Weekend Cooking: Dinner at Jules Verne

Last week I talked about our last minute decision to attend a New Year's Eve dinner at Mont St Michel. This week I am going to talk about another memorable meal, this time at Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. This dinner was very much a planned events. I booked this dinner as soon as the dates became available. We knew that we wanted to go to dinner on 8 January as that is the sixth anniversary of my first date with my husband. So we were in Paris, it was our anniversary! It definitely counts as a special occasion in my mind.

By coincidence we had bought tickets for the Batobus earlier in the day so we decided to use that as our means of transport to the Tower which gave us the opportunity to sail along the river with all the buildings lit up. It was a perfect way to arrive - slow and restful. 

After a short wait we were whisked up to the second landing of the Tower, where we were seated right at the window (apparently where you sit is allocated according to when you booked. We were then given the option of a five course degustation or a seven course degustation. We chose the seven course as we are unlikely to repeat this event again.

Really though, there were the seven courses plus an amuse bouche and a palate cleanser at the end so it was nine different plates of various sizes.

First, here is the amuse bouche - a tiny tart with super thin and crispy pastry. I didn't quite catch what it was but I do know it had some parmesan in there somewhere. In addition, we were also given delicious warrm bread, along with salted butter. I could have eaten the bread and butter all night.

The menu

Next four starters - that's right....four. Although I forgot to take a photo of one of them. Actually, I think that the top one was a bonus as well as it isn't on the menu, but it was a delightful way to set the tone forr the rest of the meal. 

If I had to pick a favourite for the starters it is the langoustine - the thin beetroot jelly was a work of art!

And then two mains - the cod dish didn't quite look like this when it arrived, but I only just remembered to take a photo after I had started to cut it up. Again, if I HAD to pick just one it would be the chicken. The gravy was to die for¬

Then two desserts - Both of these were so good, but the texture on the chocolate souffle was just absolutely spectacular.

And then the final exquisite bites

There were so many highlights of this meal. Having said that, I can't see it being something that we do again becauuse it was very pricey, but as a once off it was definitely enjoyable,

In addition to being waited on by several waiters at a time, one of theother ways we were treated as VIPs was when it came time to getting a taxi to go back to the hotel. The restaurant called the cab, the doorman walked us to the next doorman who then waited with us until the cab arrived! Very VIP.

I do have another couple of memorable meals to post about as well as a walking tour, but I will likely save them for later in the year. Never say never though. Depends what I come up with for next week's post!

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