The Goût de France celebration was introduced last year by living god Alain Ducasse, whose Macarons recipe book sits on my bedside table. Some people like unicorns and counting sheep to get to sleep, I like macarons.
The festival is a tribute to French food and is celebrated in all five continents. This year over 1500 chefs took part. In Scotland, two restaurants were up for the challenge: french restaurant La Garrigue in Edinburgh with chef Jean-Michel Gauffre, and Taste in Cumbernauld.
Taste is a training restaurant located in the Cumbernauld campus of the New college Lanarkshire. It serves up to 100 covers during school term time, over three to four services per week.
The service and cooking is done by students aged 16 to 50, under the supervision of Chef Paul Clark.
There was something intriguing about celebrating Goût de France in the hands of Scottish students. So this is where I went.
Finding Taste is an adventure in itself: it is a hidden gem, in between classrooms. When you enter the restaurant floor though, you wouldn't know you're in a school. The lime colored walls make the whole place feel really modern and upcoming.
I was welcomed and taken to my table by a student waiter, whose manners and pro attitude would put a lot of Glasgow waiters to shame.
Now the fun part: the food.
L'entrée: for starters, dinners were offered a little salade lyonnaise which was composed of lettuce, crispy bacon, one poached egg and croutons. The egg was cooked to perfection, runny as I like it. Traditionally, salade lyonnaise would have a stronger dressing then this one, often including some onions, but I thought it was a lovely and fresh wee start.
Le plat: Ah, I'm blaming my expectations. I ordered coq au vin and could already picture a plate of hearty, stew like, chicken in red wine. But chef Paul had another idea for this dish today, and I must say, once I brushed off that confused look off my face, I actually loved it.
The coq au vin came in the shape of a chicken breast wrapped in bacon, stuffed with a mushroom mousse, then topped with a red wine jus. It was a nice modern twist, accompanied by crunchy vegetables and mushroom shaped potatoes for the final touch. "Today we are cooking along some of the best French restaurants in the world" said chef Paul, "we wanted to be creative". Weefrenchy stamp of approval.
Le fromage: Eating cheese with chutney is not the traditionnal way in France. This is a habit I developped in the UK, but before I moved here, I would never have considered it. We do like a bit of sweetness with our cheeses, I remember my grandad cutting sweet juicy grapes with his secator straight off the vine in the back garden, then serving it with Brie ... ... ... Sorry, got lost in my thoughts for a moment.
In Taste, the Brie was served with a pear crisp and pear chutney. That chutney was gorgeous, a little bit spicy which sublimed the cheese in my opinion.
Le dessert: I went safe with the Creme brûlée but regretted my choice as soon my neighbour's tarte au citron arrived. It was beautifully presented with a quenelle of ice cream, and would easily compete with a lot of Parisian restaurants. You can tell the chef has spent time in France. He knows his stuff.
Celebrating Gout de France at Taste was a "triomphe"-A taste of home, in my new adopted country.
If you would like to give Taste a try too, find out more on their website.
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