fou de france

Tuesday after French class a handful of us went to lunch at Benoit.

They were having a food event called Fou de France (Food of France). This event was started by Alain Ducasse in order to showcase the chefs who have restaurants in regional France.

The chef who would be cooking for us was Xavier Isabal of Hotel Ithurria, a farm hotel that has been around since 1657, located in Ainuhoa, Basque.

Our lunch started out with a blini topped with salmon roe and filled with smoked salmon.

I liked this but there were passion fruit seeds here and there and the crunching made me think there were bones or something in there, I would leave out those seeds next time.

My entrée (which is appetizer in French) galette de pommes de terre, jambon de bayonne, mesclun et champignon (crispy potato wafer with mesclun, mushroom and homemade ham)

I really enjoyed the crispy potato wafer and the homemade ham was very tasty.

My plat (main dish) was lapin farci à la tomate, écrasée de pommes de terre carottes confites (rabbit stuffed with tomato, smashed potato, mesclun & glazed carrots)

I figured how often would I be able to eat rabbit? especially in Japan? cooked by a chef from France?

The texture was similar to chicken, very moist and tender, no gaminess to it.

Dessert was coupe Stéphane, chocolat chaud (vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream, hot chocolate sauce and almond bits, the mushrooms are made of meringue) I had envisioned something "molten" so I was pleasantly surprised when this came out.

They bring it out and drizzle hot chocolate sauce over it. The mushrooms are made of meringue and are very light.

It had the right amount of sweetness, the perfect ending.

We also each received a bag of chocolate madeleines to take home...delicious!

A great foodie day, I hope my French classmates invite me out with them again it was fun.