In my 2 months in France, I managed to check out two Michelin-rated restaurants. This one, Les Pléiades in Barbizon, was the better of the two. I’ll zoom in on my dish, which was most unusual.
Filet du canette migratoire du Canada a la sauce cranberry, puree vitelotte et bouquet de legumes printaniers
The air-flown duck arrived in an ‘Air Mail’ envelope which the waiter cut up. It was then laid out on my plate. It was explained that since we were in Barbizon, the town where many artists and authors resided, this dish represented a palette that we could paint on.
I was given a tube of warm paste which turned out to be more of the purple potato mash with an obvious hint of truffle. I decided to write my name on my plate.
Another dish on the menu that intrigued us, was called ‘Seriole Killer’. Turns out the El Bulli-trained chef has a sense of humour and it is actually a fish dish with a ‘knife’ sticking out.
We could see the El Bulli influence in various dishes, such as this dessert which came with cactus juice. It tasted grassy but not unpleasant.
Escale de fruits des iles avec ses dunes au sesame et sa fraicheur de cactus au citron
Finally the chef, Philippe Geneletti, emerged to chat with us. I told him he deserved his Michelin star. This was a very new restaurant with an obviously young, up and coming chef who still had a lot of ideas and enthusiasm.
The gastronomic restaurant (not to be confused with the more casual brasserie in the same hotel) is located in the newly-built Les Pléiades hotel. For more information, visit the hotel website.
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