Style & Seduction

I had a brunch with my potential suitor at The French Laundry…

Yes, it was more than “worth” 5-hour of traveling (including the waiting time at the airport) to meet with this posh suitor at the lovely dining place!

We said Au Revoir to our 72-hour gallavant into the culinary world of Paris. It was 10 a.m. and we had a little time to kill before our supposedly last dining in Paris, noon reservation at La Table that our hotel concierge made for us upon check-in to the hotel. I and T grabbed a cup of cafe creme and walked around Rue St Honore and the Jardin just outside.

After checking out and leaving our luggage to our limo driver, we made our way to the 16th Arr. Sundays in Paris, especially in the more residential areas of the city, are deader than the Financial District of NYC after 6 p.m. We got to the La Table about few minutes early, apparently we must’ve been one of the first reservations of the day. T and I made our first visit to Paris few months ago, and we both loved our dinner at La Table. On the inaugural trip there was no doubt that everything tasted was exceptionally prepared and gorgeous to look at.

The lunch at La Table was absolutely wonderful. T is a foodie (unlike D from the previous post), and he kept saying what really stood out about this Michelin one-star was their service. The staff of La Table treated us to an amazing experience and although the service is what will bring him back to this place and what’s tempting him to try Joël Robuchon’s other place - L’Atelier. Silly you, T! Paris is the most romantic place on earth and people fall in love with the city itself—and with your company. Why not? We’re in Paris.

There are little capitals in the world where the seafood is so good. Where to eat a good oyster in Paris? Basically everywhere.

Here are my two favorites:

Le Duc (243,bd Raspail,75014). I love this restaurant for the exceptional fish preparation. The oysters are wonderful too.

Dessirier( 9,place du Maréchal Juin,75017). The seafood restaurant of Michel Rostang. The oysters can’t be fresher and the service can’t be nicer.

And oysters are sensual sometime.

A note on Gary Danko upon request.

Several weeks ago, I and D ventured into SF for a weekend and we finally managed to make a visit at Gary Danko on our second night in town. D claimed that he was really not much of a foodie - in the sense that he doesn’t keep in touch with which restaurant has who cooking at it, or hasn’t been to too many revered spots. Gary Danko was our first visit to an SF restaurant that gets a whole lot of hype. Over all, our impression was good. The service was absolutely wonderful and pleasant. The food was all very good, although nothing I ate was so memorable that several weeks later, I am enamored by it.

Since we usually prefer smaller kitchens where we can taste the spirit of the cook in the food, these bigger establishments with what feels like a ton of cooks working together sort of dilutes the impression of the food. We couldn’t see/taste the cook behind the food…But we did learn a few things there. The first and foremost was the importance of plating. Each plate was exquisitely plated and visually appetizing. The dish was plated with the elements of a perfect photograph. And it made a very big difference in the enjoyment of food. I also learned that fruits go well in sauces (although the Vietnamese have also taught me this already before in their mam nem - more on that later). And that a parting gift of a muffin makes customers remember the evening well into the next day and beyond.

They gave us a pineapple muffin in a Gary Danko wrapper. The muffin itself wasn’t particularly memorable either, but the gesture was. May our education in SF fine dining continue…

Clear transparent water is all around. This place is perfect for rendezvous/honeymoon with some ultimate privacy right here in this recluse island in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. Over water bungalows above transparent water in white sand beaches - no wonder a lot of people kept coming back every year.