I have first been at Guy Savoy in 1986 when they had two Michelin stars. It was less fancy than many high-end restaurants, but one of the best. The dishes looked simple, but actually they were well thought out and delicious. I visited the Rue Troyes address a few more times, and they have always delivered a very good meal.
In the new and very sophisticated Hotel Monnaie location we also dined quite well, and drank even better. The 2012 Roulot Meursault Meix Chavaux was superb, and the 2015 Cote Rotie Jamet was too young but already impressive. The cooking was good, but somehow it was less consistent than in past visits. That is, if half of the dishes were superb, the other half were quite good, but not what one expects from a three-star restaurant. At any rate, I wonder why Michelin removed the third star given that one can eat here at least as good as many current Michelin three macaroon restaurants.
There is a menu, but we decided to go for a la carte: Tuna, Salmon, Rouget-barbet fish, Artichoke soup with truffles, and Suckling lamb from Lozere.
Amuses were seasonal and pretty good, featuring fresh baby peas, radishes, cucumber, and more. I especially appreciated the baby peas from the Basque region in Spain as they were presented in different textures and in their own jus. Sweet and succulent, they exploded on the palate.
The one other dish which was perfect is Savoy’s legendary cold artichoke soup with chicken stock, parmesan, and black truffles. It is served with a delicious brioche spread with truffle butter. The soup is intense, earthy, rich, but not heavy as some drops of lemon balance the umami dimension. When drinking a spoon of soup and then biting into the brioche, the combined taste effect is heavenly and the aftertaste is long. Having the soup with Roulot’s Meursault was a perfect match.
The tuna, the salmon, and the lamb were all good, but not “wow” dishes. Tuna is served two ways: raw with aromatic herbs, and in a taco with Oscietra caviar from China. They also bring a clear infusion in a long glass and recommend that half of this olive oil-tomato juice infusion is poured on raw tuna while one drinks the other half. Overall, the dish is good, but not on par with toro-otoro nigari sushi in a good Japanese restaurant or what a German chef, like Bau at Victor’s Gourmet, can accomplish with tuna. The salmon is prepared at the table and is served with lemon caviar on top. They pour a vegetable-seafood broth on it that is enlivened by lemon juice. The infusion works with the oily salmon, but the salmon itself is not as subtle in taste as, say, Adour salmon. Overall, this is a fine dish that I expect in a good French bistro.
But I have never seen in a good bistro present a dish at the level of the next dish: mussels and mousseron mushrooms in a seafood veloute with sorrel leaf. A pedestrian ingredient, creamy mussels, were combined with the rare, earthy, nutty and firm mousseron mushrooms in a rich yet delicate broth; a memorable “terre et mer”, sea and mountain dish. Actually, we had not ordered this dish, and it came as a courtesy of the restaurant. I am glad it came because this is the type of dish I would like to see at Savoy.
The rouget-barbet was also very good, as they served it with a shellfish reduction with saffron and rouget liver. There was also a nice zucchini flower stuffed with shellfish. The fish was fresh and perfectly cooked, and the sauce was complex, and its pleasant bitterness enhanced the sweet flavor of the rock fish. My extra wish would have been to serve rouget liver on the side, as I am used to having it at Elkano and find the liver of fresh rouget to be an incredible experience.
We liked the young Lozere lamb, but we did not think it was on par with the soup, the mussel, and the rouget courses. We had two nice lamb chops, their own jus, a roasted tomato stuffed with shredded leg of lamb, a piece of lamb sausage and herbs. I found the quality of the lamb to be good but not great. On the other hand, we liked the “vol au vent” stuffed with internal organs and morels more than the main part of the dish.
The millefeuilles with Tahiti vanilla was top notch.
EVALUATION: 17/20
