Interesting

That's what the French say when they think something sounds a bit weird or half baked and they are too polite to say so. Well "interesting" would certainly describe yesterday evening.

We again went for a meal at the catering college. No we don't go every week but we discovered that one couple do.The evening was advertised as a meal in the kitchen and the menu sounded great so John booked up. We had to join a waiting list which further intrigued us, although our reservation was subsequently confirmed. The reason for the restricted numbers soon became evident when we were escorted to our table in the kitchen overlooking the stoves and preparation areas. The table was beautifully dressed even though the guests were spread around the kitchen.

We started off with a "Blue  Lagoon" cocktail (pure spirit) during which we became acquainted with Camille who was to be our personal chef. She oozed confidence and is one to watch for the future. As we chatted she told us that she is working in a Michelin starred restaurant for 4 months in the summer. She then explained how she and her colleagues had spent all morning spring cleaning the kitchen and all afternoon preparing the food. We had never had Tartare of Duck before but, served with an avocado mousse, it was delicious, shame about the old jam jar it was presented in!! Camille cooked the red mullet to perfection but the risotto had overtones of rice pudding and none of fennel. She explained the cooking of the ballotine of chicken in warm water (we didn't tell her that we have seen it hundreds of times on Master Chef). However we did tell her that this course just tasted like a roast dinner. You get the idea that we were on a downward slope, However the dessert hit the pits. Camille's colleague was destined to prepare this course. We expected a conventional round baba soaked in crepe suzette sauce with ice cream. The sauce was to be prepared in front of us and flambed, but the mini stove turned out to have nearly run out of gas so the sauce took for ever and was certainly insufficient to coat the baba and we knew that the ice cream had disappeared. Eventually the chef tutor intervened and lobbed up the dessert, canteen style.

I hasten to add that none of the unsuccessful dishes was the fault of the students as their cooking techniques were fine but the recipes which were presumably devised by the staff left a lot to be desired. Interesting!!