Vendôme Restaurant

The interior design is modern but not too cold, and with some original touches.  The stone wall and the low ceiling make the place a bit noisy at times, although tastefully chosen carpet attenuated the noise to some extent. 

The table linen is beautiful, as is the porcelain and the crockery in general.

T he cutlery is excellent, and all the necessary utensils were present.

Unfortunately there is no no la carte menu; there is a 10-couse, 8-course or 5-course menu.

The food is not composed thoughtfully in the sense that it disadvantages wine lovers, as vinaigrette is used before the desert, which  interferes with the wine, and spices are deployed in a way that a fine wine’s taste is interfered with.  On the other had, they agreed to serve the spiciest sauces separately, so one could avoid them.  

The beet root macaron as well as the goose liver chocolate praline were superb, but the farmed French salmon was a bit anaemic in flavour.  On the other hand, an amazing and inspirational way to treat a cucumber in various ways was most impressive.  The parsley granite in the desert was sheer genius in creative simplicity.  The friandise and petit fours were sensational.

The wine list emphasises breadth over depth, offering few wines per region but most of them as vertical vintage clusters of consecutive vintages, which a nice idea.  Most is the wines are keenly priced. This is a wine list at realistic prices without excessive mark-ups. Very much a down-to-earth approach to a wine list - no showy prestige hunting here.

One vintage of the half bottles was unavailable, but the sommelier offered to sell us half of a 0.75l bottle - a very courteous and equitable solution.  The refilling of the glasses was slow at the start, but then it became smooth and attentive after a while.

The stemware was excellent.

Whilst the strikes of genius in the kitchen were somewhat tempered by a few significant issues, what was most impressive was the responsiveness and their troubleshooting skills - many hoity-toity three-star restaurants can be haughtier and less appreciative of valid concerns of their patrons.  This is a place we would return to in a flash.

February 2019.

4.25/5