I tried yet another new (for me) restaurant yesterday. It is called the Yoyo. Also located in a residential neighbourhood, this is a “bring your own wine” restaurant. As they have a web site you can have a look at the menu ahead of time and make your wine selection accordingly.
As I have been reading a novel (Garlic and sapphires) by Ruth Reichl, a former restaurant critic with the New York Times, I am both inspired and intimidated by the reviews she wrote. I will never be able to identify ingredients the way she does, yet I enjoy food and love to share my experiences so here goes…
Interestingly the menu is not yet translated on the english side of their website so I will do my best to do so here.
The menu descriptions are very poetic…the plates are well presented, the main course was not overly abundant and definitely did not leave you feeling stuffed…which is not necessarily a bad thing.
I started with the ceviche de pétoncles à l’huile de basilic poivré, fin gaspacho de concombre et petit croûton… the raw scallops were cut in small pieces and shaped into a pyramid with some small pieces of vegetables and held together with basil flavoured oil. The texture was intriguing, not smooth yet not chunky, the taste was zesty but not overpowering. The plate was garnished with radish shoots and a bright green shooter of cucumber gazpacho, which must have had sea salt in it as it reminded me of the ocean. It was the best dish of the meal for me.
For the main course I chose the “côtes d’agneau marinées à l’hydromel aux herbes, gâteau d’épaule d’agneau aux artichauts, jus de braisage, armilliaire couleur de miel”, which is 4 delicate lamb chops, marinated in hydromel and served over artichoke and lamb pieces. There were some mushrooms in there also. The meat was tender but had a strangely acidic taste, that was thankfully offset by the sauce which was smooth and almost sweet.
The desert was called: Molten chocolate cake with Pistachio ice cream. It was the, by now classic, chocolate cake with the melting center. The pistachio ice cream was white and tasted of almonds more than pistachio. There was a tuile that had a nutty flavour…and some roasted coconut that did not really belong there. When I asked for tea, I got a red rose tea bag in a cup…
I am not into awarding stars, but this was an OK place, the service was curteous, the menu is interesting, if maybe a bit pretentious, the decor is anything but… I think they have the right idea…they just need to fine tune it a bit more….
Here is the link to their website: This restaurant may have closed since…