I thought I should give a second chance to this 3 Michelin stars seafood restaurant, even if my first time there was very disappointing. I told myself I would choose other dishes which would prove my initial judgements were wrong. Unfortunately, after my dinner in Le Bernardin last Friday, I stand for every word I said about this restaurant before. Le Bernardin would never get even 2 Michelin stars if it were located in France. But I guess being a French chef in New York makes miracles… The dinner was not bad, I would even say “decent”, but when you know how high this restaurant is rated by all the guides you start wondering what is so special about Le Bernardin…
As last time we took the three-course menu for $107. My first dish was “Wild Alaskan and smoked salmon, apple, celery and baby watercress jalapeno emulsion”. The acidity was an interesting aspect of the dish but the strong “smokiness ” of the salmon didn’t do the justice to other products. In my humble opinion, it was too predictable…
The second dish was ” Kanpachi tartare topped with wasabi tobiko; ginger-coriander emulsion”. The Japanese inspired tartare was good, but something I had many times in Japanese restaurants. When you go to a 3 Michelin restaurant you expect to eat something that you don’t eat every day…
The final dish was “Wild striped bass, Fiji shrimp; confit tomato agnolotti, bouillabaisse consommé and curry emulsion”. The dish that I liked the most, well-executed interpretation of classical bouillabaisse.
Like the first time I dined in Le Bernardin, the best part of the dinner was the dessert. A very talented pastry chef… I didn’t take notes for the dessert but I think it was “Dark chocolate, peanuts and caramel tart, Meyer lemon purée, peanut powder, praline citrus sorbet.” Excellent.
L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and Bouley coming soon…
