potatomato.blog: La Ferrandaise (Paris: St. German des pre)

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Oct 16

La Ferrandaise (Paris: St. German des pre)

Food 21: Paris

After the amazing dinner on our first night, the bar was set high. So perhaps that made our 2nd night dinner a tad bit disappointing. I read about this place La Ferrandaise on a magazine Madame Figaro Japan and it's cited as a a "special favorite" on Pudlo Paris (a Parisienne food guide that's translated into English recently). It sounds promising in the reviews. It's located near the Luxembourg garden in the 6th Arrondissement on a quiet street.

Like most restaurants in Paris, they offer a set menu. In their case it was 32 euro for an appetizer + main course + dessert. It's a system I like a lot and is often end up cheaper than a lot of places in LA, especially since service charge is added in already.

They have English menu (St. Germain has too many tourists).

Forgot what the amuse busch but it had very strong onion flavor.

Freda's choice:

Appetizer: Chicken Liver Salad with a Poached Egg. This doesn't really qualify as a "salad" as there're very few pieces of vegetable. The chicken livers are quite dry and bland tasting, not to mention incredibly heavy. Definitely not a good choice as an appetizer. Dessert: Red Wine-Poached Pear with a Biscuit and Licorice Ice cream. Can't really taste the licorice in the ice cream.

Freda's main course: Roasted Guinea Fowl with Swiss Chard Gratin. It's another very very heavy dish. The guinea fowl has a nice wildness smell but the meat turns out a bit dry and bland tasting, like chicken almost. The chard gratin was good (very oily though).

My (Joan)'s choice:
appetizer: Crispy veal foot. Looks generic but it's actually quite good. Beneath the deep fried surface there're pieces of chopped veal foot. I didn't care much for the deep fried skin at all and wish to just eat the chopped veal foot pieces by themselves.

My main course is a special of the night: Grouse d'Ecosse, cook with the foie gras, puree of Panais and mushroom. I picked it because I've never had grouse (a type of bird) nor panais (a type of root) before. The grouse meat has an acquire taste. It's quite tough and has a bitter after taste. I'm not sure I like it, it's definitely very different tasting. I was too full after the main course so I didn't order dessert.

Our friend's choices:

Dill marinated salmon with sweet mustard sauce. Main course: sauteed sea bass with cabbage and lemon. Dessert: dark chocolate fingers with gentian ice cream. All safe choices but good in a predictable way.

Perhaps we would enjoy our meal more if we didn't have the amazing dinner at Au fil des Saison the night before. Unfortunately, Freda fell very ill after this meal. Perhaps the food was too rich for her stomach, we weren't sure.

La Ferrandaise (01 43 26 36 36)
8, rue de Vaugirard, 75006 PARIS

Joan | October 16, 2007 06:42 PM

Comments:

Let's start reading and researching~ (need my find next goal).

Freda | October 26, 2007 07:27 AM

French country side, Greek island and Scandinavian are all great for me hohoho~~

seat | October 25, 2007 09:33 PM

Chubbypanda, yes even with careful researches I did there're still restaurants that don't live up to their glowing reviews. And I think you really cannot just walk into any joint, esp. in certain touristy area (ex: Latin Quarter).

But the essentials: bread, cheese, wine, yogurt, etc. are ALWAYS sooo good! I'm quite shock. Even breads that I picked up at the metro station's food stand are quite good too.

Seat: yah yah~ we need our next obsesion, start dreaming up our next trip already! Definitely join us next time. Province? (+Barcelona?), Italy? Greek island, or Scandanavia?

Freda | October 24, 2007 10:21 AM

I'm surprised there are mediocre restaurants in Paris, particularly given how much food costs there. It must have been disappointing.

Chubbypanda | October 24, 2007 04:43 AM

I am definitely tagging along on your next trip!!! XD

seat | October 20, 2007 06:14 PM

Yeah it's a bistro (so is the one from previous night). We mostly go to this type of hearty meal dining this trip. Coz there's such a HUGE jump of price between Bistro and 'restaurant'. ^^;;; Seems like "restaurant" refers strictly to those big establishment, formal/business-chic dressing ones. We only afford to go to 2 restaurants for a 2 weeks trip that needed to cover a lot of meals. I think the breakdown is like:

Gastronomic - the fine dining, haute cuisine

Bistro - I think this covers quite a range, from very small home-cooking to rather upscale ones, guess it umbrella everything that's not formal. Most of the ones we go to are range in 26 - 30 Euro for 3 course.

Brasserie - don't think we went to any

Cafe - never actually eat in any, we stick to coffee only

Then there's Creperie and Wine bar

I hope that in my next trip, a shorter one since I'm done with my touristy thing, I can go all out and try a fancy dinner at either l'Arpège or l'Ambroisie or Gagnaire (seems like in consensus they're among the best of those 3-stars Gastronomic restaurants), coz I won't have to cover as much meals ^^;;

Freda | October 20, 2007 10:27 AM

32euro is like US$45? Quite reasonable!
Are the guinea fowl and the grouse gibier(game meat)? I think France gibier season(hunting allowed) is around now...that explains the tough meat with bitter taste and wild smell. The food looks more bistro style(fried stuff, oily etc.) than proper restaurant style!