It's always good to be back at Girandole, up on the 41st floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel. And it's even better when there's a top chef guesting in the kitchen.
For the next few days, the man in charge in the kitchen is Guillaume Iskander, whose restaurant — well, actually it's sommelier Guillaume Muller's place — is one of the most talked-about in Paris. The two Guillaumes are both alums of L'Arpege, so that sets the bar at quite a height from the get-go.
Iskander was also in the kitchen at Septime, one of the places we made a point of eating at when we were last in Paris (in 2012). So all in all, we were looking forward to last night a lot. And we weren't disappointed.
The meal starts with bubbly (the house special, Roederer) and some nibbles: a rich parmesan brioche (right); and squid-ink crackers…
There are two menus to choose from: one with a meat main dish (called "Boucheres"); the other with fish ("Charmes"). Both are ¥8,000 for three courses. We ordered one of each, so we could try as many different dishes as possible.
The Bouchere menu opened with seafood: a creamy "pasta" of tender squid ribbons, liberally spiced up with parmesan and black pepper. Sprinkled over the top were some tiny chips – deep-fried onion and/or shallots, we guessed – giving added extra texture.
Beautiful, intricate and very good — like the entire meal in fact.
On the other hand, the first course of the seafood menu was meatier: green asparagus with a salad of ris de veau (sweetbreads). Again, plenty of piquancy, thanks to that dab of preserved-lemon sauce.
Before we moved on to the next act, we were introduced to the principal players: first the fish, a giant hirame (turbot) from the waters around the Goto Islands (to the west of Nagasaki)…
And then the star of the Boucheres menu, a whole roast suckling pig:
On the plate the fish came with a beautiful yellow sauce enlivened with lemongrass, passionfruit and cumin…
The pork was even better, tender and moist, served with plenty of vegetables and a sauce of artichoke and watercress. With some excellent crackling on top…
Then on to dessert. For him, caramelised pineapple with fennel puree and cardamom crackers…
And for her, a delicate mousse-like cheesecake – a Garance specialty – with summer berries…
And, to round off the dinner, a couple of rather nice dessert wines:
So, big thanks to Chef Guillaume…
And to Sommelier Guillaume…
Definitely time to put Paris – and Garance – on the itinerary again for my next trip to Europe. But for the time being, I'm just glad that chefs like Iskander are being brought over here for us to discover.
More about this "Taste of Paris" event on the Park Hyatt Tokyo website here…
And more about the restaurant here…
