France trip, Nov 2007 - Snubbing the Michelin guide

Paris is supposed to be the foodie capital of the world. It has the most number of three Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. However, we has decided to stick with good quality non Michelin-starred restaurants this time.

We had a shortlist of the restaurants after 'extensive' research. But the research stops there. There are no notes to make, and no menu-deciphering to do. I was surprised with the simplicity of the menus. There were no long incomprehensible title for each dish, and we just ordered whatever looks good. It was the beginning of winter and foie gras and game was available almost everywhere. What a great time to be in France!

Scallops with a light vegetable sauce. The 'juice' is very sweet and the scallops were great.

Beef. A must-have in France. They know what we mean when we say 'bleu'!

Ordinary-looking mash potato, but it was especially good! Rich, creamy, not-to-starchy and aromatic! And they did it without adding any truffles!

Soup. I forget what it was....

These 'spring-roll's have shellfish in them. The sauce was very tasty and the crunchy pastry goes really well with the fleshy shellfish. It was so good that I almost ordered another one on the spot.

Mushrooms. It was pricey but I didn't expect the dish to be this big! They use good quality butter and garlic to cook these little fungi and it was very very satisfying. The smell was great too. I finished the whole thing by myself. The people from the next table saw what I had and copied my orders! hahaha.

SP's dish. Pigeon legs

My main. Duck confit. These are the crispiest confit that I've had. It is surely very fattening, but it was too good.

Pigeon breast.

Dessert - Grand Marnier soufflé! One of the signature dish at Chez Dumonet.

Close up of the Grand Marnier soufflé.

Oeuf Cocotte au Foie Gras. Great with toast.

Tasty onion soup.

Beef steak again.

Classic beef tartare. This one is a little plainer than the one I had in Provence. Still good.

Best to wash down the raw meat with some French wine! :)

This was the start of our battle for foie gras.... two thick slices weren't enough, and we had to order more! These foie gras were very fresh and taste nothing like the canned ones. The standard has risen yet again!

Foie gras with toast. Yummmmm.

Coq au vin.

Serving myself!

SP had steak AGAIN! This time, it's veal.

We bought a half-bottle of Château Desmirail, which is part of Les Grands Crus classés en 1855 (Troisièmes Crus/ 3rd growth), and had it with some fresh bread and a jar of foie gras. The wine was very good and so was the foie gras.