So we got him all dressed up.
Jacket, new slim pants, he even wore shoes.
And off we went to Passage des Panoramas in the Palais Royal area, a brisk 15 minute walk.
Le Passage des Panoramas is bustling and looking prosperous. We may come back another day for food from a hole in the wall with an enormous lunch-time queue buying freshly cooked Asian. Follow the locals is always the best strategy. Never follow the tourists.
But back to today's lunch - you'd never find Passage 53 (two Michelin stars) unless you knew where to look. Lucky for us we did. We ate here two years ago and were expecting a great meal.
We began with a fabulous Bollinger champagne in the finest stemware I have ever handled. It was almost as finessed as the wine and I had to remind myself not to squeeze the glass too hard in case it shattered. The 'amuse bouche' (literally, mouth amuser but more probably, taste tempter) was all carrot. On the bottom carrot mousse, covered with almost-jellied whipped carrot with a tiny little cooked disc on top. In a porcelain cup so thin you could see through it. Lovely.
A very, very crisp rectangle of dark toast topped with crab meat dressed with subtle Asian flavours that I couldn't identify. On the top, a quenelle of whipped creamy something flavoured with Spanish Jerez sherry vinegar, with micro-leaves. The best crab I have ever tasted.
With the next two dishes, both asparagus, we had a pinot noir from Cotes de Nuits near Beaune in Burgundy. Two photos of the same dish here.
This is fat white asparagus, so popular here, sitting on a lovely Compte cheese sauce with a crispy bit on the top.
Asparagus is currently in season and coming down in price every day. The best dish of the day was the fish. A fillet of Atlantic turbot topped with carrot salt and accompanied by green asparagus, green peas and tiny green broad beads in a mushroom foam. Beautifully cooked, beautifully presented with every item perfect. Delicious.
The meat course was chicken. A triangle of breast with crispy, salty skin was accompanied by delicious spinach cooked in clarified butter finished with a thin chicken gravy. The circular disk is chicken leg meat, cooked sous vide and flavoured with truffle. Very nice, but too much like sausage for my taste.
Our wine was a Cote Rotie Madiniére by Yves Cuilleron syrah. All of the wine was 18€ per glass - that is $25.70 AUD. Lucky I wasn't thirsty!
The waiter said, in his best English, 'Zees eez de straw berries foam with underneath the straw berries panna cotta you weel enjoy all very much ... and of course, zee shocolar pie'.
I would have called it strawberry shortcake and dark chocolate tart, but what do I know. Both lovely and quite complex but I would have been happy with just the panna cotta.
The espresso was good and the madeleines were made with lavender honey - too sweet for me but Paul loved them.
From my seat I had a view out of the door into the passage. I was fascinated by this young man eating his lunch at a table opposite. Dressed in a very slim fitting three piece black suit with a wing collared shirt and narrow black bow tie. He had very short hair and very long side burns. I couldn't tell whether this was a 'uniform' associated with his job or he just felt like dressing up today.
Whatever, I hope he enjoyed his lunch as much as we did.
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