Seems like another night of chasse...
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Auberge Communale de Meyrin
Meyrin is so familiar that it is auto pilot all the way to the auberge. Strangely, after 5 years hanging around CERN, I'd never been here.
Seems like another night of chasse...
Seems like another night of chasse...
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Auberge Port Gitana
From the menu...
Carpaccio de canette grille (21chf)
Filets de Perche au beurre citronne (41chf)
Moelleux chocolat (13 chf)
Wine:
Aligote de Jussy (44chf)
As you can see from the menu the Port Gitana has (not surprisingly) an aquatic focus. Filets de perche is the house speciality here, so my decision for a main course is rather easy. The only problem being whether to try a new twist on an old classic or to stick with the original. Since Peaches is the connoisseur of filets de perche I leave the new saveurs to him and go with a butter and lemon sauce. The selection of the entree is an entirely different process since there is only really a single dish of any interest. Not surprisingly we all take the same thing: thinly sliced duck's breast served with hazelnut oil. When it arrives the dish is very precisely presented and the meat is soft and tender, but the heavy peppering dominates the natural taste. 5/11 FaceTwats.
When they arrive, the filets de perche are swimming in a creamy sauce which is much more substantial than the usual thin drissle of butter. This sauce turns out to be a great addition to the filets, which themselves are full of flavor. While the side of fries is rather generic (at least compared to the singular incarnation of last week) they serve their purpose as a conduit for the creamy sauce leftovers. Yummy! I don't intend to eat many filets de perche on this tour but now I can resist the temptation knowing that I've had a really fantastic one. 9/11 FaceTwats.
One thing that I'd completely forgotten until now was that I was drinking some white wine while eating my fish and talking rubbish about Archimedes Adolfinos (who turns out to be Mario's ancestor), and how shitty my DIRAC code is (soon to be was). I'm not really a huge fan of white wine and tend to only really notice when it is very good or quite bad. This was neither, but it seemed to go well enough with the fish as not to cause offense. 4/11 FaceTwats.
When the desert menu comes we are again left with very few choices. There are thousands of ice-cream combinations but only four real deserts. Once again it has to be a chocolate volcano! After the delicious filets de perche I was hoping that when creating the menu, the Gitana of the Port Gitana decided to do only a few things, but do them well. Unfortunately, the chosen dish was the same as last week (where it was the house speciality desert) and didn't quite match up. Perhaps this is a lesson not to take the same dish on consecutive weeks. Either way, another 4 FaceTwats.
In conclusion, filets de perche is the speciality of this auberge for two reasons:
1. They are delicious!
2. Everything else is rather average.
In addition, when the l'addition comes we find out that it is also rather expensive. My advice for this place is: order only filets de perche, enjoy it, pay, then leave.
Carpaccio de canette grille (21chf)
Filets de Perche au beurre citronne (41chf)
Moelleux chocolat (13 chf)
Wine:
Aligote de Jussy (44chf)
As you can see from the menu the Port Gitana has (not surprisingly) an aquatic focus. Filets de perche is the house speciality here, so my decision for a main course is rather easy. The only problem being whether to try a new twist on an old classic or to stick with the original. Since Peaches is the connoisseur of filets de perche I leave the new saveurs to him and go with a butter and lemon sauce. The selection of the entree is an entirely different process since there is only really a single dish of any interest. Not surprisingly we all take the same thing: thinly sliced duck's breast served with hazelnut oil. When it arrives the dish is very precisely presented and the meat is soft and tender, but the heavy peppering dominates the natural taste. 5/11 FaceTwats.
When they arrive, the filets de perche are swimming in a creamy sauce which is much more substantial than the usual thin drissle of butter. This sauce turns out to be a great addition to the filets, which themselves are full of flavor. While the side of fries is rather generic (at least compared to the singular incarnation of last week) they serve their purpose as a conduit for the creamy sauce leftovers. Yummy! I don't intend to eat many filets de perche on this tour but now I can resist the temptation knowing that I've had a really fantastic one. 9/11 FaceTwats.
One thing that I'd completely forgotten until now was that I was drinking some white wine while eating my fish and talking rubbish about Archimedes Adolfinos (who turns out to be Mario's ancestor), and how shitty my DIRAC code is (soon to be was). I'm not really a huge fan of white wine and tend to only really notice when it is very good or quite bad. This was neither, but it seemed to go well enough with the fish as not to cause offense. 4/11 FaceTwats.
When the desert menu comes we are again left with very few choices. There are thousands of ice-cream combinations but only four real deserts. Once again it has to be a chocolate volcano! After the delicious filets de perche I was hoping that when creating the menu, the Gitana of the Port Gitana decided to do only a few things, but do them well. Unfortunately, the chosen dish was the same as last week (where it was the house speciality desert) and didn't quite match up. Perhaps this is a lesson not to take the same dish on consecutive weeks. Either way, another 4 FaceTwats.
In conclusion, filets de perche is the speciality of this auberge for two reasons:
1. They are delicious!
2. Everything else is rather average.
In addition, when the l'addition comes we find out that it is also rather expensive. My advice for this place is: order only filets de perche, enjoy it, pay, then leave.
Auberge Port Gitana
After a bit of stroppiness from Peaches we landed in the Auberges Port Gitana. From the name one might expect a lively place with gypsy music and easy women but unfortunately it is a rather quiet and drab place. Instead of gypsies we have several delegations of Chinese business people and rather drab 80s decor. Must be nice in summer though since there is a great view of the lake and a huge terrace...too cold for us though.
After one look at the menu it is clear why Peaches was so keen...the specialty is Filets de Perche. In fact there are 4 versions to choose from.
And we do have a special guest tonight...Dr "konichiwa" Poss.
After one look at the menu it is clear why Peaches was so keen...the specialty is Filets de Perche. In fact there are 4 versions to choose from.
And we do have a special guest tonight...Dr "konichiwa" Poss.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Auberge du Lion d'Or
From the menu...
Salade de poulpe (18chf)
Paillarde du porc facon du chef (28chf)
Dessert du chef (14chf)
Wine:
Pinot noir de Geneve, 2010 (32chf)
There was lots of discussion on the first night about what exactly our approach was going to be. While turning up to restaurants and ordering canettes and calzones has suited us fine in the past we came to the conclusion that such a "grand tour" was worthy of a little more culinary refinement. This conclusion was arrived at while drinking our first beer, so should of course should be seasoned to taste. For my part, I decided that wherever possible I should take at least one plate "du chef/a la maison".
This led me to try a dish unknown to me...paillarde du porc. What could it be?! Go on, guess...
Well, it turns out that paillarde is a schnitzel. Not very glamorous I admit, but a good wholesome peasant food start to the tour. I've had a lot of schnitzel during my time in Poland, but this was certainly one of the best. My guess would be that the original recipe was the chef's polish grandma's and was modified slightly by some culinary school seasoning skillz thrown into the bread-mix.
The real delight of the meal was the dessert. For some people this is true of any meal, but usually I'm more of a fatty/greasy/meaty main course kinda guy. Dessert is just punctuation. But, after a long period of indecision the waiter suggested that instead of "or" I should consider "and": dessert du chef is a selection of all the desserts. Yum!
Considering the dessert alone this place would be a solid 8 "FaceTwats" (out of 11 FTs). But, we can't eat only sweets, and so with a strong 7 FTs for baba's schnitzel and 6FTs for the pulpo (which should only ever really be served a la gallega anyways), the food score comes in at a respectable 7FTs.
The scoring system is not yet fully specified and it completely arbitrary. But, knowing the crowd, I'm sure someone will propose some Bayesian technique to re-normalize the scoring, only for someone else to do it with a maximum likelihood method. Que ludicrously long statistics argument....don't worry folks, I don't know anything about it either.
Salade de poulpe (18chf)
Paillarde du porc facon du chef (28chf)
Dessert du chef (14chf)
Wine:
Pinot noir de Geneve, 2010 (32chf)
There was lots of discussion on the first night about what exactly our approach was going to be. While turning up to restaurants and ordering canettes and calzones has suited us fine in the past we came to the conclusion that such a "grand tour" was worthy of a little more culinary refinement. This conclusion was arrived at while drinking our first beer, so should of course should be seasoned to taste. For my part, I decided that wherever possible I should take at least one plate "du chef/a la maison".
This led me to try a dish unknown to me...paillarde du porc. What could it be?! Go on, guess...
Well, it turns out that paillarde is a schnitzel. Not very glamorous I admit, but a good wholesome peasant food start to the tour. I've had a lot of schnitzel during my time in Poland, but this was certainly one of the best. My guess would be that the original recipe was the chef's polish grandma's and was modified slightly by some culinary school seasoning skillz thrown into the bread-mix.
The real delight of the meal was the dessert. For some people this is true of any meal, but usually I'm more of a fatty/greasy/meaty main course kinda guy. Dessert is just punctuation. But, after a long period of indecision the waiter suggested that instead of "or" I should consider "and": dessert du chef is a selection of all the desserts. Yum!
Considering the dessert alone this place would be a solid 8 "FaceTwats" (out of 11 FTs). But, we can't eat only sweets, and so with a strong 7 FTs for baba's schnitzel and 6FTs for the pulpo (which should only ever really be served a la gallega anyways), the food score comes in at a respectable 7FTs.
The scoring system is not yet fully specified and it completely arbitrary. But, knowing the crowd, I'm sure someone will propose some Bayesian technique to re-normalize the scoring, only for someone else to do it with a maximum likelihood method. Que ludicrously long statistics argument....don't worry folks, I don't know anything about it either.
Auberge Communale de Collex-Bossy
After another unsuccessful attempt to go to the Auberge de Celigny (it was full) we are spending this evening in the Auberge Communale de Collex-Bossey. Speciality of the house is...bison!
Tonight we have some esteemed scientists from EPFL as our guests.
Tonight we have some esteemed scientists from EPFL as our guests.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Pulling a Vava
For the benefit of our new readers, "Pulling a Vava" is defined as the situation where you say to your mates that you will join them for a petite soiree but then do not turn up due to one of the following reasons:
1. Having to work.
2. Going home because you have to continue working.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Auberge du Lion d'Or
Hold on, wait a minute, what do you mean "Ferme"? The Auberge de Celigny, and the first on the list of 43 communale auberges in Canton Geneva that we plan to visit each Thursday for the next year, is closed. The first night of "Le Tour" starts badly.
The plan was to start on the northern most commune on the rive droit and make our way anti-clockwise around the lake, taking in all the communes on the way. Celigny, being so far north that it is actually in canton Vaud, was the first up, but due to the aforementioned closure (we had to choose the one week it was closed then not call and try and make a reservation) we needed a hasty backup. Thankfully the neighboring commune (if we just ignore the little stretch of Vaud) is Versoix, home of the Auberge du Lion d'Or. Phew! Disaster averted.
Vava being Vava, pulled a Vava and didn't turn up, leaving Mario, Luigi and Peaches to enjoy our brewed aperitif while poring over the menu...
The plan was to start on the northern most commune on the rive droit and make our way anti-clockwise around the lake, taking in all the communes on the way. Celigny, being so far north that it is actually in canton Vaud, was the first up, but due to the aforementioned closure (we had to choose the one week it was closed then not call and try and make a reservation) we needed a hasty backup. Thankfully the neighboring commune (if we just ignore the little stretch of Vaud) is Versoix, home of the Auberge du Lion d'Or. Phew! Disaster averted.
Vava being Vava, pulled a Vava and didn't turn up, leaving Mario, Luigi and Peaches to enjoy our brewed aperitif while poring over the menu...
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