PIERRE GAGNAIRE

The bread was very good, and was replenished throughout the meal. The absolute highlight, though, was the salted butter they brought out. This was astonishingly good - the perfect salt level, melts in your mouth, and addicting. I had to stop myself from eating straight butter from the butter knife. It paired with the bread so well.

We decided to get one appetizer and one entree among the two of us, and split it. This isn't as outrageous as it initially sounds, because the appetizer we picked (Scallops from the truffle menu) comes with 5 different dishes, and the Langoustine entree that we got comes with 7 dishes.

Interestingly enough, we had to kind of argue with the waiter to allow us to choose this. She really wanted us to get two entrees, because she thought what we got wasn't going to be enough food (it ended up being more than enough).

A really cool thing that they did here was bring a card displaying what dishes they brought out, along the ingredients in those dishes. It really helps track what's in the dishes as you're eating them.

Eventually, about an hour and half after we sat down, the main courses were brought out. As mentioned, these were 5 scallop dishes and 7 langoustine dishes. We each shared half of every dish - so I got to try half of all twelve.

The scallop dishes were very much a mixed bag for me. The damier was not something that I liked - particularly because the plain truffle squares just tasting very bland and with a hard texture. The dishes that I really liked was the broth flavored with truffles, and most particularly - the cannelloni marine - which was a bunch of seafood stuffed inside a cannelloni shell. This last one was incredibly good, and easily my favorite scallop dish of the night.

I liked the langoustine dishes better. Of these, my clear favorites were the large langoustine seared in brown butter, the fried langoustines, and especially the raw langoustine. In each of these, they were cooked perfectly. It did suffer from the same problem that I'll discuss later - that the dishes began to taste similar to one another.

We did not expect that they would bring out an entire section of cheeses, a total of 12 pieces, or 6 per person. I did not like any of these cheeses, except the brie.

The dessert was probably the best part of the meal - which is not a surprise as it's what they're known for. Unlike the previous set of meals, each dish was very different from one another, and tasted worlds apart - but all retained an extremely high level of quality. The licorice cake was my favorite, with the milk mousse on the side of the bowl being the highlight. The chocolate dish, containing all different types of the flavor, was another strong contender. Not to be slept on was the blood orange dish, which combined with the cold coconut parfait to create a textural & temperature combination that was delectable.

The total cost ended up being 350 euros per person, or roughly 380 dollars.

This is the second Michelin-starred restaurant I've been to, the first being Santa Elisabetta in Florence (**). Given that, I was expecting this to be a step up from that place (since this is a three-star), but I have to say I don't think it was - on the contrary, I think I prefer the Italian one.

There are a few reasons for that. For one, for about half the price, I got a good amount more food at Santa Elisabetta. Also, the experience there was just better. The plating was superb, the environment was amazing, and most importantly, the food was take-your-breath-away good.

This place excels on the margins. It beats the other restaurant easily in terms of service - the service here is spectacular. The variety of the dessert is also excellent.

None of this is to say the food isn't good. It's obviously some of the best food I've ever had. I enjoyed my experience very much overall, and this is in the top five to ten of restaurants i've ever been to, but it didn't live up to the hype for me, which is the part I'm disappointed by.

Encore un super repas, top du début à la fin

5 étoiles au service.
Le reste m’a énormément déçu : même si les plats sont bien maîtrisés, on assiste à Des associations finalement assez classiques et quand on va chez Monsieur Pierre Gagnaire, on veut voyager, partir à l’aventure, prendre un claque à chaque bouchée… là on s’est demandé tout le repas quand elle allait arriver, cette claque.

I’ve been to good enough Michelin restaurants, but for first time I experience 3 stars.
The service was fantastic- friendly, nice and not too formal.
Most of the dishes were amazing, very few very good. After all it’s a matter of taste, right.
Gourmet experience at very best!

Exceeded expectations.