I started cooking at the age of 10, at that age, I would just throw in random ingredients till I would get the desired taste and present my dish. Over the years, when I pursued my cooking course, I was introduced to a legend and his works. Auguste Escoffier, since then, has been my inspiration in the kitchen. Though I don’t think I cook half as well as many of you wonderful chefs out there, but I have learnt to respect and follow the cooking etiquettes and finesse shown in the works of Escoffier. French cooking style, to me, is like poetry compared to the prose of many other cuisines. So when I was invited by Sofitel in Bandra Kurla Complex to preview the special menu laid out by the visiting French chef Matteo Girelli, I HAD to visit and check out the dishes and pay my culinary homage to the grand master and his lineage.
Chef Girelli is a rare mix of Italian and French parents and he has acquired the culinary genius of both the worlds. Having worked under the famous chef Jean Troisgros, he has perfected Provençal cuisine. For the uninitiated, Provencal cuisine comes from Southern France, closer to the Mediterranean Sea with heavy influence from Spanish, Italian and Greek cultures. The cuisine relies heavily on fresh produce and has an extensive array of vegetable based dishes.
The French food special is running at the Pondichery Café which is mainly a buffet restaurant. The French dishes which the chef plans to showcase are also a part of the buffet spread, but the chef is present throughout during meal times to cater to the requirements of the patrons. The restaurant has also done some fine pairing with wines from the Bordeaux and Cote du Rhone regions of France to pair with these dishes.
I start my gourmet evening with a Salade Au Chevre Chaud, a lettuce, tomato and mushroom salad garnished with the Chefs own mustard and olive oil based dressing. The primary feature of the salad however, were the small cottage cheese parcels with gave the salad a creamy cheesy saltiness and the crispy pastry shell went well with the crispy lettuce.
There were cheese and olives and a kind of a grape juice shooter to cleanse our palate before we moved to our next course of Bouillabaisse which is essentially a seafood stew which comes from the Provençal town of Marseille. The chef had used seafood quite liberally in the broth as well as potatoes to give it some body. Served with a Rouille and croutons on the side, the bouillabaisse was a decadent broth full of seafood richness and a bit of heat to suite the Indian palate. We were also served the Thyme and Garlic Flavoured Baked Fish and were poured a serving of Beau Mayne 2011 Sauvignon Blanc and Mure Gewürztraminer. The buttery creamy baked dish with full garlic pods and an intense flavour of thyme was a perfect complement to the Fruity, peachy Sauvignon blanc while the Bouillabaisse went extremely well with the minerally, earthy and spritzy Gewürztraminer.
In mains we did a sampling of all the French dishes prepared by the chef. While the stand out dishes of Poisson Nissart (Swordfish cooked in herbs and cherry tomatoes) and the Roti de Poulet Aux Herbs (Roast Chicken in Provecal herbs) were delightfully flavoursome; the Boeuf Mignon (Beef stew cooked in Vegetables and red wine) and the Pouille Roulade (Chicken flutes with Ham) had suffered the vagaries of having sat in the buffet heat for quite long and were overcooked and dry. Though the sauce in the Boeuf Mignon was amazingly delectable, the overcooked meat did pull down the dish quite a bit.
On the vegetarian front, the Vegetable Ratatouille (Provencal Vegetable Stew) with heavy flavouring of tomato and herbs was delicious. The real star of the table was the Gnocchi Au Pistou (Gnocchis in Pesto Sauce) which the chef makes on order. The soft creamy melt in your mouth gnocchis made in a pesto sauce made from scratch by the chef himself was simply divine. The chef however later confessed that he found the Mint in Mumbai quite intense and was not very happy with his version of the pesto. He prefers the ones he gets in Goa. I was, on the contrary, in complete bliss gorging on the soft, creamy, minty gnocchis and its pesto sauce!
Though the dessert section had many great offerings ranging from a very flaky Frangipani with peach topping and soft creamy éclairs; to me the real star of the evening was the Poached pears with basil crème and a hint of lemon grass served on a melted chocolate bed. Each flavour standing its ground and the pears poached to perfection were certainly a delight.
The chef is going to be in Mumbai showcasing his French dishes which will be changed regularly and then he shall be travelling to the north and thereon to Bangalore. For Rs.2000 + tax, I think its an amazing deal to not only try the expansive buffet spread but also enjoy the chefs wonderful dishes and pair them with some fine wine. My only peeve is with the Hotel Management to not make it a part of the buffet and rather gift the chef with his own a la carte space do that he can do complete justice to his wonderful creations. All in all, certainly a great value for money experience and once in a blue moon opportunity to enjoy the great offerings from the land of Escoffier through the hand and vision of Chef Girelli.
