La Table de Bastien is the gastronomic restaurant of the luxury hotel La Villa and offers a breathtaking view of Calvi bay. As it is quite dangerous to drive in the sinuous roads of Corsica at night and even more after one or two glasses of wine, we booked a table for lunch. We asked a table on the terrasse and were delighted to eat at one of the best tables of Corsica until the waiter brought us the menu... When booking our table, the receptionist had forgotten to tell us one tiny unimportant insignificant detail, that La Table de Bastien is ONLY open for DINNER. At lunch time, the restaurant of La Villa serves a limited menu at not that limited prices.
 |
| Margherita pizza |
 |
| Tuna salad with artichokes and roasted tomatoes |
 |
| Cafe gourmand with nougat, mango and passion fruit sorbet, strawberry feuillete and lemon tart with meringue |
The pizza and salad were actual well done and we had also a wonderful half bottle of local Clos Columbu wine.
The Maitre d' was very apologetic about the booking mistake, and since we still wanted to try the gastronomic restaurant, we booked a table for dinner the day after. We went for the seven-course surprise tasting menu and a glass of wine.
Nice view isn't it?
I did not manage to catch the name as our waiter mumbled it. They were small pancakes with a cheesy flavour. Not bad, but not very elaborate. Better than peanuts, fine as a remplacement for bread and olive oil, but not very Michelin style.
Our first starter was made of two perfectly cooked langoustines in a broth of soy sauce and yuzu, which was slightly too acidic, with a crunchy asparagus. Are asparagus supposed to be eaten crunchy? A matter of taste I suppose, but I prefer them more tender.
 |
| Langoustine with soy sauce and yuzu |
Cooking a foie gras poele is quite technical, and I must admit the one we had at La Table de Bastien as a second starter was mastered to perfection. It came with a purée of something. I do not remember what this something was, but as we were in Corsica, let's assume it was a chestnut purée.
 |
| Pan-fried foie gras |
The next course, our fish dish, was an absolute catastrophy, while it sounded most promising. The fish was properly cooked, but there was absolutely no seasoning and the artichoke was almost raw. The whole was bland despite the use of strong flavoured ingredients such as saffron and chorizo. Besides, I did not get the point of having a paella-style risotto. It should be EITHER a paella OR a risotto. But why try to mix the two rice dishes when they use different types of rice and techniques? The result was not satisfying, the rice was too liquid and without enough starch to give the risotto creamy texture, and despite the use of a large quantity of saffron, neither did it taste like a paella.
 | ||||||||
| Seabass, Paella style risotto, chorizo, artichoke |
Our meat course was introduced as a "Quasi" by our autistic waiter. Never heard of "Quasi" before. After asking for clarification, we learnt that a "Quasi" is a veal cut. Apart from this "quasi"-incident we enjoyed the tender meat.
 |
| "Quasi" of veal |
We skipped the cheese course and asked to have tea/coffee instead. The pre-dessert was a success, and a offered a perfect balance of sweet and tart.
 |
| Lime sorbet and red fruits coulis |
The waiter never bothered to tell us the name of the dessert. From our guess, there were some watermelon, mango, passion fruit, pineapple and pomegranate chunks in the mango/passion fruit sorbet, a soft biscuit and three meringues. This dessert was good, but there were two unedible decorative branches which is an absolute no go. Everything in the plate should be edible, especially in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
 |
| Frozen exotic fruits dessert |
We had mixed feelings about La Table de Bastien. The surroundings are amazing but food was of unequal quality. There were wonderful courses but they were overshadowed by huge mistakes. Serving a dish without tasting it (if the chef had tasted the fish dish he would have realized that there was no seasoning) is not acceptable for a restaurant that charges 150 EUR per person. Service was unequal as well : the Maitre d' was charming and considerate but our waiter delivered a very poor service. He was careless, did not introduce the courses properly and never refilled our glasses with water without us asking (no, we were not too lazy to do it ourselves, the bottle of water was on another table).
We were demanding because we had high expectations, and with its overpriced menu, La Table de Bastien did not keep up with our expectations. And if "value for money" is one of the five criteria required to have a Michelin star, I wonder how La Table de Bastien got its.
Cost: EUR 150 for the 7-course tasting menu
No comments:
Post a Comment