Les Gourmandises

Les Gourmandises 

Delighted with my most recent visit to Les Gourmandises . Fine French Dining is printed on their card and it is no empty motto. They live up to it. Making your way through the courses here is an exercise in delicacy.

If you find yourself in
the Cook Street establishment (lucky you!), then start with their Tasting Plate. It figures on both their menus. On Friday night, we got an eye popping plateful (on their well known slate) which consisted of Prawns in Filo Pastry, Rabbit Terrine and Artichoke Soup. Gorgeous and quite substantial.

The other starter at the table was Rillette of Castletownbere crab, the slate also containing some poached pear & mustard grain. The container looked quite small but the ever so tasty crab was packed tightly and there was more than enough for the two pieces of delicious toast and so I brought their excellent crunchy brown bread into play.

I’ve had a lot of Confit de Canard, both here and in France over the past 12 months, and the one served up on the Gourmandises slate was one of the best, if not the very best. Billed as Roast duck leg confit with confit potato, Blackberries and Red Cabbage, it was superb, cooked to perfection. Would have liked a touch more “moisture”, by way of sauce or vegetable, but was well satisfied with it.

Dessert was an Orange panacotta with Almond mandolin and Citrus Fruits. All three elements were served separately on the plate. The sweet panacotta, the tarty fruits (orange and red grapefruit) and the more neutral mandolin made for a smashing well balanced dessert.

My desert wine (from a choice of five) came from Jurancon in the south-west of France. The Symphonie de Novembre Domaine de Cauhape (7.95 per glass) is 100% Petit Manseng which has spent ten months in oak. Honey, orange and quince in the bouquet, it is fresh and creamy on the palate, not as long in the finish as the likes of Tokaji but a really lovely sweet wine.

Also very happy with the red wine that we had at the earlier courses: Cabardes, Chateau de Jouclary (6.85). This was a really well balanced mix of Merlot and Shiraz, nice and rounded with smooth moderate spices, generous fruits with tannins enough to match.

By the way there is quite an extensive list of wines here, a minority of which come in at under €30.00, but a minority that you could sample without any great hardship.

Les Gourmandises operates in a nice bright room with comfortable chairs and furniture, decent space between the tables. Overall, the food is top notch, inventive and superbly presented. It is a place to put on your short list. Value is excellent.

Our bill (three courses and three glasses of wine) came to a few cent over €80.00, a figure you could easily spend on rather routine dishes elsewhere. Say 7 for starter and dessert and 19 for starter, then add in your drinks and you’d be close to the 80 (for two).