11th March 2011
After telling my workmate Justin about the list, he and his girlfriend Lucy were very excited about joining me and helping ticking off one item from the list. We settled on Koots Salle A Manger as it was close to work and offered a great menu.
Despite booking well in advance the restaurant was booked out at 7 & 730 so we had to settle for a 630 booking. We arrived into a clean and modern dining space with a full bar. We were the first people to arrive for dinner that night before the dining room filled up.
We decide to really go all out with a full 3 course meal. The first course involve me ordering the braised squid, local mussels and warm kipfler potato salad with aioli and bouillabaisse foam. Thin slices of braised squid and a few mussels with a soft delicate sauce that was balanced and flavourful.
Justin and Lucy decided to share the 'La terre, La Mer et La Jardin'. Presented perfectly and a wide selection of dishes, they both enjoyed the majority of the dishes although I'm not sure oysters are for Justin and Lucy given the tentative way they ate it and the faces they made whilst eating them.
Following the starter i went for the Rabbit saddle with grilled polenta, black trumpet mushroom and fresh fig. This was one of the best dishes i have had since i started the list. Amazingly cooked rabbit, with soft grilled polenta and an amazing sauce. Just an amazing dish that exemplifies french cooking at its best.
We accompanied this with a couple of sides of french fries and a witlof, with sliced apple, walnuts and blue cheese salad. Great accompaniments for the dishes as well as delicious in its own right.
The final dish was a lime panna cotta with a topping of strawberries with strawberry tart. A great panna cotta with deliciously clean fresh flavours. The only disappointment was the strawberry tart which just involved a strip of pastry covered in sliced strawberries. It was good but required something extra either extra icing sugar or something that gave it an extra wow factor.
An amazing meal that ranks as one of my favourite meals so far on the list. Everything about the meal; service, decor, wine & drinks list and of course the food was absolutely first rate.
