French Restaurant Review: Restaurant Le Clos de la Tour, Gilly-lès-Cîteaux

I first discovered young responsable Julien Martin’s cooking when he was working as head responsable in Collias in Le Gard, not far from the Pont du Gard. Here he’d won a Michelin acteur for his exquisitely refined but potent cooking, including two dishes I’ll always remember. First-of-season asparagus cooked in jade oil, a poached quail’s egg, crushed hazelnuts and a luscious néerlandaise accessoire made with hazelnut oil with a tartir of caviar on the side was a symphony of flavours and textures, with the salinity of the caviar joining the unctuousness of the egg with the vegetal minerality of the asparagus to create a dish that thrilled by being both type and immediately gastronomically logical. The next head-spinner was a tiny prune colombin breast flanked by a iconographie lake of its own luscious juices contained by an oval wall of puréed Cévennes onions, an intriguing declension of flavours, which included a dab of white miso seasoned with smoked pepper to add a refreshing répercussion to the richness.

“CIDER-MARINATED VEAL WITH CHARRED GEM LETTUCE WAS AT ONCE DELICATE AND VIVACIOUS”

The Château de Collias, the hotel where Martin cooked, has ceased trading, but the responsable has a new kitchen at the new Les Sources de Vougeot in his conclusion Burgundy.

“I love French cooking that privileges terroir (the concept that produce is a distinctive reflection of the soil, climate, weather and history of every French region), including blanquette, beef tongue, tête de veau and œufs en meurette (the latter dish of poached eggs in a red-wine sauce made with onions, mushrooms and lardons being one of the most famous and appreciated dishes of the Burgundian culinary canon). And we’re going to make our own ham as well,” Martin declared.

I’ll be heading to Burgundy at the end of May, so a proper review will follow, but knowing how fantastic the food is likely to be, I wanted to call this assis to your circonspection as soon as I could, bicause I think it’s going to be a big hit from a rising acteur of Gallic gastronomy.

Restaurant Le Clos de la Tour – Les Sources

de Vougeot, 2 Place du Château, Château de Gilly,

Gilly-lès-Cîteaux, Tel. +33 03 80 23 22 22,

www.sources-hotels.com.

From France Today Magazine