Gastroville

La Reserve de Beaulieu had its restaurant transformed into a serious gastronomic venue by Christophe Cussac who took charge of the kitchens of la Reserve in 1997. Cussac, who had worked with Robuchon long ago, came from Burgundy. Despite apparent lack of deeper knowledge of and experience with the local ingredients he quickly managed to appreciate their characteristics and flavours and successfully incorporated them into his cooking repertoire. This is rarer than one might think. Other chefs with neither roots nor professional training in the south have shown considerable and quite surprising difficulties to understand the ingredients of the south, how to best express their “terrior” and what diners expect to eat in the south.

Cussac left la Reserve in the later part of 2003 to head Joel Robuchon’s venture in Monte-Carlo and was replaced by Olivier Brulard. Brulard’s cuisine is significantly different than that displayed under Cussac. There was an admirable and often luxurious simplicity in Cussac’s cuisine that made it quite seductive and although it rarely or never reached the most exceptional levels it was always very good, but prices started to reach exorbitant levels the last two years of Cussac’s tenure. Prices, at least for food, were reduced significantly after Cussac’s departure.

La Reserve de Beaulieu is an exceptionally well-managed business that is doing very well. It should indeed be possible to lure almost any chef with necessary kitchen staff to the location. The ingredients from the nearby markets between Cannes and San Remo are world-class. One is certainly entitled to expectations. So just how good is the cuisine that Brulard sends out from the kitchens into the Restaurant of Kings?

I shall try to answer this by relating a bit to a very recent meal, which seems indicative as far as expectations of performance of this restaurant is concerned.

The first dish was a single pan-fried scallop with an artichoke chip. The artichoke chip was exceptional but the scallop was slightly rubbery and too hardly seared.

The second dish was much better. Actually this was the best dish of this meal. A sea urchin filled with a superb langoustine jelly in the bottom covered with sea urchin, caviar, small pieces of langoustines all topped by a mousse of langoustines and sea urchins and caviar. It was a gustatory tour de force of the flavours and textures from the sea; freshness, vibrancy, iodine, the sense of the sea, creaminess, melting jellies and crispy fresh langoustines. The small sandwich beside was perhaps too small of a crispy element to balance and contrast the knockout effect of the preparation but it was still an excellent preparation. Bravo Mr. Brulard.

The meal continued in a very classical fashion with a bouillon with vegetables and a single ravioli of a small truffle piece and chicken and veal meat. The vegetables were all nicely cooked retaining some crispiness but they lacked a bit of flavour. The bouillon was superb but slightly too concentrated for the vegetables and the taste of the truffles that was lost. But the bouillon was not to blame for the somewhat bland truffle served with the dish. Restaurants should really not serve truffle of just below average quality. Even without truffles, it was still a very good but a bit one dimensional, soupy and dated as a dish.

The sea bass that came next could have been an exceptional preparation. The Mediterranean sea bass was of exceptional quality. Fresh with that firm mashed potatoes like and glistening texture. The barigoule jus served with it was superbly and intelligently seasoned with saffron (epines artichokes and saffron is a superb taste marriage) but the poor sea bass was practically drowning in the concentrated jus with its sharp metallic edges. With it came a so called rôti, or a slice of a small baguette grilled with a filling on it. This rôti is a monstrosity of a preparation that I think was made popular by Franck Cerrutti of Le Louis XV many years ago. As much as I admire and respect the talent of Franck Cerrutti I have on many occasions failed to understand the benefit of this addition as it always ends up being an annoying element with its crusty and mushy texture and tastes so disparate that it neither provides accompaniment or contrast to the fish leaving the question what it does on the plate frequently unanswered. Even without the rôti, it was an unintelligent dish that did not make justice to such pristine ingredients.

A chunk of nicely cooked sweetbread was served as main course. It unfortunately lacked the so desirable and often needed caramelized crispiness that avoids sweetbreads from feeling mushy and cloying. The veal sweetbread sat on some sliced cauliflowers and a cauliflower purée accompanied the dish but the lacking crispiness of the sweetbread enhanced the one dimensional and cloying cauliflower purée. The truffles, slightly rubbery and lacking flavour suggesting they had been affected by some frost, were again of just below average quality. The demi-glace sauce with its overpowering taste of pan grease should never have been served.

Cheeses followed after a much too cold Champagne granité. Cheeses were overall of a mediocre quality and not acceptable for a restaurant of this reputation. Hard cheeses were plastic and sweaty and most other cheeses dry and unappetising.

The today so often served assortment of nibbles before desserts followed in typical fashion, a mousse, a sorbet and a few berries. Not as bad and bland as it often is but nothing to write home about.

The soufflé that ended the meal was exceptional and one of the better soufflés I have encountered over the last year. No evident egg flavour, nice cooking, hot but still a bit creamy yet set interior and a marvellous perfume.

The kitchen no doubt uses some pristine ingredients on the level that should be expected from a place such as this and the flow of the meal was quite good. But the misses are just too many and many preparations feel a bit dated. The Restaurant of Kings is hardly the king of restaurants as it is said on their website. Prices for what is served are just too high.

The wine list is extensive but boringly packed with less interesting wines from for example inferior producers in Burgundy. Prices are forbiddingly expensive or rather quite outrageous. For example the 1990 Hermitage la Chapelle is 900 euros. The same wine from magnum cost half that at Le Louis XV. A four times higher price than at Le Louis XV is hardly motivated. Even simple wines from Provence carry price tags that are simply ridicules.

Should you go: If you want to feel the old Riviera flair, yes. But there are many much better alternatives in the area for food at the same prices and with wine lists much more reasonably priced. Gastroville rating: 15/20 and thumbs down.
/MJ

La Réserve de Beaulieu
Tel: +33 (0) 4 93 01 00 01
http://www.reservebeaulieu.com/