Alexandre Michel Kayser - Saint-Gilles

What a meal. We had the 8-course dinner, and what a treat it was. I can not even decide which course was my favorite because every single dish was outstanding. Really cute is the Bibliothek des Gourmandises . The wine pairing is reasonably priced and well-matched.

Pink radish, first dish. No addition of salt or citrus. Crisp on top had gone soft and chewy. Brunoise raw radish underneath. Soft flavours, boring first dish. No fiery radish notes. Prawn, 2nd. Prawn shell puree, gritty, again no salt. No pure enjoyable Prawn head flavour. Cauliflower garnishes, no salt or flavour. Cauliflower vail, covering the prawn tartar tart just tasted of nothing, over set with the gelling agent. Prawns were nice. Some cubes of jelly, which again I have no idea of the flavour it was supposed to be. Enjoyable smoked almond cream. 3rd, tomatoes. Big dice tomatoes, with a cardamon and cocoa tuile, I think it was cocoa. The tuile was nice, intense and strong, worked well with the dish. Tomatoes themselves annoyingly didn 't taste vibrant. Small hints of garlic. Again, I just felt the dish underseasoned. 4th, monkfish. The worst dish, never in any michelin restaurant have I had the internal temperature of fish higher than the external. 70c+ it burnt my lip. Really strange, not 1 worthy. With a ravioli of 'celeriac ', not celery as it was on the menu. I appreciate that it is translated to English, but still you are a 2 stars establishment. The raviolo, was just a blanched sheet of vegetables, with a ghastly looking dark brown celeriac puree. Buerre blanc from celeriac juice, was Ok. Again the whole dish lacking seasoning, acidity. 5th, oyster. Most subtle flavour of oyster, another over set cream, bad mouth texture. With a side dish of cardamon tuile, spirulina butter.. was just butter and spirulina piped on a tuile. Seasoning again, no fresh sea flavour you expect from an oyster. 6th, zucchini. Technically a nice dish, truffle mousseline wrapped in courgette flowers then steamed. Lovely soft delicate texture in the centre. Well cooked, annoyingly the truffle was of a tapenade, I think bought in. Tasted overpowering and false, truly ruined the dish. Served with a beurre blanc of the juice from the seeds. Tasted nearly the same as the celeriac beurre blanc. Some what grainy courgette puree and a roll of raw courgette. Again lacking seasoning. 7th, lamb leg. Served pink, somewhat looked swollen from being cut. Meat I have never seen like that, the inner meat protruding out. Lamb was seasoned. Served with a very nicely cooked crispy ris de veau. Probably the best thing I ate. Carrot taco, served on top of a puree, so not a taco no more. Really soft and soggy. Turnips season with kumquat juice, just raw 'tagliatelle ' sheets. Served on top of the taco. Lamb sauce, thick and gloopy, not a nice jus. 8th, rhubarb. Rhubarb sheets cooked, with a jam in the centre. Sorrel sorbet. And a stock syrup infused with the peelings of the rhubarb. Just red sweet water, no ginger, anise, or other aromats.. just sugar, water, peelings. Other details, I asked to see the wine menu stating that I would like a montrachet or chassagne. They came back with a freshly opened bottle of chablis. So ofcourse I didn 't want to say no, as it was just opened. One of the dishes, the cutlery was perfect for falling in the plate. Just simple things that should be thought about. However, regarding the cutlery I was amused. Just summed up how poor this '2 ' experience was. Overall I would not go back, or recommend people to spend their money there. I flew from the Netherlands especially for this, it is a shame. Also may I add, I was dining alone and there were only two other table for 2. So 5 covers the entire evening and I feel that the food should have been the best available. I would not like to dine here whem the restaurant is fully booked

What an experience. The food combination is amazing. All taste are genially balanced and the wine matching package is a must. The decor is fabulous.

We ate here recently with three other couples, expecting to be WOWed by the food, wine and service. Only the food held par. We opted for the wine paring on the 8 course menu, thinking that such a fine establishment would pair the wines in interesting ways (and despite the fact that two of those in attendance are major wine geeks who could have dissected the long list with no problems). While the overall service was generally lacking for a michelin starred restaurant, the wine service was worse than even some lowly bistro. The pours were highly inconsistent, some glasses received a centimeter of wine while the neighboring glass was poured 1/2 full. The server often sloshed the wine into the glasses, often missing and dripping on plates and tablecloths. There seemed to be no logic to the choices- the first wine poured was re-poured for the second course despite the flavor profiles being entirely in conflict with the food. And this happened twice! Four courses only had two different wines. This is unheard of in fine dining, as far as I am concerned. Further, the wine would often be poured so early it would be warm by the time the food arrived, or so late we were mostly through the course we had in front of us. Again, unbelievable for such a restaurant. But worst of all- the wine was so incredibly pedestrian and mediocre we were stunned. The second major ding against this establishment was a bit out of their control but poorly managed as far as we were concerned. The week had been beautiful dry and perhaps a bit too hot. We started the meal with everyone else in the garden. Unfortunately, thunder boomed in the distance and rain was clearly on the way. Instead of moving us inside, the servers clearly rushed us into the fish course, dropping the plates onto our table just as big fat rain drops were hitting. Most of has taken one or two bites when the skies opened and we all jumped up and ran inside. Fortunately they were prepared (in theory) with the same amount and size of table inside as out. But setting up tables for the entire population of diners proved well beyond their capacity in a timely manner. Meanwhile we sat at a bare table with no wine, no water and in a sweltering dining room. The AC did not make a dent in the conditions of the room for the rest of the meal. When service finally resumed, we were presented with the next course! When paying these prices, we all expected to be served the fish course again. Or a new and different course. But we never imagined that they were going to just skip past an entire course. Again, the rain was not their fault, and they did try to get service up and going as quickly as possible. But this could not have been the first time they had to do such a thing (clearly they either served the entire restaurant outside or in, based on the conditions). To have not been better prepared, or even more gracious in the inconvenience, was just another ding in our experience. To end on a positive note- the food was borderline amazing, with a high degree of sophistication and expertise which, had the rest of the experience been anywhere NEAR, would and should have left us speechless. Sad that nothing else even came close.

One of the best dinners ever. the place is evocative, elegant, beautiful, full of decorative ideas, as welcoming as the staff who followed us and pampered throughout the evening. The kitchen is very high and in harmony with the place by its elegance, balance, authenticity. Intriguing, complex, exciting dishes such as the "roat tartar thought without its natural environment" or the "floating island with the truffles of the Provences", and many other masterpieces that make the emotions felt indelible. The last surprise on the softnesses is worth a visit. the meeting with the chef has completed an unforgettable evening, because it is true that the dishes are the expression of the artist's personality. wine map, divided by region, beautiful, with good bottles even at acceptable prices. A place of the heart. Bravo!