Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve

We had planned to have lunch at MUMI today - I had done some research on good Parisian restaurants and MUMI had ticked all the boxes, including consistently excellent reviews. However, a couple of days ago I received an email from them saying that they had to cancel our booking as they had had a fire in the kitchen and had to close for several weeks - bummer!

Luckily, I had kept my notes for a number of restaurants I had researched and La Table de Colette was second on my list and we were able to secure a table for lunch. And, what a lunch it was. The staff, the ambiance, the wine and the food were all top notch. The staff have a real pride in what they create and love to see the joy the customers experience when eating their food.

There isn’t a menu - you just decide if you are having 3, 5 or 7 courses and if you want the matching wines. We went for 3 courses and Ian chose the wine. You start off with an amuse bouche, which was three wonderful morsels that were each divine - oyster leaf on a rice cracker with a scallion mayonnaise, a small piece of fish, again with a divine sauce, on a delicate cracker and finally roasted and dried beetroot with an horseradish cream.

Ian selected the wine which was fabulous, a 2017 Grand Cru Gewurztraminer from Alsace by François SCHMITT which went perfectly with the meal.

First course was a green tomato served with gazpacho and stuffed with deep fried pearl cous cous and other stuff - divine. Second course was zucchini served two ways with a deep fried oyster and an amazingly intense sauce - Ian had his first oyster which he appeared to enjoy. Third course was an ode to Chocolate, a cremaux, a crumb, a sauce, a crisp and more, so much more. The dessert was divine. In fact the whole meal was one I have to rate in my top five food experiences. We also had the best coffee we have had so far in Paris and it was served with delicious petite fours.

After lunch I ventured to the open kitchen to congratulate the young team of talented chefs and got a tour of the kitchen - very memorable indeed.Read more