The Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel: Bastille Day dinner
On Bastille Day last week, we joined Benisa for dinner at the brasserie by Philippe Mouchel. A four course set menu was being served in celebration of all things French (or so the promotional email stated!). When we arrived, the first thing we saw was a guy in a beret playing the accordion. Is an accordion particularly French? I don’t know! It was kind of funny though and fortunately he was pretty good (insert disparaging accordion joke here), since he played the entire evening.
The first course were snails wrapped in cabbage, on top of a poached liquorice bouillon. The snails were diced and mixed with finely cut vegetables inside the cabbage leaf. I think that even people who would normally have issues with snails would have no problems with this dish. I couldn’t really taste the liquorice in the bouillon, but the broth was very nice and worked well with the sweetness of the cabbage. The snail meat reminded me of the texture of paua/abalone – which wikipedia says is a sea snail. That would explain the similarity!
For the second course we received sautéed scallops with couscous and vegetables and Argan oil vinaigrette. Look at those scallops – they were lovely, perfectly cooked and flavoured with ginger and chives. A small amount of cous cous and a couple of little vegetables were on the plate, but the scallops were really the star.
Next course was a slow-braised wagyu ox cheek with carrots and mashed potatoes. I’ve had a larger version of this dish before, when Alastair and I went to the brasserie for lunch a while back, and was happy to eat it again. The meat was very, very tender and braised in that dark, rich sauce. It was on the verge of being too salty, but when eaten with a bit of the smooth mashed potato it was fantastic.
Dessert was chocolate fondant with vanilla anglaise and pistachio ice cream. Hard to go wrong with chocolate fondant, especially when it was –
Mhmmm, gooey……
And finally some petit fours to finish off. Bro and I made everyone wait while we had a cup of tea (served in a very cute little teapot) and finished our petit fours. Yum.
Read about a previous visit to the brasserie here.
the brasserie by Philippe Mouchel
Riverside at Crown,
8 Whiteman Street,
Southbank
Phone: (03) 9292 7808
Danny
July 23, 2009 @ 1:50 am
mmmm.. waygu oxcheek. that sounds pretty damn good! i wonder if there really are guys in barets in France…
Esz
July 23, 2009 @ 8:40 pm
I went to the Brasserie once for a work dinner and was very very impressed!
I had the terrine and the ox cheek too. But in the dinner menu it came with not just the chunk of ox cheek but also a tenderloin cut in half. So three big hunks of meat and kipfler potatoes with a really sweet red wine jus.
Really great value French food IMHO ;-D
Maria@TheGourmetChallenge
July 24, 2009 @ 7:55 pm
Ohhh, what wonderful way to celebrate Bastille Day. I've tried to go to the Brasserie once before and got promptly turned away, stupid me thought I could get in without a reservation!! That fondant looks so delicious, I want to lick my own computer screen….I don't think it will taste like chocolate though!
Agnes
July 24, 2009 @ 11:40 pm
Danny – well when I was in France, I don't think I saw any! And definitely not any playing the accordion.
Esz – glad to hear that you had a great meal there too. The dinner serving of the ox cheek sounds very generous!
Maria – it was a great way to celebrate Bastille Day – altho after the dinner we were all racking our brains trying to remember our school lessons and the history behind Bastille Day (we remembered the gist of it, but the details were sketchy!). Guess it was all about the eating for us. 🙂