Chocolate mousse souffle and home-made vanilla ice cream
By Annie Wei
Le Pre Lenotre is another option for diners out there who crave French fine dining. A sister restaurant of Paris’ highly regarded Le Pre Catelan, Le Pre Lenotre has gained a repuation for its sumptuous food, genuine Parisian baguettes and attentive service.
For an appetizer, try the salmon marinated with beetroots and ginger, blinis with lime cream (108 yuan); foie gras medium-cooked in a terrine, “apple pear” chutney with ginger and bitter cocoa, brioche bread and mendicants (138 yuan); or lobster poached in fish consomme with crispy Roman salad, quail egg and black olive tapenade and tomato sherbet (268 yua.
The restaurant’s business set menu (488 yuan), which features four dishes and dessert, is highly recommended. The countryside pigeon casserole, bed of craterellus mushrooms and mashed potato created by new chef Yannck Ehrsam is superb. The pigeon casserole is juicy and beautifully garnished with dry mushrooms. The sauce lends a strong and briny taste to the mashed potato, balancing its light and smooth flavor.
The dessert of chocolate mousse souffle and home-made vanilla ice cream is sumptuous. The warm, strong chocolate-flavored mousse goes very well with the smooth ice cream.
In French fine dining, the chef needs a proper introduction. Ehrsam, a French national, began his career at Restaurant Laurent in Paris when he was 20. Since 2003, he has been associated with various Michelin-star restaurants. From 2004 to 2005, he worked with Michelin-star chef Marc Veyra at La Ferme de Mon Pére restaurant. Later, while at Le Bateau Ivre, a two Michelin-star restaurant, Ehrsam was promoted to Sous Chef de Cuisine.As for wine, Le Per Lenotre has its own cellar. For dishes such as escargot with vegetables and lightly truffled cream, roasted scallops on a bed of celery puree, or cep mushrooms fricassee and creamy onion, the restaurant staff suggests getting a 2001 Clos Triguedina (600 yuan per bottle), 2004 St. Joseph (430 yuan per bottle) or 1998 red Maury at 110 yuan per glass.
