Mariage Frere (Paris, le marais)

Mariage Frere is originally a tea house that presents a tea-tasting salon allowing you to appreciate the most refined and precious tea.The waiters are actually trained as sommeliers. They learn the french art of tea and they describe a particular tea, its flavors and to which dish or dessert it can best team up. What i loved about this place is that even if you are not a tea fan it definitely pushes you to try some exquisite tea flavor which they can also serve iced! Some of the dishes or desserts are actually cooked/baked with tea and it can mingle inside a dish just like any ingredient, spices or flavour. We ordered the menus only served at lunch, it includes juice, brioche toasts served with tea jelly (btw Tlicious!), brunch platter, your choice of pastry with their special teas. We had the organic smoked salmon loin, genmaiche green tea oil, red current, lemony yoghurt cream, pickles and matcha green tea toast; the scrambled eggs seasoned with Sel matcha, grilled shrimp skewer and smoked salmon rolls and the chicken supreme, smoky black tea glaze, shaved parmesan, green apple and croutons. The dishes looked gorgeous, the presentation was just so elegant and refined but i found the plates too pretty to be eaten and the chicken dish was a bit dry. If you ever go there i personally advise you to get the simple but delicious scrambled eggs. Now that's my favorite part: Desserts. I can honestly say it was just SUGASMIC! one of the best desserts i have ever had ! The creme brulee tart with fraise de bois was my favorite, pure deliciousness, with every bite you get a bit of crunchiness from the caramelised sugar, fluffiness and creaminess from the cream and just a hint of tang from the fraise des bois. The berry green tea crumble was also really good, but i was pleasently surprised by the chocolate tart because it had a hint of lemon confit which was new for me because usually when you think of chocolate, you combine it with caramel, praline, orange, strawberry..but usually never lemon which is a shame because they work really well together.

All in all, very pleasant experience :)

 

 

Maison de la truffe (Paris)

Maison de la truffe is definitely worth trying if you are a truffle lover. The chefs trained under the expertise of Alain Ducasse and Bernard Loiseau, create a thousand ways to prepare truffles in creative recipes. What's amazing about this restaurant is that all of the dishes could be prepared with or without truffles; and you can actually choose between seasonal or black truffle . For entree i had the king crab salad with mousse d'avocats and milk almond jelly, it was a light and refreshing salad and i loved the combination of the crab with the lightly sweet milk almond jelly. You can also share for entree the plate with little bites of the tarama truffe, emiette de tourteau, saumon fumee et ses oeufs. As for the main course we had the risotto with scampi and truffles and tagliatelles with foie gras, truffles and truffled cream. Both dishes were really good and they were very generous with the amount of truffles used.

 

Biba makes: Sugar work

I am ashamed to say it has been almost 4 months since my last post. Just to recap, i am a cordon bleu student and i got my  pastry diploma almost 2 months ago. I just finished my internship at my dream place: La patisserie des reves. It's unfortunate to say that within 2 months of work at La patisserie des reves i learned so much more than i did after 9 months of Cordon Bleu. Im not saying its not a good school, because you do have amazing chefs like Chef Deguignet or Chef Nicolas Jordan but i have to say it is quite commercial. And of course, it is all about pratique( hands on ) especially when it comes to pastry or cuisine. I really wish i had more time at that place. My advise to anyone who is looking to do a pastry program, check ENSP or Ferrandi or you have very good, local french schools where you can just do the CAP.
I have been to so many restaurants the past few months and i have a lot to catch on.

 Let me start by my final exam at Le Cordon Bleu where we had to make a sugar sculpture with your own design, colors, theme.. but it should include flowers and ribbons.. I have to say sugar work is by far my favorite ! I only had the chance to work with pulled and poured sugar a couple of times but it is so challenging and interesting and i love it. Even when i work 6 hours straight, sweating and of course burning my hands, it still makes me eager to go back, try to do better. You have to be very meticulous with sugar work especially with the cooking of the sugar.
Here are some points that you should always keep in mind for sugar work ( for the beginners of course, since i am one ):

• use really clean equipment
• use clean and pure sugar
• start cooking cold water with the sugar, once it starts boiling, you always should clean the edges with a wet brush and then remove all the impurities of the sugar ( otherwise your sugar wont be shiny ) and add the glucose.Let it cook until 165 degrees C and then add the tartrique.
• Don't cook small quantities of sugar otherwise it would cook too fast and become dry (minimum 1 kg of sugar)
• If you want to use one color ( i think it is nicer ) then you can add the color at 140 degrees C ( the colors are of course alcohol based not water ) or if you want to mix colors then you add them at 160 degrees C
• If you want to pour your sugar in molds, it is better to wait until it thickens a bit and it is not bubbly and then you should touch the edges from the outside with your fingertips and feel that the temperature is neither too hot or too cold, otherwise  it would be very difficult to demold them.
• As for the pulled sugar, once you pour the sugar on the silpat you should as soon as possible bring the sides of the sugar towards the center to form it into one mass. Keep on turning a it and fold it to let it cool down. When the ball doesnt deform anymore stretch the sugar and defold it into itself. The more it is stretched the brighter the color. Once it is shiny place it under the lamp.

Here is my third and final sugar sculpture, still needs lots of work but was definitely proud of my big rose.