Lunch 'Le déjeuner des jardiniers' at L'Arpège, Paris

As a food lover on holiday recently in France, I knew I had to do at least one top restaurant in the country. Unfortunately, from a gastronomic perspective I had probably planned to be there at the wrong time - the summer months of July and August are when many of the best establishments in France close for an extended break. Also, Michelin-starred restaurants in the French capital are astronomically expensive, and to find one that fit my budget was quite a challenge.

Eventually, I made reservations for lunch this afternoon at Alain Passard's L'Arpège round the corner from my hotel. Passard is a well-respected figure within France's culinary circles and has mentored many successful young chefs, not least of which is Pascal Barbot (chef patron of L'Astrance, 3 Michelin stars and currently No. 18 on St. Pellegrino's list). Passard has distinguished himself from his fine-dining colleagues by his special love for vegetables and insistence that only the best should be served to his customers; fresh organic produce arrives daily from his farms around Paris. While this is not an exclusively vegetarian restaurant, the emphasis is definitely on the best seasonal fruit and vegetables available, and vegetarian customers would feel right at home!

Very discreet exterior, in a quiet side road near the Invalides area

Bright and colourful table setting

Fresh tomatoes used as table decoration -
did you know there were so many different types?!

I went for the lunch tasting menu, very fancily titled Le déjeuner des jardiniers (The Gardeners' Lunch); this seemed to be the most common and sensible option, at 8 courses for 120 Euros. There is a full tasting menu of 10 courses at 320 Euros (eye-popping to most, but a pretty standard price in Parisian restaurants of this rank actually), and à la carte options range from 52 Euros for a salad to 140 Euros for a lobster dish (you read that right) - all of which were obviously priced out of my budget.

So, yes, I wasn't going to get all the bells and whistles by picking the cheapest menu option in the restaurant - but if you'd be dead wrong if you thought that the food would be also be of relatively inferior quality. The amuse-bouche that opened this meal was testimony to Passard's love for vegetables and set the tone for the rest of the afternoon:

A plate of incredibly pretty and dainty creamed vegetable tartlettes provided an amazing array of flavours on top of a delicate parmesan crust. There was broccoli with an incredibly juicy tomato (very fresh and clean-tasting), carrot with baby radish (very sweet), and fennel with zucchini (refreshing and subtly aromatic). A most delightful start to the meal.

Bread and butter followed next; the bread was decidedly unspectacular but the salted butter was revelatory - light, velvety and supple in texture, with a slightly nutty aftertaste; I'd never had anything like it. Upon asking my server, he revealed that it was from the iconic Jean-Yves Bordier of St. Malo, a favourite of gourmands (Guy Savoy also serves it at his 3-starred Paris flagship) - certainly a tastebud-opener for me!

(Click here for more info on the exclusive JYB butter)

First course: gaspacho de tomates au naturel, crème glacée céleri à la moutarde d'Orléans (tomato gaspacho with celeriac and Orléans mustard ice cream)

This chilled tomato soup is a very common starter for hot summers. Passard's version was incredibly smooth and consistent in texture (no tiny lumps or fibres whatsoever present) and had just the right balance of sweetness and acidity. The soup was made even more refreshing by its celeriac ice-cream accompaniment, and spicy hints of mustard gave the whole dish a subtle kick. To top it all off, generous lashings of high quality olive oil on the ice cream enhanced not only the fruity flavours of the dish, but also its light and velvety texture. Simple yet luxurious.

Second course: sushi légumier fleuri aux feuilles de figuier, transparence de betterave (vegetarian beetroot sushi with red cabbage, fig leaf oil and Orléans mustard sauce)

This was incredibly pretty to look at and tasted just as heavenly - I was instantly reminded of the excellent vegetarian sushi course that I had last year towards the end of my kaiseki lunch at Kikunoi in Kyoto. This version here is of course a Westernised one - no Japanese horseradish (wasabi) or soy sauce, which would have overwhelmed the subtle vegetable flavours in this case - but no less effective. Beneath the juicy and crunchy vegetable toppings sat a well-seasoned grainy paste of beetroot and mustard (sweet, suprisingly savoury and just very slightly spicy) upon a perfectly shaped and cooked mound of rice, with individual grains retaining a firm bite and radiating a pearly shine (respect to the Western chefs for getting this right!). Around the piece of sushi was a pool of the most delicate fig leaf oil, a very unusual condiment with a subtle aroma and taste, that served as the perfect foil for this charming study in textures and flavours. Who needs the fish when fruits and vegetables can be this good?

Third course: couleur, saveur, parfum, et dessin des jardins, création éphémère (the title is poetic - this was essentially an assortment of vegetable dumplings served in a fennel consommé)

I must confess to being rather disappointed at first glance, by the rather nondescript presentation in a metal bowl (I still find it hard to match this dish with such a poetic description), but any doubts I had about the potential of this dish were dispelled within seconds. The fragrance of fennel was immediately striking and intoxicating, and the broth was surprisingly savoury - perfect when taken together with the fresh and sweet vegetable dumplings. The dumplings themselves were pretty good too; two of them, one with tomato and the other with garlic amongst other herbs, made a particularly strong impression with their characteristic flavours. However, it was really the excellent consommé which gave character and focus to an otherwise commonplace bowl of dumplings.

Fourth course: cucurbitacées en fin velouté, crème soufflée au hareng fumé (sage and zucchini velouté, topped with Chantilly cream flavoured with smoked herring)

Despite its humble appearance, this was utterly amazing in taste and texture. Similar to the first course (but warm), this was a completely smooth, sweet and aromatic soup, made even more indulgent by an incredibly light and fluffy cream topping, with a wonderful smoky flavour. The precise balance of sweet and savoury flavours, and the combination of aromas from the sage and smoked herring infusions, were nothing short of an understated miracle.

Fifth course: Jardinère 'Arlequin' acidulée au géranium, carotte jaune du Doubs, concombre lemon, haricot cupidon... (crunchy vegetable 'Arlequin' with yellow Doubs carrot, cucumber, lemon, beans etc., dressed by a sweet and sour sauce made of honey and geranium from Passard's garden, and sprinkling of beetroot-infused salt)

I could tell that this meal was progressing swiftly to a climax - this dish made a real impact with its presentation. The colours were absolutely brilliant and pleasing to the eye. More importantly, this beautiful vegetable salad tasted as good as it looked - the freshness and vibrancy of the components will speak for themselves. The dressing and salt sprinkling enhanced the flavours of the salad effectively without overpowering their subtle nature.

Sixth course: ecailles ou plumes, reflet de la gourmandise (a choice between fish and meat; I picked the turbot roasted on the bone with white wine sauce, smoked potato, cabbage leaf and sage flower)

This was the only real non-vegetarian course of the lunch and its crowning glory. I've had turbot in many fine restaurants by now, but none as silky and delicate in texture as this, which is astonishing since turbot is naturally quite meaty and substantial. The fish was certainly something to remember for a very long time. Of the accompaniments, the humble smoked potato stood out in particular; its compelling aroma was the first to strike me and pretty much set the stage for this hugely appealing and savoury dish. The little sage flower behind the potato also enhanced the aesthetics of the dish and served as an aromatic palate-cleanser after finishing up the rest of the plate.

Seventh course (cheese): collection caprine de Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, ferme de la Souche (an assortment of farm goat cheeses from Malicorne-sur-Sarthe)

From right to left, I tasted three goat cheeses within increasing periods of maturity: fresh (raw), 1 week, 2 weeks. I thought that the 2-week cheese would be too strong for my taste, but surprisingly that was the one I liked the most; its full-bodied flavour was the best match for the extremely spicy and nutty rocket and mustard cress salad that accompanied my cheeses.

An impressive array of mignardises followed soon after my cheeses, before dessert:

On the tray lay 3 pieces each of plum and almond dragée pastry (sweet-sour, nutty, crunchy, flaky pastry bottom - nice), tomato and sage macaron (my favourite, sweet, savoury and aromatic), rhubarb and Angelica macaron (a little too sour for my taste), Vermont dark chocolate, rosemary white chocolate (both amazing with a long aftertaste and the flavours of the alcohol and herb riding along), thyme guimauve (a traditional French confectionery very similar to a marshmallow; this one was intensely aromatic with refreshing notes of lemon), apple tart in the shape of a rose (the classic Passard dessert in miniature form; in terms of proportion a little too much dough to apple, I thought).

Eight course (dessert): a plum and vanilla cream millefeuille with plum compote.

If I had any reservations at all about the lunch it would have to be with this dish. The plum was extremely tart and left the dish somewhat unbalanced even with the presence of sweet vanilla cream and buttered pastry layers. As you can see there wasn't much of a filling to begin with - most of it was pastry and huge empty pockets of air - and it looked rather sloppily put together. In hindsight, compared to the densely-packed and indulgent millefeuille I bought off the counter at Pierre Hermé a few days later, this was rather forgettable.

Moving on from my disappointment about the dessert, I finished the meal with an excellent infusion of herbs from Passard's garden:

After lunch I asked to have a photograph with Passard (he was really approachable and obliged readily) as well as to see the kitchen. Normally the latter would not have been possible because of lots of staff movement within an extremely small space, but because it was nearing the end of the lunch sitting and less busy (only desserts left for most tables) I was allowed a quick peek into the kitchen. I even had a photograph with the entire kitchen team (they were really friendly and sporting!).

With Alain Passard

Full house on a Friday afternoon

Foldable knife which one uses throughout the meal
and is then asked to take home as a souvenir

I left the restaurant feeling healthy and satisfied due to the generally light nature of the cuisine. This is not the place to visit if you're expecting heavy, buttery flavours that are typical of so many French dishes, but if you appreciate subtlety and precision in cooking and presentation you'll be richly rewarded. Service was generally excellent, from our server who answered my questions on the food patiently to the ebullient manageress (she spoke flawless English) who welcomed me very warmly, checked on me throughout the meal to make sure everything was alright, offered to take photographs, and took me into the kitchen at the end. 

I'd noticed that some neighbouring tables ordering the same menu had a little complimentary course during their meal, but I suppose that was due to their expensive wine orders; a young couple next to me only had water (probably just like me who refuses to pay for insanely marked-up wines at posh restaurants) and also didn't receive anything extra from the kitchen - I guess all is fair in the name of business!

While customers would generally appreciate the nice gesture of a parting gift in the form of the foldable knife, it would also be nice if the kitchen actually offered to clean it before allowing them to take it home - I gather from some reviews in the past that guests have politely declined taking a used, dirty knife with them (and rightly so). I wasn't going to make a big fuss about this since the blade could be folded inwards and was at no actual risk of ripping/staining my clothes, but this is definitely an area for improvement.

All in all, it had been a pleasant way to spend an afternoon and I'll definitely be back when I can comfortably afford the full tasting menu!