La Grenouillere, Montreuil, France
Poor Pas de Calais. Up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t question its commonly-held reputation as a pass-through to Paris or as a destination for an alcohol run.
Happily, Jon’s rellies invited us to their weekend home in Montreuil-sur-Mer so we could appreciate the charms of a pretty French village located two hours by train and car from London.
Montreuil-sur-Mer has many charms, but the star attraction in my book is Alexandre Gauthier‘s one-Michelin-starred restaurant, La Grenouillere, located just outside the town walls in La Madeleine-sous-Montreuil.
rice flour chips
The restaurant-inn is built around an idyllic courtyard that was perfect for outdoor aperos. Pretty as the setting was, things got off to a rocky start with the rice flour “chips” that were served while we looked at the menu — they were hot and crispy (plus) but sadly stale-tasting (minus).
Our hosts, who’d been to La Grenouillere before, directed us towards the menu decouverte at 95 euros a person, and we moved inside for dinner.
cucumber, green strawberries and basil
John Dory, artichoke hearts and grilled garlic
Once seated, our dinner started with a series of carefully-constructed courses that would be at home in any 2-Michelin-star restaurant: creative, attractive and tasty, and I’m giving all of them short shrift because of the three courses that arrived towards the end of the meal. Three courses that were mind-blowingly good.
roast lobster tail hidden in a burning (Juniper) bush
roast lobster tail revealed
Our server entered the room trailing smoke. He was carrying a tray of what appeared to be pine-tree branches on fire. Theatrical to the nth degree. What saved the course from gimmick was its sheer deliciousness. This was the best hot lobster dish of my life. Sweet, intensely smoky, juicy. I’m drooling just thinking about it. And to top it all off, we had to eat with our hands. It turns out that eating lobster tail with your hands is both sexy and fun. Our table couldn’t help laughing and smiling.
lobster claw soup
Waste not, want not. Our next course was lobster soup packed with lobster claw meat and perfumed with sharp, stinky cheese foam. If you understand the appeal of Cheez-Its, you’ll begin to understand what made this soup so irresistible.
flash grilled steak, thinly sliced, served with morels
And as if two memorably delicious courses weren’t enough, our meat course was yet another tour de force: ”ferré, mauvaises herbes,” which I translate as “rails, with weeds.” Served tableside were thin slices of perfectly-rare steak somehow flash grilled with an intense smoky flavor. How it looked and tasted so gorgeously grilled while staying silky and juicy is a mystery.
"jam and toast"
Steak course over, we went back to the merely clever, tasty and beautiful. Jam and toast in haute couture form.
sorrel ice cream in a broken "glass"
“Bulle d’oseille” (bubble sorrel) was a highly amusing and whimsical palate cleanser. I’d hate to ruin the game, but I will say that it’s worth ducking for cover when this course arrives.
the surprise ending (no spoiler here)
The ultimate surprise was the petit four. Mum’s the word.
Dinner at La Grenouillere was delicious and fun. It’s easy to become jaded when you eat out so often, and for a few hours, La Grenouillere brought back the wonder and joy of eating someplace special and new. So plan a weekend away and see what Monsieur Gauthier is up to in Montreuil.
- Menu decouverte (includes two lobster courses): 95 euros
- Menu degustation (without the lobster courses): 75 euros [but really, you'd be missing the point if you skipped the lobster courses]
- a la carte: 30-euro starters, 45-euro mains
La Grenouillere, La Madeleine-sous-Montreuil 62170 France; +33 (0)21 06 07 22; Eurostar runs several daily trains to Calais (a one-hour ride from St. Pancras) and then it’s a 50-minute drive south; alternatively, it’s a nice stop on the way from Paris to England, 2.5 hours northwest of Paris.
Oh, this looks interesting, am thinking about a weekend away to Paris in September and this looks like a worthwhile detour. The lobster tail course looks like so much fun indeed.
Had been looking forward to you posting about this place. Sounds amazing – wonder how I can engineer a trip to this part of France.
Can’t believe you found this in… Calais! When are you going to join Twitter, BTW?
@Londoneater and GC: Montreuil-sur-Mer is a worthy stop en route to Paris OR as a weekend destination. I thought there was plenty to keep us entertained for 48 hours, and it was a fast, easy trip on the Eurostar (though you’d need a car to reach Montreuil from Calais, so take a car on the Eurostar).
@Douglas: Definitely with you on the “what a nice surprise” element. I wasn’t expecting much in Montreuil beyond pretty window boxes, but the food at La Grenouillere is destination worthy. Re: Twitter – it’s true I feel like the last holdout on the blogosphere. I fear Twitter’s “timesuck” properties. : )
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