10. Restaurant Carre des Feuillants

It was our 15th wedding anniversary on Wednesday so we celebrated that day, as well as our first trip to Paris for our honeymoon fifteen years ago, with a visit to Alain du Tournier's restaurant, Carre des Feuillants. (Link below.)  We had planned to go to the Eiffel Tower but the weather was still cold and overcast.  So lunch it was.

The restaurant is situated very close to the Louvre and the Tuillerie gardens.  The name, Carre des Feuillants, means "the square of the political group that supported the king in the revolution" and yet the building in which the restauraunt is located is an old Jacobin monastery - the Jacobins being the political group that opposed the king in the revolution.  I think that's what you call "an interesting juxtaposition".

We went for lunch and had the Temptation Menu.  This is Michelin 2 star so the presentation and service is impeccable.

The appetiser was a wafer of gooseliver paté and capsicum purée.  For me, who is no great fan of paté, the terrine was lovely but the foam in the bowl was stunning. I don't know what it was although it tasted familiar .... I just know it was delicious.

Next came entrée.  Paul had shaved and pan- calamari in a basket of squid-ink cracker set on a square of caponata.  Very Italian flavours and he loved it.

My entrée was salmon.  Crusted and seared to just warm, in the middle.  In an eggplant terrine on the right, and the piece-de-resistance, a quenelle of finely diced salmon, smoked salmon, goats cheese and celeriac on the left.

I don't know what happened to the main course.  I obviously forgot to photograph it, probably because I was a bit overwhelmed by the large number of waiters constantly hovering, and a bit non-plussed by the art work on the walls to gawp at and my fascination with the elderly American couple at the table opposite who had almost perfect French and who were planning "to take a book to the river" tomorrow.

I was so distracted that not only did I forget to sneak a photo of our mains (we both had scallops) but I'd started demolishing my desert before I remembered the camera.

On the right is a quenelle of frozen white chocolate mousse - not at all sweet, beautifully subtle.  On the left a complex and very rich milk chocolate and hazlenut arrangement.  And in the middle, the purest, crispest dark chocolate ganache with pure chocolate gelato underneath.  Stunning!

Paul had cheese and while he was very happy with it, no-one can compare cheese and chocolate, can they?

Coffee was accompanied by petit four and chocolates.  The petit four were fruit flavoured - coconut, pineapple, mint, pear.  The chocolates were uninspiring.

This is the room that we were in - one of two purple rooms, this one had four tables.

The main dining room is orange and was fully occupied for lunch.

This was the second and larger purple room.  The art work was extremely engaging.

Paul is looking suitably satisfied with his lunch and his choice - and No! he's not wearing thongs. He wore a pair of strange black and yellow things.  I must remember to get a photo of them next time we go to lunch.

Restaurant Carre des Feuillants