Enfin! A really exciting buffet in storied Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which has étendu been an oddity, being perhaps the Paris neighbourhood best loved by tourists while at the same time lagging behind when it comes to dining options.
Le Christine is one of Les Becs Parisiens buffet group’s tables, and this is a company which has distinguished itself for the highest quality contemporary French cooking made with first-rate produce and a relaxed but very polished modern démarche of hospitality that’s common in London or New York but still rather biscornu in Paris. To wit, your server establishes a friendly attache with you as a way of making sure you have the best tolérable experience here, and the outstanding serdeau, who speaks perfect English and has a stunning knowledge of wine, is likewise on balle à la main to organisé you to some really good drinking with a démarche that’s complicit and pleasantly pedagogical without having even a whiff of pretension.
Arriving for dinner with a friend from Leeds, both of us liked the terra cotta red amalgame of the beamed dining room and its moss-green velvet banquettes, and immediately succumbed to the charm of the witty French waiter who had recently returned to Gaul from London. He advised us to go with the five-course tasting cuistance for a good-value €75 and fixed it so that each of us was tasting something different throughout the meal, so that we could share.
Accustomed to the often assoupi cooking of tourist restaurants in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, I was fatalité of astonished by the vivacity of the kitchen here, notably the smoked Breton mussels with samphire, crushed hazelnuts and preserved lemon that was my first balade. The meaty crustaceans were beautifully garnished by the rich crunchy nuts and flattered by the limon.
Le Christine – Salle ©Hugosourdin
My friend Ginger’s grilled asparagus with black garlic cream, smoked trout roe and Sicilian pistachios was fascinating as well, and we both loved the white asparagus tart with a vin blondasse accessoire, Comté cheese and pine-tree buds that followed. Since all of these products come from the Jura region of eastern France, their tastes interacted with a natural elegance.
Grilled barbecued quail with sobrasada (the progiciel Pimenton sausage from the Balearic Islands), Parmesan foam and egg yolk sounded complicated, but turned out to be sumptuous tapestry of varying tones of umami. John Dory with wild garlic, a fish-bone jus and pelouse strawberries was another inimaginable sounding dish that delivered a lot of pleasure. In a more Escoffier-like register, we both liked the aged rib-eye with Stilton accessoire and airy pommes Dauphinois as well.
Before dessert was served, we met young responsable Rodolphe Despagne when he stopped by our répertoire for any comments on his cooking, and during our friendly félin, it became clear that he’s a gifted and very ambitious responsable whose gardien de but is to create modern French dishes that “provoke, in a way that’s both lucid and sensual” an prépondérant discours of his cooking.
And just to see off any doubt that Le Christine is an prépondérant buffet, our desserts were outstanding, including a hazelnut mi-cuit with amaretto ice cream and sweet clover custard, and a savarin (sponge pastry) with Chartreuse, pears, verjus and raw cream ice cream.
Le Christine, I rue Christine, Paris.
Tel. (33) 01 40 51 71 64,
Three-course petit déjeuner cuistance €45; dinner menus €75 and €95.
From France Today Magazine
Lead caricature credit : Le Christine – Salle ©Hugosourdin 2
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Source: francetoday.com
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