One great strategy when traveling in search of gourmet temples of haute cuisine is to look for the prix-fixe lunch. Chef-driven high-end food is never cheap. However, if you want a gastronomic treat of Michelin quality at a discount, lunch is your friend.
I’ve been reading about Anne-Sophie Pic, one of the world’s greatest female chefs for years, but never managed to make it to her flagship restaurant, Maison Pic, in southeast France. So when I knew I was coming to London, where she's opened a new restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel, I jumped at the chance to book lunch.
In big cities, like New York or London, it helps that walking is the order of the day. Even with the tube, I’m clocking many more steps on my Fitbit than my normally-too-sedentary life in Florida. I find the hotel with no problem, cross the beautiful lobby, and am whisked to my seat in the pristine, elegant room that is La Dame de Pic.
Lunch offers two or three courses, each with three selections. This being a French restaurant, there’s also an amuse-bouche and stellar bread service, plus an army of servers. By Michelin standards, the servers are casual. The maître d’ may look like a model in an Armani suit, but the servers have a preppy vibe — baby blue button-down shirts with navy slacks, pink sneakers and a tawny brown apron.
They work as a team buzzing around the table. First comes a beautiful bowl of dark stones and a large inverted shell with a legged, bright green sea creature made from plankton and crispy rice, dotted with a few tiny purple flowers on top. This amuse-bouche is to accompany a small cup poured tableside from a clear teapot filed with cabbage consommé fragrant with citrusy bergamot. It is light, surprising and delightfully sets the tone for the wonders to come.
Course one is a bowl of foie gras crème brûlée with beautifully placed garnishes: tiny, thin circles of radish and green apple, with a few piped dots of apple gelee, alongside toasted hazelnuts and golden raisins. These juxtaposed textures and flavors are sublime. The dish is creamy, crunchy, sweet and totally winning. There’s also a thick slice of buttery toasted brioche on which to spread the divine custard. Wow.
Thanks to the Coravin, which I first encountered at SoHo’s Haven, I’m able to have a glass of Bordeaux from Pomerol poured from magnum to accompany my entree of roasted Welsh organic lamb saddle with chamomile. Mini raviolini stuffed with smoked potato, as well as some dollops of tart goat’s yogurt, balance out the lamb perfectly. My wine is fragrant, fruity and has the right soft tannic edge to cut the lushness of the meat. It’s another beautifully conceived and executed dish.
Even so, I’m not prepared for the dessert that follows — simply listed as the White Millefeuille. I’m expecting 1,000 pastry layers as the French implies. Instead, the server gracefully places a round white plate with a white cube in the middle flanked by airy dots of white froth at every corner (I’m reminded of IKEA). The top is firm and must be pierced with a fork to reach the coating of transporting cream, which bursts with fragrant Tahitian vanilla bean. Ah, but underneath! A few pokes reveal scrumptious layers of the crispest pastry alternating with a thin spread of sweet jasmine jelly. The taste and texture are as disarming as the surprise. The foam is voatsiperifery pepper, so airy as to make modernist wizard Ferran Adrià proud. It’s a signature from chef Pic, and I can see why — I am totally seduced.
And just so you don’t feel the slightest bit deprived, there’s a plate of light, crisp, sugary cookies to send you on your way with the happiest of smiles. C’est magnifique.
Editor's note: Postcards is an ongoing series in which CL's food critic shares his culinary adventures outside Tampa Bay.
