Rachael Oakes-Ash was a Michelin Star restaurant virgin – but then she discovered Le Jardin Des Sens, in Montpellier.
French women may not get fat but Australian women in France do, or at least this one did. When presented with the world’s finest cuisine, blessed with a Michelin star or three, it’s impossible not to open wide and let it all in. Calories when consumed overseas don’t count, right?
Chefs the world over covet the Michelin star – it’s the Oscar of the restaurant world, a recognition of premium talent for those who spend their lives slicing and dicing. Get one of these and start planning your retirement villa in the Caymans.
Michelin stars are awarded annually and published in the Michelin Red Guide, the bible for gourmands the world over. First published in 1900 by Andre Michelin, a founding brother of the Michelin Tyre company, the Guide was designed for road trips, offering advice on car maintenance, lodgings, restaurants, even the location of public toilets. For the next twenty years it was given away free and covered only the French region of Europe. In 1920 the Michelin brothers started charging for the guide and in 1926 the star rating was introduced to measure the quality of cooking in listed dining establishments.
Today the guide is written for twelve countries with New York City and San Francisco introduced in 2005, the first cities outside of Europe. Inspections are anonymous, once every eighteen months, and restaurant entries are not paid for, ensuring unbiased reviews.
Last year I was a Michelin virgin, untouched by the world’s most rated cuisine. You never forget your first Michelin experience. Mine was with twins, Jacques and Lourent Pourcel, brothers in arms behind the helm of the kitchen at Le Jardin Des Sens, a two star Michelin restaurant on the outskirts of Montpellier, in the French region of Languedoc.
Sons of wine growers, Jacques and Laurent opened the restaurant in 1988 and were bestowed with three Michelin stars ten years later. They’ve since dropped one but who’s counting? Le Jardin, translated means the garden. The restaurant is part of a thirteen-room intimate hotel and is walled by glass on one side overlooking a theatrical horticultural masterpiece. Diners are placed on clothed tables, mezzanine style to ensure all have a full view of the backlit landscaped foliage.
It’s a restaurant that delights all five senses, built on a fantasy world of the imaginary where the garden becomes the dining room and vice versa. Service is impeccable with a flurry of waiters, busboys, sommeliers and the like floating between tables ensuring no glass is left half empty, no table left with crumbs.
For once in my life I’m not on a budget and choose to indulge on the Les Jardins degustation menu of “sense and discovery” an eight course meal sprinkled with caviar, langoustines, truffles, foie gras and sole interrupted by palate cleansing champagne sorbets served up in twee little cones.
There is, of course, the obligatory French cheese trolley wheeled up with great flair and laid down with gooey cheeses inspired by musty caves and moldy dark rooms. By course three I am floating on a gastronomic cloud of sensory pleasure that I don’t want to end. Thankfully there’s another five courses to come.
The brothers opened a bakery and pastry shop to complement the existing restaurant. Saveurs Sucrees provides carbohydrates for lovers of baguettes, pain au raisins and the like year round while the Atelier de Cuisine (Cooking House) offers cooking courses with the great chefs.
Now the directors of the Pourcel Group, Jacques and Laurent head up the Pourcel Bros Café and Bistro in Tokyo, the Maison Blanche in Paris, the T’able Augusta at Augusta Villa in France, Wsens in London, D’Sens in Bangkok and Resto Eighteen in Shanghai. All this expansion no doubt supported by their Michelin credentials.
But Michelin stars have not been without controversy. Many in the culinary world claim stars lean towards restaurants in France and those outside of France that serve French cuisine. No one knows the identity of the Michelin reviewer, criteria is rigid and based on cuisine on the plate, not interior décor or service meaning spectacular food can be served with a grimace, not a smile. Then there’s the case of French chef, Bernard Loiseau, who killed himself when told his restaurant may lose one of his three Michelin stars.
Gordon Ramsay’s first Michelin star put him on the world culinary map and inspired a television series (The Angry Chef), a host of cook books and a chain of Gordon Ramsay associated restaurants in key capital cities around the world.
Michelin darling, Alain Ducasse has his name on some of Paris and France’s best dining establishments including Spoon, Food and Wine and the self titled Ducasse restaurant. His consulting name has been put to hotel restaurants in Hong Kong and New York ensuring wait lists for his menu.
The end of the meal at the restaurant that started my Michelin madness, Le Jardin Des Sens, and I have an extra dining companion, a roll of flesh now overflowing from my unbuttoned trousers. I have dubbed it my Michelin tyre and given it three stars.
For more information visit the website Le Jardin Des Sens, Montpellier, France. www.jardin-des-sens.com.
The eight course degustation menu will set you back around 170 Euros without wine. If you’re staying, then Sofitel Antigone in Montpellier is a ten euro taxi ride from Michelin paradise. The signature My Bed ensures the sensory bliss continues long after the last mouthful of wine. Visit www.sofitel.com
