Last March 21, French food was cooked by 3,000 chefs in 3,000 restaurants in five continents. The event is known as Gout de France, or “Good France”—the country represented by its food.
Now on its third year, the program is a project of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chef Alain Ducasse to celebrate French cuisine. It was inspired by another event in 1912, when the legendary chef Auguste Escoffier organized an “Epicurean Dinner,” which served the same menu on the same day in several cities.
There were 18 restaurants in the Philippines that participated this year. Days before the main event, the chefs were introduced by French Ambassador Nicholas Galey at Enderun Colleges. The chefs presented a sample of their menu, and lunch was served at the college’s Restaurant 101.
Because Gout de France is international, chefs are encouraged to use local ingredients. However, they must follow the sequence of traditional French cooking—aperitif, one or two main courses, cheese platter and dessert.
An important element this year was to have a course, or even a whole menu, that would pay tribute to the iconic French chef, Paul Bocuse, who passed away recently.
While most of the participating restaurants were in Metro Manila, there were some outside the metro, like the dinner to which I was invited, set at Samira in the Tagaytay resort of Anya.
Hidden away from the main Tagaytay City, Anya sits amid pineapple farms, a quiet retreat with first-class amenities; it’s regarded as one of three small luxury hotels in the country.
Substantial bar
Like many guests in the 18 participating restaurants, we assembled at the right time to savor executive chef Jonathan Bouthiaux’s set menu.
Aperitif number one was foie gras terrine, quite a substantial bar with roasted pear onion chutney and homemade brioche. Nothing speaks of perfect French food than foie gras, and having it at the beginning was a sign of delicious things to come.
Number two aperitif involved three big pieces of scallops topped with caviar with beetroot foam, which added flavor and color to the presentation. Asparagus added a bit of crunch. The whole dish was enhanced by a Brittany sauce, a beurre blanc or a mixture of emulsified butter with vinegar and white wine.
The main course brought me back to the first French restaurant I ate at. That was Nora Daza’s Au Bon Vivant, where the duck à la orange was memorable. Bouthiaux’s duck breast was cooked in the modern sous vide technique (vacuum-sealed and slow-cooked). And, yes, there were orange slices to reinforce that orange flavor.
The cheese course was in a trolley, the selection arranged between sauces, nuts, figs. The bleu cheese is still my favorite.
The chef’s tribute to Paul Bocuse was the late chef’s recipe of apple tart tatin, though not exactly like it. It was a smaller version, but all the elements were present—apple tart, pastry and caramel plus vanilla ice cream.
But what is French food without French wine? The scallops came with a Baron Philippe de Rotshschild Cadet d’Oc Merlot 2015, light country wine, the duck with a heftier Chateau la Plaige, Bordeaux Superieur, 2014.
Tagaytay visitors will be glad to know that Samira Restaurant is open to everyone who wants to taste executive chef Jonathan Bouthiaux’s cooking. His work experience includes two stints in upscale hotels and resorts in Dubai.
La Mere Poulard 1888
That was just one French connection. The other was La Mere Poulard 1888—specifically its Manila branch at SM Aura Premier, which opened early this year. The resto took part as well in Gout de France, and I asked chef Clement Damotte at Enderun if he was presenting the puffy omelet the restaurant is famous for. He said they were not allowed to cook in the place.
The light omelet is part of the event’s menu and is available daily. We watched how it was done on that opening day; beating the eggs seemed so easy to do, but no matter how we tried the technique, the result was hardly up to par. The resto’s omelet comes as plain, but it is heftier with caramelized apple or with bacon and potato.
The original La Mere Poulard 1888 is at Mont St. Michel, where a monastery dominates the island. The numbers in the name stand for the year of its founding—first as an inn where Annette Poulard cooked for the pilgrims. There are now two branches in Japan.
E-mail the author at pinoyfood04@yahoo.com