Blank Doll!

Hier etait fab. J'echappais du bureau a dix sept heures et reviendrais chez moi pour me preparer avant d'aller a Clarke Quai pour rencontrer mes ami(e)s. C'a ete tres longtemp lorsque nous nous sommes rencontrons et sauf pour Kris, tout est arrive! Et Sarah etait tot!

Nous nous sommes parle beaucoup de choses. Les etudes, les travaux, la cuisine, LE MILITAIRE (!!), les collegue tres degoutant, les affaires au jus etc. Dee est si branche, je te dis, et elle peut faire les 'moves mambo' tres drole parce qu'elle les a appris d'une personne qui s'appelle le 'Mambo King'. En anglais, so rubbish!

Ok, enough French for a day. I wrote so much only because Dee inspired me too. Anyway, XJ was a little pissed that we went to...MACARON for dinner since she doesn't really like desserts (although I must congratulate myself on having piqued her interest in meringues and macarons).

Jessie dear wasn't in today so didn't get to see her which is a pity seeing that she's flying off soon and I really really want to hang out with her as much as possible until she flies off.

Back to the food. This is going to be a cuisine-centric post but I promise it'll follow with more. While we were talking, I was making notes of the food we ate so here:

Service and Decor. Getting a table at Macaron is relatively easy although they don't open on Mondays. The service is generally good but naturally expected of such an establishment though given the fact that this is a Les Amis restaurant we are talking about, this should be something of a miracle. Waiters clad in black, strange accent, rather informative about their food but not too polite. They are quite efficient though since glasses are always filled and plates always cleared. I only have two bones to pick, one of which was the abrupt break in the meal halfway through but I think that was more the fault of the chefs (more on this later) than them, the other was the fact that they tried to clear my plate before I'd finished my food but that was probably because I was the only one who ordered six courses so they had to syncrhonise the meal. Decor wise, the place is rather small, enough for 30 people I would think. It's an open kitchen concept but the kitchen is receded into the background so it doesn't really do much except if you confidence that the food IS on its way. The black on black theme was nice and not too pretentious but what really stood out were the plates. The dinner service were something to look at with porcelain plates patterned on a sine curve and square aluminium platters with but a side slit to form a handle. The utensils were adequate, the spoon very nice and of the right weight.

First course. Before I go on, let me give the restaurant ten points for providing fleur de sel with their bread but then let me take those points away because they provided unsalted butter with their bread. I had a pan con tomate. It was rather good and one of the more successful executions. Deceptively simple and fresh, the bread had a piquant note that never failed to surprise. The olive oil was sound and the omnipresent fleur de sel made the overall experience so very intense. The tomatoes were very fresh and made for a nice end note counterpart to the bread.

Second course. The foie gras parfait I had was good but not astounding. Firstly, I must say that the orange brioche they served the foie gras with was really good. While I liked the fact that the foie gras taste more like foie gras than foie gras, the absence of the caramelized fat experience made me quite ambivalent to the whole thing. Evidently, molecular gastronomy is not for everybody and while it was interesting to savour the deconstructed foie gras, it did not enrapture me the way it should since I am an ardent admirer of foie gras.

Third course. I tasted both the virgin mary sorbet and the poached vanilla pear. The virgin mary sorbet should be applauded for it was rather competent. I liked the slight bite the tomato sorbet had in it although the rosemary foam was altogether too sweet. The candied rosemary garnish was quite delightful nevertheless. Compared to this, the poached vanilla pear fared much better. The combination of milk chocolate ganache and vanilla chiboust made for pure comfort food although the pears could have been poached a tad longer. Again, this never made it to the spectacular because the pear had lost its own note yet took on nothing of the vanilla or the chocolate. The dessicated pear slice was amusing however.

Dessert. The highlight of the meal. Cream cheese sorbet and pain perdu. The cream cheese sorbet was very good given that it was light yet substantial enough and retained a consistency somewhere between beaten cream cheese and a full blown ice cream. It kept its integrity well enough and was enriched by the almond nougatine. The apricot confit was however, irrelevant and did nothing to the flavour for it was too sweet. The pain perdu, now, that was something to write home about. While the cinnamon ice cream it was served with was mediocre, the vanilla cream was outstanding. It was thick, bursting with vanilla and melted in the mouth without leaving an aftertaste. It went very well with the pain perdu which was flavourful, made of very fresh brioche and worthy of its reputation.

Petit four. The vanilla jelly was very bad, insipid and not at all tasting of vanilla. The chocolate raspberry was interesting but what saved the ending of the meal was the white truffle macaron although in trying to avoid being an imitation of Pierre Herme' white truffle macaron with hazelnut, the absence of hazelnuts made it but a shadow of what it could have been.

To wit, Macaron shows promise as a dessert restaurant and is an admirable example of what a chef can do when he marries the principles of Adria and Herme. Yet this is the brainchild of the same man who made Cannele a success and who is certainly no newcomer to the restaurant scene. His absence at the point of service was noted and probably explains why the food was good but never really took off. Furthermore, in trying to make his food conceptually sublimal, Macaron risks sabotaging its mains on which its justification as a dessert restaurant and not just another salon de the hinges on.

On a similar note, Cannele will be having a Macaron Festival next month and that is certainly something to look forward to. I personally promise to buy a dozen white truffle macarons and wolf them down on the spot if M. Pang would oblige all of us by putting it on the menu at Cannele.

Next stop, Au Petit Salut.

C'est tout.