The French Café

Our choice of venue for the July function was The French Café, a long established and highly regarded restaurant that we had not visited for four or five years.  Five stars in the recent Cuisine awards so we had high expectations.

Pineau de Charentes which made a change from the customary champagne and provided a good talking point.

To start, a refreshing mélange of marinated snapper, crab, avocado, chili, pomelo, coriander and fresh coconut.  It was a glorious mixture of flavours tempered only with some concern as to whether the wine would cope. It did. The Gisselbrecht Pinot Gris 2009 was a fine wine in its own right but also coped magnificently with the challenge of the dish.

The next offering was seared scallops on a bed of cauliflower cheese with black butter. There were some comments about the absence of scallop roes ( Kiwis expect them ) but this was an elegant dish which showcased the richness of the scallops in a restrained manner.  It was accompanied by a restrained wine, Vincent Girardin cuvee St. Vincent Girardin Blanc, and some thought the Pinot Gris we had enjoyed earlier would have been a better match.

Choices, choices – those who selected a main of seared duck breast with sweet spices, asian greens, mandarin puree and kumara (sweet potato) were very pleased with the flavours and richness of the dish but had their enjoyment of the tender breast meat diminished by the presence of errant sinews.  The accompanying wine was Vincent Girardin Cuvee St. Vincent Rouge 2005.

Those that chose the lamb were the winners.  Succulent tender roast meat with morels, parsnip, bok choy, white onions and crème soubise. A very satisfying  dish accompanied by the Chateau Capbern Gasqueton 2007 with which some were content  and some less so.

A green apple sorbet with apple compote, butterscotch and pain d’epices rounded things off well. The sorbet and the butterscotch complemented/contrasted each other nicely.  A restrained, not oversweet dessert which allowed the Baumard Coteaux du Layon 2007 to stand its ground.

It was nice to be back and we had enjoyed a thoughtfully devised and consummately executed meal – just a pity about the duck.

Please view the menu here.