Paul Bocuse: Somehow it needs something more

Area:  JR Towers 12th floor (Nagoya Station) 名古屋駅　JR　セントラルタワーズ
Restaurant: Brasserie Paul Bocuse   ブラッスリ　ポール　ボキューズ
Website and Info:  http://www.paulbocuse.jp/lamaison/menu.html


I decided to treat myself one day and went to Paul Bocuse, an upscale French restaurant on the 12th floor of the JR Towers.  It's actually reasonable for lunch (I ordered the \1800 plus tax meal).  What first comes out is the rillettes. Today was a chicken rillette. It was smooth and mousse-like with a curry aroma.  The bread was crusty and dense and was also nice for dipping in olive oil.

The kitchen allowed me to choose the Iberico pork belly (it was the main for a different course).   It was really soft, but not fatty (the fat may have been hidden and laced throughout).  The accompanying apple puree matched well and not too sweet.  The gravy was a bit on the salty side though, and I didn't get any sense of depth of flavours in it.  The pickled apples were at first sweet and then the sourness came out afterwards.  I'm not sure if it's a good compliment.  The pork had a slight rosemary fragrance.  The roasted endive was nicely grilled and the bitterness was good to offset the sweetness in the dish.

The signature creme brûlée was served in a shallow and wide dish,  and this increased the surface area of the crunchy-browned portion!  The custard had lots of vanilla beans scattered throughout.  It's too bad the coffee was quite off.  It's probably old worst I've ever had! It was so sour, it made me wince.

This restaurant does have a nice atmosphere; a sectioned off quiet place in the middle of a bustling area.

I recently decided to give this place another try.  However, from the first dish, I was a bit disappointed.  Even though rillettes was printed on the menu, I was served only bread and olive oil.  I was told that olive oil had replaced the rillettes (strange since looking at previous photo, bread and rillettes and olive oil were all brought to the table).

Next was the mashed potato and bread crumb crusted pork.  This dish also did not blow my mind.  The crust on the tenderloin pork had a bit of sourness that did not match well.  The consomme sauce was the only thing that brought this dish together.

Again, the coffee was not the tastiest of coffees.  The dessert, an apple pie was standard, with just the right amount of sweetness, but a bit small.  For the price of this meal, I don't think I'll be giving Paul Bocuse another try.