Sébastien Faramond and sommelier Benoît Gélin © GP
We promised 3 stars in the old formula of the Hostellerie de Plaisance, at the time of Ronan Kervarrec. We are not going to do less today, while the room has been beautified, the kitchen enlarged, the menu designed, imagined, reinvented by Yannick Alléno – in homage to local Aquitaine products with the exaltation of plants and fermentation – and executed brilliantly by the faithful Sébastien Faramond, already present in the house.
Gironde white shrimp © GP
Everything that is offered, in this superb and sober setting, with its large fresco evoking the village listed as a UNESCO heritage site, is of a high level, mixing the ideas of the time, modern techniques, the reasoned use of fermentations. and references to Gironde roots. There is also the down-to-earth service, the staff who explain, tell, praise, detail, with an obvious educational concern, practicing the use of the table with flawless precision.
Almost plant-based walk © GP
On the food side, it’s the grand opera, with the little opening symphonies: the Bordeaux grattons on a warm soufflé apple, with their tarragon pickles and extraction of grattons and tarragon oil in a glass, but also the white shrimp, caught in the Gironde estuary by a fisherman from Fronsac, offered as a fine royale with wild fennel croutons.
Foie gras with verjuice © GP
Serious things? The so-called “almost vegetable” walk, with its dozen herbs, mushrooms and vegetables (beets, Blayais asparagus, black garlic, porcini mushrooms, zucchini flowers, etc.), its elderberry vinegar gel, its fine glistening shavings of bacon Gascon: a dish so digestible that it makes you want to devour the whole world!
Surprise poached egg with caviar and watercress © GP
We then move on to the exquisitely poached foie gras with verjuice and small white grapes – with shells which we could probably easily do, because it gives the dish an unnecessary iodine note, the only downside of the meal – and, on the other hand, its exquisite mushroom tobacco . Then it’s the masterpiece of the moment: a surprise poached organic egg which, once cut, releases ostrich caviar from Gironde, all flanked by watercress with croutons and a so-called “modeme” sauce. smoked eel: a dish worth 20/20!
Eel fondant with matelote sauce © GP
We add the eel fondant with its matelote sauce in red wine, its thin slice of matured smoked beef from Galicia, its pork sanguette, with chicken liver in cognac, sandwich bread, garlic parsley, its fresh eel pastrami , smoke and pig’s feet, both rustic and chic. And we approach one of the pieces of bravery – already classic and legendary of the house –: the pigeon revisited in “ air pigeon“.
Pigeon air, fillet with press juice © GP
Here is a pigeon stuffed with cognac, blown, cooked hanging, drizzled with hot oil, which creates a hot vapor of cognac between the skin and the fillets to cook them gently, with pigeon juice added to the press juice. , an extraction of juniper and cognac, a sorrel pesto, flanked by a walnut puree, chanterelles, a parsley emulsion, the tender fillet with press juice and sorrel bitterness. We do not forget the beak of the pigeon presented as an ortolan. A pigeon to taste once in your life!
The pigeon’s beak like an ortolan © GP
It’s difficult to ignore the cheese cart from the Aquitaine region, including all the pretty goats from the region. Then, to make tradition with the desserts, we taste the “Super G” sorbet, “Moon Harbor” gin, its castle apple jelly, crystal herbs, just to refresh the palate and indulge in sweet pleasures, but not too signed by pastry maestro Sébastien Nabaile.
Cheese platter © GP
Thus, the pear in a macaron crust (from St Emilion) with its farmhouse cream, with fleur de sel, grated cinnamon and almond, pear brunoise marinated in Sauternes, and its Sauternes pear sorbet, its eau de vie gel from pear. Superb and so digestible! We also taste the fine hot chocolate tart (with toasted bread and cocoa bean – superb and mischievous!), its Tahitian vanilla ice cream, puffed wheat and cocoa meringue, plus Maury sauce: hats off!
Super G sorbet, apple jelly © GP
We conclude with the sweet treats combining fermented pepper, mint chocolate, vanilla, raspberry liqueur gel, blackberry liqueur or verjuice and vine-smoked maple syrup, without forgetting the Spirit of Pavie granita, made in front of you, finally the sugar-free candied orangette – a model of its kind, plus dark chocolate with pistachio, fleur de sel and cocoa nibs.
Hot chocolate tart, Maury sauce, vanilla ice cream © GP
On this, the sommelier Benoît Gélin, expert in all vineyards, offers the great wines of the Persian family with ropose, such as the Château Monbousquet “exceptional white” 2019, lively and seductive, the Château Pavie saint-émilion grand vintage classified A 1998 – their first year and in its fullness. This is a table at the height of charm.
Spirit of Pavie granita © GP
