Le Pré Catelan, a fine dining restaurant just west of the Eiffel Tower, sits at the helm of the best restaurants in France. Its three-star status adds to the city’s glowing participants of Michelin-awarded restaurants, they all shine brighter in unison to light up the city thanks to the extraordinary talents that this town carries. The concentration of magnificent chefs of this metropolis has contributed tremendously to what we now know as gastronomy.

With accolades such as the mentioned Michelin Award, a 19/20 from Gault & Millau and the chef being a member of the high society of skilled French craftsmen called Meilleur Ouvrier de France, it is a hospitality institution where one can expect the highest standard of treatment and attention as every detail is treated with utmost respect and pride. A lot is at stake for these types of restaurants and this, happens to be maintaining its reputation pretty well.

Frederick Anton, who worked for Mr. Joel Robuchon in the past, has been in the helm of this restaurant for over eight years. His name is known in Europe, commanding a very high level of pedigree in the hospitality industry. If I’m not mistaken, he also appears on Masterchef as a judge. I’ve heard people say that even Mr. Robuchon sought inspiration from Frederick’s creations. Whether if it’s true or not, it’s a pretty big deal.

I can’t wait any longer and just want to tell my readers that the highlights of this dinner were THE BREAD, the wonderful wine that the somm recommended and the bitter chocolate pie.

THE BREAD was to die for, it had the best aroma that I’ve ever sniffed of out one, phenomenal work by the baker! It reminded me of a love story scene where I, the main character of my own make-believe romantic movie (entitled “Bread”), was running through a field of grains, enjoying the sun while I delighted in the aroma of fresh cut grass and hay. What a lovely moment to be in. Going back to reality, the bread had a very sweet aroma that I cannot explain, like a faint smell of vanilla and oats. I almost wanted to ask the server if he can go to the bakery and inquire which types of flour they used for this particular recipe . The taste did not disappoint either for it had a wonderful crunchy crust and soft chewy interior. I still dream about this bread while having cold sweats at night.

As mentioned before, I always seek for a full bodied red wine that’s not too tannic. The fine sommelier recommended a lovely half-bottle of 2011 Chateau Giscours Margaux from Bordeaux. What a delight. It had all the right notes that I seek in a red. I cannot put it to words. Thank you to the somm.

From the moment you step into the restaurant, you feel this sense of exclusivity. We were greeted very kindly at the holding room until they let us through the main dining area. It unfolds slowly like a fairytale, the high ceiling, the shiny flatware and serveware made out of silver and the emerald green carpet were all very pleasing and luxurious. We got sat down to our table, facing a tiny garden with a well-manicured landscape towering the entire vicinity to maintain the sense of exclusivity. The server lit up a candle and we began the journey.

My wife told me to mention that the seats were designer seats by Warren Platner, from Knoll at $5000 a piece. It was a seat. Ok.

Embossed menu of the front facade of the establishment was an impressive detail

They only had one tasting menu option and guests have the choice to omit some items for a shorter experience. Well, of course, we took the full experience as there is no other way.

As mentioned, we started off with the bread. Through the course of the entire dinner, I think the server gave us four rounds of refill, it was that good. The butter though, was nothing out of the ordinary. I still preferred Ramon Freixa’s Normandy butter.

The Beginning

We started the night with a wonderful bite of sea urchin, caviar and stracciatella foam. On top, grated black truffles and lime zest. This was a phenomenal amuse. The sea urchin and caviar gave the nice saltiness that complimented the creamy foam. The crispy tartlet was the perfect contrast to the textures sitting on top of it.

The following course or eggplant, avocado caviar and crispy shallots was nice but didn’t have a wow factor. Nothing out of the ordinary. It tasted mainly of curry and some crunchy fried shallots.

The soft, warm and silky flan was paired perfectly well with the anise fumet. The crab flavor was subtle and sweet. It was a good dish, nice and delicate.

This had a strong flavor to it. The fresh charred walnuts were the highlight of this dish. Nothing too impressive.

Quite honestly, this is the best lobster bisque that I have ever tried in my entire life. The bisque didn’t have that strong minerally lobster flavor that you usually get in other restaurants. This was subtle, packed a lot of flavors and was well-balanced. You can definitely taste the anise flavor shine through. Although, I started to notice a highly repetitive component from Frederick’s dishes, that is, adding foam to his dishes. For the money that we were paying, I was expecting more out of a lobster dish rather than a course with just soup and foam. There’s not even actual lobster!

Here we have the langoustine dish. This, along with the lobster dish and the crab dish all had almost exact flavor. The base of the cream sauce used has a very strong fennel / anise background. The foie gras flavor was subtle, almost tasted like nothing. The langoustine was perfectly cooked and the jelly on top added a nice delicate crunch to the bite. But then again, this is the third dish that had the seafood + cream sauce combo.

Moving on, another very minimalistic dish was the cod brandade dish. This was on the salty side and quite heavy, mainly because of the potatoes. It was fine but again, nothing to really impress you. I would have added something sour to this dish to balance it out.

By far, this is the second best dish out of the dinner. I know it seems simple, they could have added some sort of vegetable just to have some variety to the dish, but the salmon was smoked and cooked perfectly. It had the perfect balance of saltiness and sweetness. The wasabi sauce was light that cut through the salmon’s fattiness. When they put it on your table, they release the silver dome covering to release the smoke.

As a palette cleanser, caviar with champagne sorbet. the sorbet complimented the caviar in such a way that it made the tiny eggs become creamier. I was looking for more acidity to this palette cleanser.

Moving on to the main dish, here is a perfectly cooked squab with I can’t remember what. If I’m not mistaken, the round object to the right was made out of liver. To help balance the richness, the squab was accompanied by an herby salad with 31 different components that the server highlighted. This was a wonderful main course. The sauce was decadent and rich, but not too rich that you get tired of eating it after two bites. The squab was amazing, nonetheless. A true classical French dish.

During our last course, I mentioned to the server that I am a chef myself and that I have worked for Mr. Robuchon in Hong Kong and Miami. I then asked why I haven’t seen any white truffles on the menu anywhere in Paris. He pointed out that it doesn’t come in until November. It was weird since last year, when we traveled to Florence, white truffles were already circulating the city within the first week of October. Little did I know that another main course was coming our way as a gift.

To my surprise, we were presented with a rabbit dish accompanied by a small pasta side with shaved white truffles, sneaky. The sommelier suggested a beautiful red wine to pair with it, but I wasn’t able to take a picture of the label. The pairing was perfect. It was a dish made out of soft and tender rabbit meat with pickled garlic cloves, accompanied by either a black garlic sauce or blood sauce. It was good but you get tired of eating it after two or three bites. The pasta side was so-so as well if not for the white truffles.

By the time we had our cheese souffle course, we were already full. This reminded me of biscuits and gravy. It was literally like that. Nothing out of the ordinary though and I found the souffle to be too dense and bland.

The first dessert was made of honey ice cream, sable breton and pollen. It was creamy, light and refreshing. You scoop all the way to the bottom to get a piece of the nice sable breton biscuit and take bite of the entire thing. The pollen flavor shined through, the honey ice cream had the right amount of sweetness which was very pleasant. The crunchy morsels on top gave a very citrusy and fruity bite.

The most decadent, smooth and exquisite chocolate pie that I’ve ever had in my entire life. What a phenomenal treat. The smoothness of the chocolate was a melt-in-your-mouth experience that I have never experienced anywhere. I didn’t even use my teeth for anything during this course. This would be the perfect dessert for me when I reach my 70’s and become toothless. Mmmm… The Pistachio ice cream was good but not necessary. I could have just enjoyed the chocolate pie by itself.

In Summary

Frederick Anton’s Le Pré Catelan was an alright experience. The service and attention were top notch, they did a fantastic job taking care of their clients on the floor, the somm was fantastic, the food was executed at a high level but was disappointing in terms of the value (except for the bread, of course). I felt like some of his dishes are highly replicable at home. I was looking forward to being impressed by the flavors that can only be found in Paris, the unique flavors of the city that cannot be found anywhere else. I was expecting more variety and components out of every dish. It wouldn’t hurt to serve a little vegetable accompaniment or even bits and pieces of lobster meat instead of just sending out cappuccino lobster bisque. It wouldn’t hurt to add something else to the brandade dish either. Some components were highly repetitive and was beginning to disappoint. Sometimes, being too minimal can be so boring and can hurt a business. The menu was structured to be like protein plus sauce tandem-nothing more, nothing less.

All in all, I’m still happy that I was able to experience my first three Michelin Star restaurant. I can say that I was able to cross off a highly important agenda on my bucket list. Was it the best representation to set the benchmark? Probably not. I know there are other three-star restaurants out there that are really worth the journey.

Thank you Le Pré Catelan for the experience!

Le Pré Catelan, Paris

Neige D’ete, Paris

Ramon Freixa, Madrid