Bon Appétit

The restaurant has an authentic bistro feel,and the chalkboard menu,with its selection of starters,mains and desserts changing regularly. At this point,like every good voluptuary of literature,we leave our palates entirely in the competent hands of our hostess.

For starters we are served an Oxtail Terrine and a Squid Salad (in the interests of avoiding spelling errors we omit their French names). The terrine features tender,desiccated melt-in-your-mouth meat with a complex flavor,a chilled antidote to the muggy weather outside. The salad features tiny,attractive white and purple squid (both whole and sliced) swimming in an olive sea,amidst marinated forests of leaves and sliced olives. We haven’t had the pleasure of consuming (well,engulfing really) such fresh seafood since a brief,torrid affair with German seafood chain Nordsee,and we fall in love with the choice cephalopod all over again.

For our mains we have the Lamb Shoulder in a tagine-inspired sauce,rich in dried fruits and dates as well as a Stuffed Chicken in a Hunter’s sauce. The succulent lamb simmered in a magnificent medley of flavours from France and Morocco,the umami of the meat nicely complemented by the sweet dates. The chicken makes us regret all the nasty things we’ve said about mundane European preparations of the bird,and we inhale it in fowl.

The dénouement of the meal is in the form of a Tarte au Citron,better known to the colonially hung over as Lemon Tart,and the Tarte Landaise,comprising baked apple in a filo pastry shell and brandy sauce. The apple tart was a pleasant mingling of the familiar and the new,the filo-crusted apple reminiscent of a Tarte Tatin with the brandy sauce adding a new dimension.

The lemon tart is of course our perennially favorite baked good (apart from fudgy,gooey brownies),though the meringue covering it,like the current overcast weather,will take some getting used to,perhaps after a few more meals here. We look forward to that process.

Meal for Two: Rs 1,400

(including taxes)

Address: A 57,58,59,DDA Shopping Complex,Defence Colony

Contact: 46780080