John Talbott's Paris

Oum Kalsoum at the Monde Arabe and pickpockets at the Prefecture of Police.

This afternoon was more one for walking than seeing.  I had a brisk walk through the Oum Kalsoum show at the Monde Arabe, subtitled the Fourth Pyramid. 

She (Fatima Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Beltagui,) was apparently a big deal Eqyptian/Arab singer who lived from either 1898 or 1904 to 1974 and could be called the nightingale of the Nile.  Her songs were epic and took 1-1 1/2 hours to sing and a lot of visitors seemed happy to sit watching films.  For me, a bit of Oum lasted a long time.

Then I returned across the street from Les Comperes where I'd eaten a while back to the Prefecture of Police: Lost Objects Division to pick up Colette's credit cards, etc., picked from her pocket in March boarding the RER at Roissy/Charles de Gaulle.  This was French bureaucracy at its best.  Get a number, produce your documents, authorization and 10 E et voila!

The Fable of the Lion and the Squirrel.

It is widely believed that Louis Pasteur said "Chance favors only the prepared mind;” that von Clausewitz maintained that “We try first to discover what lies ahead of us;” and that chess players like the late, less-than-great, Bobby Fisher see not 1, 2 or 3 moves ahead but the whole game to come.

The lion, actually the lioness, possesses incredible patience, but towards the next meal only; whereas the squirrel, vide “squirreling away,” thinks of beyond that.

So this is all fine John, but what does it have to do with eating in Paris?: that you should make reservations (duhhh)?; that you should pace yourself between rich and lean dishes and blowout and good modest restos (hardly new news)?; or that you should know what the house offers on its menu aka carte so you’ll not be surprised by all offal or all veggie offerings?

None of the above.

No, let’s use today as our example:

Weeks ago, I started making lists of where I’d eat this month (June), as I always do (it’s better, I’m told than collecting and piling newspapers up or washing ones hands until they’re raw.)  As is my want (fear of culinary starvation, actually) I list possible “finds” in several categories: by finder (Simon, Rubin etc); by location (needing a local place for the eve before I exit town for any reason); and by days opened/closed.

Then, of course, I called and reserved and as in the case this week, when I “had” to go to Spain for a few days, I ensured that my intended Sunday destination would be open and eager to serve me/us. 

Also, as is my compulsion (compulsions are acts, obsessions are thoughts; just a bit of academic pilpul to see if you’re still awake) I wrote the address and tele # down and arrived a bit early.

Our destination was a little-known place - it’s these little-known places that are interesting to find huh, like the response of Peter Ustinov’s "Grand Prix of Gibraltar" Commendatore Fanfani aka Ferrari’s to the accusation that all his cars’ brakes failed 10 minutes from the finish - “Any fool can make a car stop, it takes a genius to make her go fast.”  Any fool can buy a Michelin and go to a three star restaurant but to find the unfound little place – Ahhhh!

So, anyway, I arrived pile and saw the tables and chairs outside this unprepossessing place in the ungodly 1st, near where I’d traded in the last of my “old” francs and (horrors) my “new” francs  for Euros that our children and grandchildren found in old exercise clothes and the like.

Enter me, confident, only one lady there, OK, “M. I have a reservation, my name is …..” (well what name I use is a state secret),”I have a reservation for two.”

The guy looks at me like a garage mechanic preparing you for the $1000 repair news.  “I am desolated M., but our kitchen it functioneth not.  It’s a catastrophe…..” (yah for him, but whattamIgonnado?)

I had no backup, I wasn’t going to eat at one of those fungible Les Halles/Bourse de Commerce brasseries, I had no frigging backup, no ideas, no thoughts.

My buddy, a lady not known for promptness, was nowhere to be seen; so I say to the guy, “that’s terrible” (and think, you jerk, but I’m gunna look around.)

In the back of my pigeon brain (don’t scoff, recall that BF Skinner [did you know that his real name was Burrhus Frederic?, see what you can learn here?] of Skinner box fame, also trained pigeons to target bomb sights,) I remember the local geography.

Up the road is Les Fines Gueules, a place that I and the Real Food Critic, loved a year ago, but that got trashed by the eGullet experts and dropped off the radar screen.  Could it be open?  Yesssss!

But wait, the chalkboard is inside, the tables are propping open the doors, there’s an ominous mop and bucket in the doorway and the staff seems largely occupied with wiping grease off their hands.

“Are you open today?”  “Yes.” “May I make a reservation in 15-20 minutes?”  “Of course.”

And of course I also made a quick sweep of the nabe to see what else was open; pretty pathetic options I must say.

So I walk back to Resto 1, sit outside until the poor catastrophe guy, remember him?, collects up the tables and chairs and puts them inside and I’m left with my briefcase on the green garbage container, waiting for my guest.

She arrives, as always apologizing for the lateness, senses that I’m not usually found hugging a trash bin and says “closed?”  I say “worse, kitchen not functioning.  We’ve got the following choices……….”

P.S. We had a great meal of heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, artichokes and dried tomatoes,  farm pintade and a pot of chocolate at Les Fines Gueules.

But it was blind, frigging luck and a touch of a prepared mind.

The moral of the fable: the lion/lioness plans on the next meal, the squirrel way ahead; find a happy medium.

My obvious choice this week is:
Les Fines Gueules
43, rue Croix des Petits Champs in the 1st, (Metro: Les Halles)
T:01.42.61.35.41,
Open everyday
Cost 40-60 E depending on the wine.

Narrative Figuration Paris 1960-1972 at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais

 

This is probably a grossly unfair way to judge the blockbuster show at the Grand Palais on Narrative Figuration but I was absolutely astonished to compare what was hung there with that done by the artists active in America during the same period who created pop art, minimalism, etc. 

At the GP we have Arroyo, Bertholo, Bertini, Fahlström, Klasen, Monory, Rancillac, Recalcati, Saul, Télémaque and Voss – who…..?  while in New York alone we had Johns, Kelly, Lawrence, Lichtenstein, A. Martin, Newman, Olitsky, Reinhardt and Warhol just to rattle a few names off.

I don’t know.  I guess they have to fill the space four times a year.  But when you think of what they’ve done before – Puvis de Chevannes, Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, Courbet, Degas and Seurat (even without the Grande Jatte) and on and on, it seems a shame.

 

The other show running more or less concurrently at the GP is on Marie-Antoinette, whose figure I have discretely hidden behind a tree to indicate my disinterest in her life, dress and furniture.

Le Clocher Pereire - A revisit*

Last (2007) November* I wrote:

Way out, in all senses of the expression.

6.2 Le Clocher Pereire, 42, bvd Pereire in the 17th, 01.44.40.04.15 was heralded by Emmanuel Rubin as the first nice surprise of the rentrée and I’d have to agree. Funnily enough I seem to have had the same meal he did, which may explain part of our shared enthusiasm.

It’s a really really nice looking place, thoroughly comfortable among all the residential and business buildings of the Boulevard Pereire (unlike the Buffalo Grill down the road apiece.) Unlike many one-man band places this size (about 26 covers), there is not one but three young men in the cuisine and only Madame in front.

But the service only was pressed when the place was full at 13h30; until then the food flowed out without a hitch. The bread looked industrial but was excellent, the wine selection fine and the coffee was Illy. Three dishes are 29 at lunch (5 each of starters, mains & desserts); but an OK menu (that day consisting of a terrine, tete de veau and crème caramel) was available for 17 €.

I began with another hot/lukewarm/coolish (is this a trend?) mound of cepes (bound with egg) atop simpler chopped cepes with sauce; absolutely delicious (ER said “pas mal.") Then I had the melt-in-your-mouth rabbit with confited lemon (which I did not get

I terminated with the moelleux of chocolate, this was gold standard or close. The crowd was all French and quite eclectic, many suits, two worker-types, two “working girls” with handler and a guy next to me pitching another spectacle on the Beatles by singing some of their songs that are timeless.

Any drawbacks: yes, 5 women smoking pretty non-stop with inadequate ventilation (but 2008 is creeping in) and it is a bit of a schlep from the Metro or bus. The bill with ½ bottle of red, no bottled water and a coffee = 45 €.

Should one go? This is a place as Pudlo used to say “worth following.”

 

Three of us went back today* and had another fine meal.  The dishes were all suitable for a hot day (24 degrees C.), seasonal and terrific.

 

Our firsts included a crab and puree of fennel mousse timbale with spicy fresh herbs and foie gras toast, risotto with fresh veggies and tomato and turnip slices with a squash blossom stuffed with goat cheese.

 

Then we had rabbit with confited lemon and sundried tomato rollatines with feves; duck breast slices with a toasted envelope and a bland sandre with potato coating and fresh green asparagus.

 

Desserts were two moelleux of chocolate and strawberries with sorbet.

 

With 3 coffees, two bottles of wine and no bottled water our bill was 141 euros.

*Originally reviewed November 2007 and last visited June 23rd, fully paid for except for two prunes offered.

 

Way out, in all senses of the expression.

6.2 Le Clocher Pereire, 42, bvd Pereire in the 17th, 01.44.40.04.15 was heralded by Emmanuel Rubin as the first nice surprise of the rentrée and I’d have to agree. Funnily enough I seem to have had the same meal he did, which may explain part of our shared enthusiasm.

It’s a really really nice looking place, thoroughly comfortable among all the residential and business buildings of the Boulevard Pereire (unlike the Buffalo Grill down the road apiece.) Unlike many one-man band places this size (about 26 covers), there is not one but three young men in the cuisine and only Madame in front.

But the service only was pressed when the place was full at 13h30; until then the food flowed out without a hitch. The bread looked industrial but was excellent, the wine selection fine and the coffee was Illy. Three dishes are 29 at lunch (5 each of starters, mains & desserts); but an OK menu (that day consisting of a terrine, tete de veau and crème caramel) was available for 17 €.

I began with another hot/lukewarm/coolish (is this a trend?) mound of cepes (bound with egg) atop simpler chopped cepes with sauce; absolutely delicious (ER said “pas mal.") Then I had the melt-in-your-mouth rabbit with confited lemon (which I did not get

I terminated with the moelleux of chocolate, this was gold standard or close. The crowd was all French and quite eclectic, many suits, two worker-types, two “working girls” with handler and a guy next to me pitching another spectacle on the Beatles by singing some of their songs that are timeless.

Any drawbacks: yes, 5 women smoking pretty non-stop with inadequate ventilation (but 2008 is creeping in) and it is a bit of a schlep from the Metro or bus. The bill with ½ bottle of red, no bottled water and a coffee = 45 €.

Should one go? This is a place as Pudlo used to say “worth following.”

 

Three of us went back today* and had another fine meal.  The dishes were all suitable for a hot day (24 degrees C.), seasonal and terrific.

 

Our firsts included a crab and puree of fennel mousse timbale with spicy fresh herbs and foie gras toast, risotto with fresh veggies and tomato and turnip slices with a squash blossom stuffed with goat cheese.

 

Then we had rabbit with confited lemon and sundried tomato rollatines with feves; duck breast slices with a toasted envelope and a bland sandre with potato coating and fresh green asparagus.

 

Desserts were two moelleux of chocolate and strawberries with sorbet.

 

With 3 coffees, two bottles of wine and no bottled water our bill was 141 euros.

*Originally reviewed November 2007 and last visited June 23rd, fully paid for except for two prunes offered.

 

Reviews of reviews - The Week of June 16th, 2008

The Week of June 16th, 2008

Due to technical problems, Monday through Wednesday will not be available until Monday July 7th.

Thursday, Le Point, had a special section devoted to food including suggestions for restaurants and other food-related places in the 1-10th Arrondissements and 11-20th see below, and Pudlo’s views on the great places. They also list the best of: best quenelles @ Aux Lyonnais, best entrecôte Le Relais Beaujolais, best veal liver Le Caméléon, best boudin La Fontaine de Mars, best canned tuna Le Dauphin, best fries Le Severo + le Bistrot Paul Bert, and best shrimp croquettes Les Petites Sorcières/Ghislaine Arabian.
1er ARRONDISSEMENT - Cibus, BAM, Joe Allen, Nodaiwa, Kinugawa
2e ARRONDISSEMENT - Liza
3e ARRONDISSEMENT - Le Café des Musées, Breizh Café, Mai Thai, Taeko
4e ARRONDISSEMENT - Ma Bourgogne, Chez Marianne
5e ARRONDISSEMENT - Itinéraires, L'AOC, Au Coin des gourmets, La Baleine
6e ARRONDISSEMENT - Fogon, Le Petit Verdot, PDG, Tsukizi, L'Epi Dupin, La Mercerie Mullot
7e ARRONDISSEMENT - Chez l'ami Jean, Petrossian, Le Café Constant, Les Cocottes, Le Violin d'Ingres, Café de l'Esplanade
8e ARRONDISSEMENT - L'Evasion, Le Griffonnier, L'Angle du Faubourg, Dominique Bouchet, Mini-Palais
9e ARRONDISSEMENT - Les Pâtes vivantes, Hôtel Amour
10e ARRONDISSEMENT - La Paella, Le Martel
11e ARRONDISSEMENT - Le Repaire de Cartouche, Da Lat, Bistrot Paul Bert, L'Homme bleu.
12e ARRONDISSEMENT - Le Cotte rôti, Les Crocs, Baron rouge, La Gazzetta
13e ARRONDISSEMENT - Chez Nathalie, Les Cailloux, Le Lao Thaï, L'Ourcine, Lao Lane Xang - To avoid - Bioart
14e ARRONDISSEMENT - Severo, Les Petites Sorcières, L'Ordonnance, La Marée Denfert, La Régalade
15e ARRONDISSEMENT - Afaria, Le Café des ombres
16e ARRONDISSEMENT - La Table Lauriston, Le Murat, La Pizzeria d'Auteuil, Chez Géraud, Carette, La Gare, Les Jardins Plein Ciel
17e ARRONDISSEMENT - L'Agapé, Sormani, La Maison de Charly
18e ARRONDISSEMENT - Le Moulin de la galette, Terrass Hôtel/Le Diapason
19e ARRONDISSEMENT - La Cave gourmande, Quedubon, Nakagawa, 25° Est
20e ARRONDISSEMENT - Les Allobroges, Le Baratin, Café noir, Vin Chai Moi.

Friday, Jean Louis Galesne in this week's Les Echos wrote about several places in Boulogne-Billincourt: Le Gorgeon, coordinates given before; the new, adorable Violette et François, 38, rue d'Aguesseau, 01.46.05.01.93, closed weekends, lunch menu at 21, a la 35 euros, serving both traditional and non- food such as a radiant mache salad, peeled ecrevisses and cod with chips; the Japanese Sanki + La Trattoria, a true trattoria and a Spanish place Byzance; and a light snack lunch or Saturday brunch (14 E for either, 35 E a la carte) place Le Molière, 5, rue Molière, 01.46.21.91.86, closed Sundays and Mondays.

Saturday-Sunday, in Le Figaro, Francois Simon wrote about Michel Troisgros’s new hotel-restaurant venture 20 minutes north of Roanne called La Colline du Colombier.

Sunday, in JDD, Astrid T’Serclaes reviewed Ducoté Cuisine + Bis-tro Vin Sobre and Jean-Michel Lorain (Joigny) gave his two favorite places in Paris under 35 euros as Chez Michel + Le Restaurant du marché.

And ironically, Sundays, Margaret Kemp in Bonjour Paris visited Lorain’s place La Cote Saint-Jacques in Joigny and John Talbott wrote about “Chefs on the Run: Up, Down and Sideways.”

Red in all its forms and some other stuff at the Arts Decoratifs.

 

The show “Aussi Rouge que possible….” was the whole reason I went to the museum cluster here but outside there was no sign of that show, only the Finland, Valentino and Napoleon ones.  Bad administrative decision!

Because the Red show was quite good; everything on the ground from red antique chairs to a ultra modern 1993 Brazilian one and on the walls everything from ancient French tapestries to Soviet, Chinese and French Socialist Party posters.  There were toys, beach toys, toy soldiers, red balloons and little Red Riding Hood items.  And, there were objects made of red leather and red wood.

As for the other shows – following my Mother’s rule to not say anything if it wasn’t nice – it sure looked from the Napoleon show that he spent a lot of time sitting and sitting well, that the Finns have a poster style and tradition that equals the Poles and that Valentino uses a lot of makeup.

 

PS I received a communication from SusieQ saying "Clearly you are 'fashion challenged'!  The Valentino exhibit is glorious."

Le Gaigne – A pleasant successful Sunday revisit* with a gang.

May 25^th I said:

“A little gem, barely found, but for how long?
5.5 Le Gaigne, 12, rue Pecquay in the 4th, 01.44.59.86.72, closed Tuesday – thus open Saturday, Sunday on Mondays, hooray! Let me start with the young chef – Mickael Gaignon – who’s passed through the shops of the Pre Catalan, Gagnaire and Gaya; he may be young but he’s got it. And his wife Aurelie is terrific in the front room. When I entered (coming off this dingy street in nowheresville to find tables decorated with young live herbs) and realized it was just the two of them (plus a kitchen aide/plongeur) for 20 covers, I worried that they could never get the food out promptly, but they did, meanwhile turning away people who drifted by and saw the reviews by E Rubin et al in the window. I was worried about the “brunch on Sunday” note in Figaroscope, but the chef insisted that they served the full weekly menu too. And they did with no cancellations or substitutions. For this tiny and new a place, they served an amuse-bouche - of real vichyssoise – I haven’t had it so good in years. Then I had terrific small cromesquis morsels of morue, thankfully not called brandade, that were crisp outside and melting inside, with forceful watercress sprigs and puree. The bread is worth commenting on, not crusty, but dense with a moist wheaty flavor, quite, quite good. My main was/were a divine farm chicken served two ways; a sliced breast with a delicious herb/cream sauce and rollatine bits atop young green stuffed cabbage. I had no dessert but a terrific Molongo coffee with fine marshmallows. Coda: there’s a funky pink light in the bathroom and a funky tin milk pail instead of a wash basin (someone has a good sense of humor.) The bill = 42 € with two glasses of wine – but other days, the menus are 16 and 22 and wines begin at 14 €.
Go? Yes, this guy knows what he’s doing. He’ll be moving into bigger space eventually for sure, with higher prices, so go soon.”

Not much changed from my last visit until today* except the amuse gueule was a little croque of lentils with ham and a slice of fine sausage atop, the wheaty bread was replaced by Banette and there were no marshmallows with the coffee. 

 

Since there were four of us we stretched the menu out a bit; for a starter I had an heirloom tomato and other squashed veggies in a pastry crust much like the veggie terrine I had at the Bistrot 121 forty years ago; my male friend had the tete de veau and Madame the warm veggies, both of which were just fine.  

 

Then two of us had the chicken, made as it was last time with forcemeat inside cabbage pockets; one had the lamb special and Colette had a rouget – all were quite happy.  Finally we had a moelleux that had apricot pieces inside – good idea; one had rhubarb and two folks exotic fruits. 

 

With two bottles of perfectly light and chilled red Loires, two coffees and no bottled water we were out for 194 € for the four of us.

 

Go back.  Colette said sure, even on a non-Sunday.

*Last visit June 22, 2008, fully paid for.

Annie Liebowitz and the Three Dwarfs at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie

Having just been subjected to Annie Liebowitz's photos of her mid-term lover Susan Sontag's cancer, treatment and death in Washington, I wasn''t exactly rushing to see her new show at the MEP.  But I'm glad I went.

She really is a good photographer and I'd never seen her early work such as the landscapes from the Hudson River to Monument Valley, which are wonderful.

She also does well by celebrities, whether they're Mick Jagger, 1992 pre ravaged face or Bill Clinton.

There are also two fabulous group photos almost facing each other - one of George Bush's gang, including Cheney and Rumsfeld, that really does look like they're up to no good - the other of Michael Moore's team that looks like they're having fun.

The other galeries on the first and ground floors and in the basement that often feature people I've never heard of and are sometimes kicky were just plain boring.

Le Bistro Paul Bert – The four year wait* for a revisit was worth it.

*September 2004 I wrote:

 

Gael Greene eating in a place with a “Turkish toilet?” But yes, at the Bistrot Paul Bert, 18, rue Paul Bert in the happening 11th, 01.43.72.24.01. It’s been well-received in both Pariscope and Figaroscope and is open Saturdays, so it was a logical choice. There’s a menu-carte, menu=26 E, formula a bit less, 18 E I think; I had girolles and cepes in parsleyed butter which were divine and a wonderful incredibly delicious dense coffee granité with chantilly for dessert. For my main I ordered the aile de raie with white beans fully aware that it was not the classic vinegar/chives/etc. preparation and therefore, my less than ecstatic response is tempered by an urge to return to try the rest of the carte. My bill was 48 E.

 

Sometimes it takes me a while to get smart.  And this time** it took my friend Atar to suggest we go back, he having been several times since ’04 and both of us quite liking their bivalve/fish offshoot l’Ecailler du Bistrot next door.

 

 

 

What’s different?; well - no Turkish toilet, menu’s gone from 26 to 34 € and waitstaff I didn’t recognize.  Otherwise pretty much the same.

 

Four of ordered:

 

I had the 3-course menu with terrific sautéed small cuttlefish with bits of confited lemon - which 75% of the table ( I among them) thought were a great idea; then veal liver that I ordered blue (“you mean you really want it blue, that means it’s hardly cooked?” – “Yes”) but served more like saignant with mashed potatoes with olives and chives within; and finally poached cherries with a flat tuile and ice cream – all very good – a come back meal for 34 € (wines start at 18 €).

 

Atar had the special, also itself 32 €, the beef filet with fries, that ironically, this week’s l’Express said were the best in any bistro in Paris save at Severo.  I liked both a lot.

 

The ladies, unfortunately, had the bland barbue (brill if that helps) with girolles in garlic butter that none of us were stunned by.  Each was 33 €.

 

With coffee, two bottles of Gamay-tasting but 13% wine and no bottled water our bill came to 180 € for four.

 

Come back?  You bet, me, not sure about the ladies with just one so-so fish dish available.

 

** My last meal was June 21st fully paid for.

Hide in the 17th - Eating crow on a return visit*.

 A few months ago**, I ate at Hide in the 17th and loved the place.  You may recall:

"Classic French by a cool Japanese chef.
7.0 Hide aka Koba’s Bistro, 10, rue de General Lanrezac in the 17th, 01.45.74.15.81, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, menu 26 E for 3 courses, 29 E for 3 courses and 25 cl of wine and about 35 E a la carte. When I read Emmanuel Rubin et al’s 1 heart review in January I assumed (wrongly) that this was a Japanese place despite their statement that the cuisine was closer to Escoffier than Kobe and that 1 heart meant “no way.” But surprisingly, his colleague Francois Simon in today’s* “Dossier” of places under 30 E in Figaroscope called it the “deal of the month”; so of course I called and booked immediately – smart move John. It was quite, quite good and very, very affordable. I don’t know how Rubin et al could describe the food as classic, correct and familial and give it only 1 heart while M. Simon described the dishes as unctuous, in good shape and solid and conclude that one should add it to one’s list of “necessary places to go.” But back to the descriptor of the place – “traditional” – on the walls are hanging Willy Ronis’ photo of the kid and the baguette and George Brassens of the stairs in Montmartre – pretty French I’d say. While they have paper napkins and paper placemats (but get a demerit for no paper towels in the loo), it is a linen not a paper quality place. The service person was delightful and funny, the menu very large and varied, the bread crusty and tasty and the wine unusual (good). I ordered from the a la carte ardoise; starting with sautéed foie gras on the bed of mache perfectly dressed so the vinegar offset the natural fatty-sweet tone of the liver; then had a cote of veal undercooked as much as he could with mashed potatoes wonderfully flavored with parsley and something else I couldn’t put my finger on and forgot to ask about and an overkill side-dish of noodles and butter; and terminated with a coffee gourmand, all the rage in Paris this Spring (with Ethiopian coffee, crème brulee and salty coffee ice that was super.) My bill was 44 E but I suspect the 29 E deal would be pretty good.
Go back? I cannot wait to test it out with my gang.
**My last meal was April 16th, fully paid for."

Well, I took my gang, or they took me as the case may be and it suffered the "sophomore slump," which I've written about before elsewhere and I ate crow instead of food.  But before that -

Time out: across the street were antique street signs, one of which was for the General Charles Lanrezac (1852-1925), whom Who's Who says was "....regarded as the French Army's most respected pre-war strategist, [but] proved less able as a commander in the field and was removed from command in the first month of the war, in August 1914."

As first courses I had (again) the foie gras and it was superb, on a bed of fine al dente green beans and Atar had cod on a bed of mache, equally good.  But then.....

I had over-the-hill, muttony lamb with good for nothing "Boston" beans and smashed potatoes which were OK, but the whole thing I barely touched; Atar had sole with pleurottes which if one were starving on a desert isle would pass, but Colette's chicken didn't survive scrutiny even with added salt and Elan's trio of fish was just passable.

Finally, Colette tried her standard by which all restaurants are measured, a floating island and I didn't hear any Meg Ryan sounds.  Coffee and bread and wine were OK; the bill 109.50 E for 4, but as my father used to say:

"Yah gets what yah pays for." 

*My last meal was June 20th, fully paid for.