Chocolate mousse, creme anglais infused with gochujang
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A very nice lunch in Paris last week at @bruno_verjus Table restaurant where I got my favourite seat in any restaurant. Plonk me on a stool just across the bench from a bustling kitchen, feed me tasty food and keep the wine flowing and I am as happy as a pig in poop drinking a nice Burgundy.
It seems like very honest and what seems to be almost improvisational cooking here. Some have compared Bruno’s style to that of Mikael Jonsson of the incredible and much missed Hedone in London. I can see the similarities as I watch Bruno conducting this service. He hangs back and talks to friends and fellow chefs (Atsushi Tanaka of AT is in for lunch I see) but then dives into the kitchen to taste, adjust, advise, complain, compliment, scold in a Fatherly fashion and now and again take complete control of a single dish as he did with my main course. He keeps a good eye on all the diners catching our eyes every now and again and giving an approving nod to indicate “that dish we just gave you is as tasty as fuck” to which we all duly respond with a reciprocal and more urgent nod to reply “This dish you just gave me is tasty as fuck Bruno”.
The sommelier explains to me that he is never 100% sure which dishes Verjus will decide to send to a particular diner (it is an A La Carte menu but an ‘off-menu’ degustation is available) and on two occasions I ended up double parked when the som had to swiftly find another wine to go along with the last minute dish having already poured a wine for the dish he had thought was coming out. This led to a very generous wine pairing 🥴
I believe that Verjus and Jonsson share another similarity in that neither started out as a chef but were professionals in other fields. Jonsson being a lawyer and Verjus a food critic (I may be wrong).
Either way, having now watched two chefs like this cook, there is a definite identifiable style that I believe I can spot. The service in both restaurants is a little like jazz... very good jazz.
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Michelin Guide - ⭐️
OAD - 99
W50Best - ‘Discovery’
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