A Kitchen of two halves.....

 

We came with huge expectations ... Bulle d'Osier ranks very highly and is only one of 528 restaurants in the world with 2 Michelin stars.  

The reviews were amazing (apart from a couple which I did not notice, strange for me) ... anyway.

On the day we had booked for the chefs table.  We were seated in what seemed like a corridor by the toilets and on stools.  I was looking into the actual restaurant with waning.  I asked if they were full.  They were but then they called a couple who were already booked into the restaurant and had waitlisted the chefs table so we swapped.  Whew because it was not the chefs table I expected or would have enjoyed for one moment (honestly).  Especially when this ended out to be a 3hr 45min experience (and we weren't rushing it, no coffee etc).  Give me a comfortable chair and table anyday!!!

We only got the actual printed menu at the end when closing the bill.

It would have been nice to have it sitting beside us as we have for eg El Cellar de can Rocca in Girona, Spain.  So we can see the explanations on the menu whilst eating.  

The shallot soup was amazing, and I mean AMAZING.  We both agreed on that.  In fact we both agreed on all of the comments below. It had been fermented at 70 degrees for 40 days. The flavour was rich with umami, bitter, sweet salty.  

The endive dessert a complete knockout.  So sweet salty bitter umami.  One of the best desserts I've ever had only second to de can rocca's olive liquorice vanilla number.  The raspberry sorbet was incredible with it's fresh acidity. A true raspberry overload in the most amazing of ways.  The first amuse bouche was good, fresh, textural and delivering what an amuse bouche should deliver.  

The rest was not great.  There was a raw fish dish that seriously tasted warm and fishy.  I love raw fish.  But warm with a fishy flavour and the fermented strawberry sauce was quite frankly yuk.  

OK soldier on Nat.....  the Zander that was fermented for 10 days.... was completely unseasoned.  The sauce lovely but with the unseasoned fish (with a sort of slimy skin) .... I don't know but it just didn't quite work.  I was trying to love everything at this point, paying so much money.

The venison coarse.  The star of the show (they brought around the venison leg to show everyone & it looked amazing).  When served it was tough, completely under seasoned and the sauce in my opinion a complete disaster.  It was acrid.  That bitter taste like it had been caught on the base of the pan and they'd tried to rectify it.

As above the endive dessert amazing.  It was a pastry with vanilla cream and fermented endive, salty sweet bitter, unreal.  But the mirabelle tart unbearably sweet.  The madelaines were also soooo sweet.  The melon "first from the garden" was underripe and unnecessary.  

We came away annoyed.  This seems like a chef driven restaurant rather than a customer driven restaurant.  For example on arrival they said the menu is a "surprise" menu even though everyone had the same thing and the same printed card.  

It gets very good reviews but how it has 2 Michelin stars is completely beyond me.  I think the chef needs to take a step back.  If Michelin were to review it on the day we were there .... who knows.  What I do know is that our palates are good enough.  I emailed the restaurant in detail to say about our concerns and our upset stomachs.  They came back with a very generic reply offering an aperitif next time.  I wasn't after a free-be just an acknowledgement.  So I reviewed them.  Not harshly but honestly.  

Photos below out of order ....

Good sourdough bread

Shallot soup Amazing

Venison dish, not great at all

Mirabelle tart. The sweetest thing we've ever eaten

Raspberry sorbet - incredible

Zander, bland fish with a beautiful sauce and slimy skin

Raw river trout with salted strawberry.  DISGUSTING!!!!!!

Whipped Langres cheese.  Lovely.  

Peach and basil cocktail.  Refreshing and light

I wasn't sold on the fennel butter, it tasted a bit acrid and bitter.  Give me some amazing Normandy or Brittany butter anyday

Shiso with something..... tasteless

Great brioche, shame about the butter

Yum, this first amuse bouche was a good one

A lot of pomp and stuff about the venison main but it was a complete disaster IMHO

So all in all, we will not return and it saddens me.  To have a 2 starred Michelin restaurant within one hour drive of Signeville was super exciting despite the hefty price (we spent 460 with a 100 bottle of wine).  If it was amazing we would have returned without a doubt so maybe they did us a favour and saved us some euros!  

  

Bulgarian Cabbage

The best cabbage ever!!!!

 We will remember this dish forever. 

We were on a ski trip in Bulgaria.  We took a day out to explore the region.  We ended out almost on the Greek border and it was time for lunch.  It's so unusual for me not to have preplanned anything.  Bur it was cold, we were hungry and we went to the most unassuming restaurant.  On the menu was one dish. 

Cabbage.  We like cabbage so we said, yes!!  It came in a huge hot cauldron, bubbling away, fierce as anything, thick with olive oil and some pork on top.  Honestly we don't remember the meat.  We just remember the cabbage, so beautifully seasoned.  As it turns out it is a very quintessential Bulgarian winter dish.  Yum yum yum.  It's called Sach.

It is brought to the table absolutely sizzlingly hot, crackling with heat.  I don't think it cost more than 5 euro for the 2 of us and a meal we will never forget.

Time in New Zealand

 I have just returned from the most amazing trip to New Zealand.  I jumped into bed with Joey every morning while dad made us a cuppa.  It was just the most unreal 2.5 weeks.  

Coming back via Hong Kong was so so strange.  It felt really wierd having not transitted the airport for many many years and having such a gorgeous experience in NZ everything just feels so odd, being thrown from one huge airport to another (my favouite airports to date are KL and Istanbul).

I just had a beautiful and fully enriching trip, spending time with family.  I can't explain it.  It was unforgettable.  

Joey's amazing lamb casserole

Lovely dinners and memories

Having lunch at "the batch"

Lilly, she's a complete delight and is the centre of attention

Juanita and Mark have an average beach house which we knock around in from time to time, it's a bummer going to the batch!

Look at that couple, married 60 years in October

Dad's AMAZING cheese banana toasties.  Caramalised to perfecection

Croissants from Beabeas in Westmere, better than most in France

What a stunning couple

My gorgeous sister

Joey always looking photo ready and gorgeous

Dad's famous (in our family) burger.  Nothing comes close!!!

Slow cooked char siu pork

 One of my absolute favour flavour profiles.  Chinese BBQ pork with star anise, char siu blend, chinese five spice.  I adore it and have done since I was a kid.  We cooked beautiful pork fillet very long and slow over charcoal, sage and lavender to give a beautiful smoke.  Cooked to 57 then fully rested.  Absolutely amazing.  And once again under the tree our front.  Stunning.  

We also did the same with a pork collar.  With it's amazing fat cap that cooks and melts to taste like the best pork fat you've ever eaten.  

Pork colar, cooked long and slow with amazing melting fat

Lunch out the front under the tree

When I was in NZ Andy made a concrete slab for our dinners outside in the summer, when there is a lovely breeze on the north side of the house overlooking the valley.  It's been amazing.  Once the crazy 40 degrees days cooled down we've been eating out the front every night.  The tree is like an umbrella now.  Completely private from our (one) neighbour. The slab has transformed this area for us.

We had lunch today: rabbit terrine,  boursault cheese (a triple cream cheese and absolutely one of our favourites), lambs lettuce (marche) with roasted tomato dressing which I like to make.  Sourdough, fresh pear and a lovely Gewurtztraminer from the Alsace.  A lovely afternoon under the tree.  A real treat.  

A little pear, salad with that wonderful dressing and rabbit terrine is a beautiful mouthful.  Then a little crusty sourdough with that amazing boursault cheese is another gorgeous mouthful.  I live dipping and diving into a wee treat or two.  It's a wonderful way to spend an afternoon in the French countryside.  Oh! and midway the cat came to visit after waking from a huge sleep.