Have been thinking about how to begin to tell about this place. A complex of feelings about meeting a friend I haven't seen for decades. The young and the restless are those old days. Came to France and fell in love with this country. Settled down in Paris but Paris was not the Paris of today. Just like any person who strived for their hard days away from their home town, he forwent all the past glamour and simply took on his solitary journey. The cold hard days didn't leave any scar on him but just turned him to another new leaf of life - a Chef. As when Paris was not Paris several years ago, Chef Dean decided to leave and there he came to this tranquil town - Annecy in SE France on the border with Geneva. Found this old building in Annecy (of more than 400 years old). The restaurant as named L'affaire du gouts - the affair of taste.
1-6: inside the restaurant. 7-9: Smoked salmon/goie gras Pate/deep fried cheese balls - Chef highly recommended these starters. The smoked salmons is very aromatic and smooth. The foie gras pate is mixed with some wine and herb - I'd say it's the best pate I have ever had (I joked with him that I seldom say this kind of word but I have to say it for this time. The deep fried cheese is very special - crispy outside but warm melty blast of cheese flavour made it so much different. 10-13: we chose the duck breast, risotto with scallop and beef filet. The duck breast was marinated with some Chinese five spice, making the duck meat very aromatic. I was amazed with the Thai-styled sticky rice presentation but this one is in an enhanced version - mix of sticky rice and jasmine rice. It reminded me of how my aunt taught me to mix rice! I was touched with this simple mixed rice, and thanks so much to Chef Dean for bringing this memory back. The risotto was very nice with some zesty lemon flavour, making the dish not so stuffy and the scallop were pan-fried perfectly with the meat very tender and juicy inside with brown aromatic on the outside. My choice for beef filet brought back the childhood memory. Chef Dean put more black pepper with a strong cognac in it. It just made my appetite. Chef Dean came to talk about his philosophy of cooking - simply about the flavour of the food to mix. He once considered how to make the food presentation as an art, but gave it up since it's just a photo frame.
On the dessert, Chef Dean recommended us to try the fondant chocolate, nougart and my favourite rhubarb tart. I was so impressed with his rhubarb tart as he left the original rhubarb flavour (the woody sour so unique from rhubarb). My friends said "wow" on the nougart. I tried quite several times in Cannes and Nice for the nougart but those were too sweet. This one is simply a nice mix of egg white, caramel and some crushed nuts. The fondant chocolate is also very nice too. All the dishes from starters to dessert were all "cleaned up"!
This story told that no matter where we are, if we could start from zero, be humble, be initiative and be learning, we could make our living out of any hardest days. It also told one simple truth - no pain, no gain. This reflection also reminded me of how I learned to type, to write and to learn and to grow......
I am also very happy to a group of these 3 old buddies getting together again and coming back to this tranquil town. Life is so interesting that I could also come to see this beautiful town - Annecy. To be continued....
6 comments:
I like the donut, the salmon, the big scallops, the Thai dish, the rice in leaf, the desserts, the table setting, the building, the deco, the everything here....
Do you mean this is your good old friend who was not a chef to begin with but later changed to a chef in France?
And all these nice dishes made by himself?
So the all the good food with good memory with good friends at good restaurant happened together all at one meal?
Yes, chef Dean is now a chef. I guess more than half of the dishes were made by him. Yes, and we got to know what each other passed thru' all these years and decades. What's more, the restaurant were fully booked for the 2 days I passed by. So happy for him to settle down in this beautiful town, with this promising career.
What a wonderful meal and reunion.
Always good to see good old friends especially knowing they do well and live well.
And Chef Dean shown us how medium rare duck breast was done properly. Since I had undercooked duck in London and overcooked duck at the cheese place. :) His was perfectly done.
Yes, that was a perfectly cooked duck breast. Very impressed!
Glad to see you here also glad to know you had a great time Pixmation.
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