed the wine list. We also appreciated the chef 's interest in and use of local purveyors... but why list Metro an industrial chain restaurant supplier on his list of suppliers? Once again, a step too far that reduces the whole. Over-all, we wish the chef would rethink his creativity to both enhance the harmony of flavors on the plate and stay within the limits of his capabilities. If he were to do so, the dining experience would be so much better.