Septime
promised a lot. Chef / proprietor Bertrand
Grébaut learned his craft under the tutelage of the mighty Alain Passard at
L’Arpege. In 2008 Passard put his trust in the young protégé and offered him
the head chef position in his new l'Agapé restaurant. Passard’s faith in the
young talent was justified when in the first year of l'Agapé’s opening, at the
age of 27, Grébaut went on to become the youngest French chef to win a Michelin
star.
A couple of years later, he left to
go travelling and broaden his culinary education before returning to Paris upon
receiving an Evain-Badoit grant, to open Septime (named after Monsieur Septime,
the main character from cult comedy ‘Le Grand Restaurant’) with his old school
friend Théo Pourrait, heading up the front of house.
Having first been made aware of the
restaurant through a tweet by James Lowe from the Young Turks, who called it
‘fabulous’, of all the places earmarked for our recent Gallic gourmet trip,
Septime was the one that I was looking forward to the most. This was
reconfirmed after speaking to chef Ryan Clift from The Tippling Club in
Singapore who was full of praise for Bertrand Grébaut after working alongside
him the previous month as part of ‘L'Omnivore Tour’.
Sadly though, based on our lunchtime
experience, it did not quite live up to expectations. Part of the problem was
to do with our perceived ‘value for money’ – we selected the ‘reasonably
priced’ (by Paris standards) €55 carte blanche menu, which included ‘5 étapes’
– two ‘entrées’, two ‘plat principals’ and dessert.
In a vain attempt not to be pigeon
holed (which always sounds painful) I like to insist that I do not write
‘reviews’ but instead ‘share my experiences’ - one way of trying to maintain
this means that I do not use any arbitrary rating system and just like to say
it as I see it.
In a similar vein, not wanting to
become a ‘Compare the Meerkat’ for Michelin starred restaurants, nor do I
generally put prices on my posts (there have been exceptions) – I do, or rather
do not do, this for a number of reasons. I was raised to think that putting a
price on everything and talking about money is crass; there is also the old
adage, attributed to financial magnate, J.P. Morgan - "If you have to ask
the price, you can't afford it." Although, this was supposedly said in
response to an enquiry about the cost of maintaining a yacht… not a meal.
On the other had however, I also
understand that in ‘today’s financial climate’ people are looking for value for
money and food blogs are one way to check out how much bang you can expect for
your buck.
On paper the ‘carte blanche’ looked
good value, in reality though I’d recommend going for the three courses at €26
for ‘Entrée, Plat, Dessert’. The people on the table next to us had the
three-course menu and this looked a much better option – a hearty sized
asparagus starter and a generous portion of ‘canard’ (duck) that made our main
seem miserly in comparison (you could even go twice for just €52 and end up
having eaten an extra dessert for €3 less!)
At the majority of reputable
restaurants, ‘carte blanche’ menus will typically offer dishes that are that
little bit more ‘special’ (perhaps premium ingredients or more substantial
portions) than the set lunches. However, four of our five courses were taken
directly from the set lunch options. This did not sit well as it seemed as
though we were being charged extra to end up with the same as diners who had
opted for the cheaper option – which, in turn just came across as “cheap” from
the restaurant.
We started with a delightful lamb
sweetbread dish ‘Ris d'agneau’ with a soft goat’s cheese from Normandy, ash,
charred ‘poireau’ (leek) and fabulous pickled radishes – it’s a while since
I’ve has sweetbreads, a great ingredient when respectfully prepared (as these
were) it would be great to see them on more menus back in the UK.
The ‘country style’ sourdough bread,
served in a waxed paper postage bag was delicious.
When the next dish ‘Oeuf de poule,
bouillon de champignons’ was presented, I was really quite excited as I love
eggs and mushrooms (that I think the waiter described as ‘pied bleu’) and I
have enjoyed similar dishes in the past – but the (what I think was) a ‘hay
infused’ broth did not deliver the deep earthy flavour that I expected.
The fish course, featuring a
flavoursome ‘aburi sahsimi’ style piece of ‘Bonito de St Jean’ (a small
relative of tuna), ‘bette à cardes’ (swiss chard), charred broccoli and Italian
black rice ‘riz vénéré’ cooked in a seafood broth was another dish that, on
paper, excites me but in reality left me underwhelmed.
The meat course, featuring more lamb
with a herby dice of capers and almond with carrot, endive and an anchovy paste
– the Passard pedigree came through in the vegetables which were exquisite.
For dessert, I selected the ‘fromage
affiné’ that featured a goat’s cheese and an excellent Camembert (not typically
a favourite of mine.)
My wife went for the ‘Pomme crumble,
glace au foin’ – a puréed apple, crumble and modish hay ice cream. This dish
was tasty enough but not especially inspiring from a chef with Bertrand
Grébaut’s credentials.
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