Cuisine: French
Origin: La Tour D'Argent @ Paris, France
Price: THB5,000 per person without alcohol (what I paid for)
Visited: 9 July 2011
Food: 8/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Value for money: 5/10
Services: 10/10
Le Normandie @ Mandarin Oriental Hotel Bangkok is without doubt one of the finest French haute cuisine in Thailand. Perhaps I do not have to mention about the perfection of Le Normandie: the grand and elegant decoration, the finest choices of menu, the great wine list, and most of all the unrivalled services. During the first week of July 2011, La Tour D'Argent, the famous restaurant of Paris that has been in operation for more than 400 years, did give Le Normandie a special visit. Of course, the well-known Duck Press was also in the menu for residence of Bangkok to try without flying all the way to Paris. We were lucky this time to be able to book a place for lunch to try the legendary duck. La Tour D'Argent has claimed to raise ducks at its own farm. Each diner who orders the duck would receive a postcard with serial number. At this occasion, Andre Terrail, the owner of the restaurant, has flew all the way himself to greet guesses.
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| Atmosphere @ Le Normandie |
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| The Legend Duck Press |
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| Chef performing "Pancakes Belle Epoque" |
Ranges of home-made bread here are spectacular. All of which were really tasty and the choice of butter here was selected with the well-known Danish brand "Lurpak". Though it was not a home-made butter but the good enough to satisfy us though.
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| Selection of Breads and Butter |
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| Beautiful Set of Butter |
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| A Glass of Fruit Punch |
The first dish of the meal was Beef Terrine with Charroux Mustard. Though we found that it was tender and sweetness from terrine with a hint of sour scent that combine everything nicely, we still think that this dish was nice at the ordinary level (7/10).
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| Beef Terrine with Charroux Mustard |
Next was Pike Dumpling "Andre Terrail". This dish was surely an outstanding one. Supremely soft which combined just perfectly with foamy and creamy gratin and mushroom. Some people may feel that this dish gives the feeling of fish ball though (9/10).
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| Pike Dumpling "Andre Terrail" |
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| Pike Dumpling "Andre Terrail" (The Inside) |
This was followed by Roasted Cod with Olives and Tomatoes. This one was well cooked to give the perfect tenderness of fillet. It had rather light taste with tomato as the main scent. We felt that this dish tasted a bit like Ratatouille, hence, this gave a rather traditional expression (8/10).
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| Roasted Cod with Olives and Tomatoes |
Shoulder Confit of Lozere Lamb with Agria Mille-Feuille was indeed a delightful dish. The supreme tenderness of lamb with scent of herbs. The gravy was enjoyable but we felt that it was a bit too salty, otherwise a perfection (8/10).
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| Shoulder Confit of Lozere Lamb with Agria Mille-Feuille |
Here comes the legendary duck: Duckling Tour d'Argent, Souffleed Poatatoes. The special thing about this was the gravy sauce that was made by pressing parts of duck including bone and blood. Perhaps we did expect it too much, we felt that this dish was not that special. The duck was not that tender but firm and smooth (7/10).
The other one was Slow Cooked Duck Leg with Bearnaise Sauce, Salad with Truffle Oil. We prefer this one though. The meat was really tender while the skin was crisp. Another traditional dish that was well prepared (8/10).
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| Duckling Tour d'Argent, Souffleed Poatatoes |
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| Slow Cooked Duck Leg with Bearnaise Sauce, Salad with Truffle Oil |
The dessert was Red Fruits in an Aromatic Hibiscus Juice and Cream Cheese Sorbet. This one was well picked by the chef. After heavy meal you would not want another heavy dessert, right? This one was light and refreshing with combination of sweetness and sour of berries. The sorbet was smooth and pleasant. We did want more of this though (8/10).
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| Red Fruits in an Aromatic Hibiscus Juice and Cream Cheese Sorbet |
Petit Fours with a cup of Latte after the meal was rather great and cheerful.
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| Petit Fours |
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| A Cup of Latte |
This restaurant is surely a supreme quality restaurant, however, these fine qualities do come at cost though. Overall we did enjoy the foods prepared by La Tour D'Argent and the super friendly services of Le Normandie. Nevertheless, pricing was rather excessive for a meal of this quality from our opinion. But for an experience may be acceptable.
La Tour D'Argent (Special Visit) @ Le Normandie, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Bangkok
48 Oriental Avenue (Soi Charoen Krung 40)
Charoen Krung Road
Bang Rak, Bang Rak
Bangkok 10500
Thailand
Open Hours: 12:00pm - 02:30pm for lunch and 07:00pm - 11:00pm for dinner, closed for Sunday lunch
Tel: +66 (0) 2659 9000 ext. 7670
