Goût de France...Good France..Formidable!!

Last Thursday I was invited for the Goût de France at the French Ambassador's residency. In Suriname, this event is hosted by the French Ambassador, His Excellency Michel Prom and his lovely wife Suzanne.

Before I go any further, here a little explanation about Goût de France:

In 1912, Auguste Escoffier started Les Dîners d’Épicure (Epicurean Diners): one day, one menu, served in cities around the world, to as many guests as possible. In 2015, Goût de/Good France takes the idea further, bringing all categories of restaurants together globally. This international event, taking place on March 19,2015, will mark the first concrete demonstration of French cuisine’s recent listing in the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” category by UNESCO, and its influence on the world. - a piece from the official website rendezvousenfrance.com.

When I think about France, I imagine Eiffel Tower, lavender fields (all thanks to those postcards from my cousin Joyce) and I think of wine, cheese and great food. So when I received this invitation, I was ecstatic!! What to wear? What to expect?

I was happy that I was going together with Jill-Joy Landburg from Victuals. At least one familiar face. When we arrived, it was still very quiet. A handful of invitees already arrived and we were welcomed by Ms. Carolle Lucas, the Deputy Chief of Mission. We got invited to start with some aperitif from the bar and mingle a bit.

 
Any outsider would think it's a friend's gathering since everyone is so relaxed and not so formal and uptight as I thought it would be. But if you see the list of high officials, I kinda feel a bit like a kid among adults. And the nice thing is that they were all very down-to-earth and you don't even notice the gap when talking to them.

While enjoying our aperitif, Champagne Canard Duchene Reserve authentique, we were served some finger foods/ amuse bouche. There was choice between puff pastry with snails in parsley butter and puff pastry with scallops flamed with cognac. The one with scallops has more flavor compared to the one with snails. And I had to contain myself not to fill up on finger foods.

Then it was finally time to be seated. I was seated at the deputy's table, next to headmaster, Mr. Jean-Pierre Octavia, of the high school where the chefs are from. On my other side, I have the company of Mr. Stanley Sidoel, the Director of Culture.

Our dinner continued with the cold starter:

tartar of salmon & weakfish, dressed with passion fruit's vinaigrette & dasheen's chips

 

The passion fruit vinaigrette complemented the mixed fish tartar really well. A tad of the lemongrass powder enhances the flavor even more. It's the first time I had the dasheen's chips. Dasheen is a type of taro. The chips was very thin, crisp and flavorful.
This was paired with the Bordeaux Entre-deux-mers Grands Terroirs Dourthe 2010.
The wine is light, easy to drink and combined with the dish: very fruity.

We continued with a hot starter:

ravioli of foie gras with morel's cream & sesame cracker

It's my first time having Foie Gras. I don't know what to expect, but since it's goose/duck liver, it might be a bit similar to chicken liver, but maybe better in flavor and texture. Probably because my expectations were too high, I was a bit disappointed in the flavor. The Foie Gras tasted gamey,  however it goes really well with the morel's cream, I was not impressed with the flavor of it.
This was paired with the Bordeaux Sauternes Chateau Laribotte 2008.
However I should know that Sauternes are known as sweet, but still it surprised me with its sweetness. For me, a bit too sweet. One of my fellow diners mentioned that it tasted like honey wine, so you can imagine how sweet this is.

Then came the fish main course:

pave of blue fin tuna, lemon grass emulsion served with small glazed vegetable.

My piece of tuna was a bit overcooked to my taste, but I can see that they made every piece medium-well. For this nice piece of tuna, I'd prefer a medium-rare to medium which will give a nicer texture to the end product.

To cleanse our palate and as an aperitif and digestive, we were served:

Trou Normand - apple sorbet with Calvados

 

I've had sorbets before, so I expected something cold, lemon-y and was surely surprised by the alcohol. Calvados is an apple brandy. This creation is with pieces of apple in it, but the alcohol level really surprised me!! It's really strong and I only sipped a bit. At this point, my belly was already full and we were only half way through.

Next, we were served the meat main course:

Rack of lamb with gingerbread crust, hazelnut mousseline celery & mustard crusty

I was a bit afraid that the lamb is gamey as most lamb meat I've experienced, but this one is so flavorful, so juicy and the crust makes it a bit sweet, and gives it a nice crunch. It's the best rack of lamb I've tasted till now! Was not really fond of the hazelnut mousseline. I still am not sure which spice it is, but it was way too overwhelming.


As the 6th course, we could choose from the assortment of French cheeses:

Camembert de Normandie, Chabichou du Poitou, Époisse de Bourgogne, Roquefort de'l Aveyron, Comté de Franche Comté

 

It's for the first time I see cheese be eaten as a course of the dinner. For a second, I thought we were already having breakfast. It was so extensive. There was marmalade, honey, different kind of nuts, raisins and it's really a different way to enjoy cheese. I'm used to using cheese as topping or with bread, but not as a stand alone item.

And last but not least:

Praline dessert with black chocolate & raspberries

It is very unfortunate that the dessert always comes as the last course. My belly was already so full that I can only eat half of it. The creation is so rich, so chocolate-y. The sour from the raspberries breaks the sweet of the chocolate, and the soft texture of the praline combined with the crispiness of the cornflake pieces makes this a marvelous finish of the meal!!

After this, we were invited for the award ceremony to the stakeholders of this event, the chefs (students) and their teachers.

As a summary to this event, this is my opinion:

Compliments to the chefs:
- great combination of textures
- well balanced flavor combinations

Improve possibilities:
- smaller portions. We were all served full portions. Based on a 3-course dinner, it would be perfectly fine, but for a 7-course dinner I believe that the portions can be way smaller.
- start earlier. We started at 7:30 (aperitif) and ended around 12:30 (included the award ceremony), so about 5 hours. At the end only a handful guests stayed, which is a pity to the chefs. The other guests did not see the creators of their meals.

However it was a lengthy dinner, but I enjoyed every minute of it.
It was a wonderful evening! The twinkling stars in the clear sky reflects on the water of the swimming pool, a light breeze was blowing and music that makes you believe that you're in a French-Latin country, enjoying great food with great people!!!

* Please also check my latest addition The Taster-page on Facebook here about this event*