Py-r — Restaurant in Toulouse

On my Michelin 3 Stars Marathon (follow me for all the reviews and updates), in the middle of a 11 in 11 days strike, I had a one day pause in Toulouse. I was on the waiting list for Michel Sarran lunch when I book this one “in case”. Although the first reservation went finally through for the lunch, I decided to rest and just have Dinner in this one. At the time, I didn’t know that it would become the only 2 stars in Toulouse.

Impressive.

So what’s exceptional here? It’s a 2 stars, so, it must be exceptional (One star interesting, 3 stars extraordinary) ? 2 things, Impressive without needing nobility. Impressive. The chef is really trying to create some moments to remember. He wants to impress, to divert you from your daily life by creating at least one sparkling moment to remember. I’m not going to develop here, but there’s nothing wrong in that. It’s actually quite important. In several years you may not remember the exact menu of a restaurant, but you’ll remember if something stroke you. One function of a good Michelin star is to create memories. Here the intentions are clear. From the start to the end. And it’s what one could expect from a 2 stars. Again, I think it’s a great mission to have to impress people so it creates a memory. It’s all the more impressive when you consider that the chef doesn’t necessarily use “noble” ingredients to achieve this. He achieves it by using ingredients available to him, will it be because it’s the region or because it’s commonly used by people who are living here (spices for couscous for example, or the Spanish influence). No need to impress with caviar etc… The focus is to impress with what one can find in the friendly store next door. It’s about integration. He’s impressing you with integration, not elitism, and showing you what we can achieve by taking the best out of it. That’s what really makes him a two stars.

The room was mainly couples and family. It was a week day and I did not noticed business or big friends tables. Still it could work for both. The chef was around but I didn’t see him in the room. So I hadn’t a chance to speak with him. The staff was nice considering it’s two big rooms to managed (there are 2 floors).

Bottom line: We spend a nice evening with a friend (it was to thank her for hosting me). It did create memories.

It’s a well...

First, I have to say - it is a lot of food. We are big eaters and arrived hungry but even we were defeated by the end. Food is technically very impressive, but I don't feel they delivered flavour-wise. Also impossible to find even a sample menu online anywhere, so it's really hard to know what you're signing up for which I find quite arrogant by the restaurant (I've attached a recent one to help others decide).

There are only two menus and both are very seafood driven. To be, the chefs vision isn't clear - the staff say he loves to work with seafood but the dishes themselves were confusing. There were two lovely vegetable dishes that became overly complicated from additions of smoked fish jelly and trout eggs (I did not add the sauce as recommended) - why? The asparagus was already beautifully cooked and in season. Then there was a fish ceviche which was absolutely covered in coriander sauce overwhelming the delicateness of the fish - this is what I mean when I say the chef's vision isn't clear. Sweets and desserts were very good - though I can't really pinpoint any flavours that blew me away they were technically very well executed.

The atmosphere is quite sterile and feels really awkward. Lighting is too bright, the decor is strange - there are rugby balls stacked up against one window - it all feels a bit disjointed.

I eat at a lot of Michelin restaurants and for a two star, I thought this was underwhelming in terms of taste. I love food, but dinner went for 4 hours and we were quite frankly bored and couldn't wait for it to end after the 3rd hour. I love amuse bouche, but there were perhaps ten being served at once, and some were getting cold and others melted because they were all brought at once. There was so much food, I saw other diners get takeaway boxes. It's just too much - both for the mind and the palate - after 4 hours, I can't really think of any dishes that I'd...

The gist of it: not worth the money. The details now:

The room and its decor: dingy, indifferent decor, greige carpet that has seen better times: overall unpleasant. It's deep underground, you know, and its feels like it.

The service: rather poor, mechanical: they go through the ritual with no personal engagement, just repeat what they have memorized. The "sommelier" did not offer us the appropriate wine choices, but just directed us to the wine list: yes, we can read; it's your job to select for us. He was more interested in chatting about our country than doing his job. Nice guy, though...

The food. Well, we are there for the food, right? They explained that it was going to be a journey of tastes. It was: a labyrinth, a maze, an odyssey or confusion for our poor palates. There were about 6 courses, each consisting of several individual items served separately. That's a lot, but consider that there are at least 10 ingredients in each of the individual items (I know, as they recite them to you). So, the result is that the food is incredibly complex. That would be great if you have two or three dishes, but we had something like 15 or 20 (I certainly lost track at some point, and stopped listening to the waters). A third into the meal out palates were overwhelmed and the rest was lost on us. In a nutshell, the food was much too complex for the common mortals that we are. Maybe for some people it would be fine, but it was a severe sensory overload for me. In other words, I did not enjoyed it as I would have a simpler meal.

In conclusion, the 600 euros we paid (two people, full dinner, wines) were not worth...