Le Gavroche

This is a post I’ve been meaning to get out for a long time, since the end of July, actually. Right before the move to Essex I was treated to a fancy-shmancy dinner for two at Le Gavroche. It was definitely the best one so far! Absolutely exquisite and worthy of all its Michelin stars. It's interesting to see the transition in myself as I become more attuned to what makes for exceptional dining. When I first moved to London I thought every upscale place seemed equally wonderful as the last but now I've been to quite a few and, darn it, now I'm turning into one of the uber snobs! 

The staff took politeness and delicacy to a whole new level. there were at least 5 people who were at our constant service but without lingering over us...apparently they’ve perfected the act of rotating from table to table at such accurate increments that they arrived at each one exactly as you'd need them, switching out silverware for each course, bringing mini samplers, folding and laying out our napkins for us as we sat down each time we got up to use the restroom. They’d walk you to the restroom, actually, so you wouldn't get lost (which happened to me at L’Atlier the very first time I went! I nearly walked into the kitchen!), and then someone else would rush to the table and refold your napkin while you were away so it wasn't in a crumpled mess when you came back.

So, the food. I’ll describe what we had and just so I’m not repeating myself, I’ll say in advance it was all delicious....as I already said, this was the best I’d ever had. They served two amuse bouche samplers first, a mini egg salad tartlet and a mushroom roll which was almost like a spring roll, but bite sized. Then we ordered drinks (but not off the wine list, partly bc neither of us drinks but also bc you had to buy by the bottle and they had bottles as expensive and 6,000 pounds!!). Then they brought us the sample starter which was a pork mash, like the consistency of mashed potatoes with a dot of apricot jelly sitting atop a thin triangular wafer...again, just the size of one spoonful. They let us select a roll from an array of breads when they brought the bread basket around and we both chose a French roll, long and comes to a crispy point at each end. It was served with two butter choices, plain and salted, each one molded in a different shape. Once you’ve touched the butter they bring a new butter pad around when they offer bread between the courses. Then our starters came. I had ordered artichoke with truffles, fois gras and chicken puree, which came served as a ball in which each ingredient was actually inserted in layers....it's really hard to describe, but it was white (fois gras) with brown spots (truffles) encasing the chicken mash, sitting on top of the light green artichoke layer, which was hardened and looked like soap, to be honest, but tasted just fine ;) (see below)

My friend got Grilled Scallops with a Clam Minestrone, which I was tempted to order but as I always get scallops I wanted to switch it up for once. Then the main came (after we refused the bread basket) and I had the Sautéd Lobster with Lemongrass and Coconut Infused Lobster Jus on a bed of Seaweed Pasta. When they present the main course they do a lot of showmanship at the table to demonstrate the final preparations. For mine they'd already had the meat perfectly removed and sectioned from the shell of the lobster but they bring it's shell out delicately resting on top of the meat, but they lift it away as they pour the peach-colored coconut jus over it. There was a small amount of the seaweed pasta (green of course) in a fat line along the bottom of the elongated dish, and then on top of it they lay the little meat sections with slices of coconut between each one, and then put some sort of cooked coconut in wedges along the sides as an added decoration. 

Very possibly the best food I’d had in my whole life. Then dessert. We both had Set Coconut and White Chocolate Cream, Mango and Lime Salad, as it sounded cool and refreshing on a hot evening. They bring it out in a square plate and the coconut-white chocolate has set in the bottom, similar to the consistency of dried frosting, into which they insert in a square grid pattern mini, mini lime jello squares (smaller than 1 cm wide) and orange mango jelly. in the middle, resting on top of the grid is a pile of shredded mango which has been left to ripen til it's orange, then thick slices of coconut on top of that. Again, divine. I don't think food and restaurant service gets any better.

It wasn’t until late in the meal I realized, after looking curiously at this drawing hanging next to our table during dinner that reminded me of a 9 year old’s drawing of a circus done in primary-colored crayon, that we were sitting next to an original Picasso. And despite the fact I’ve never particularly liked Picasso’s art I must say I was impressed and a bit humbled to be sharing a meal below a drawing that great master had created. It’s not every dinner I get to do that.