La Petite Maison (Encore un foie)

Mexico City is like another world
Nice this year they say

The young whippersnapper that is Hermano Segundo is going off on his World Tour soon (how my heart soars) but as a little going away present I thought I’d stand him a blow-out meal at his latest fave La Petite Maison. It would also give me a chance to judge for myself whether the hirsute ones judgement was mere hyperbole. Well he was right on the money regarding this joint – I had a terrific time and I shall have to put it up there with Magdalen and Granville Arms as one of my meals of the year.

Only a couple of weeks into its stride and it’s already problematical getting a reservation. HS managed to secure one for a Tuesday night at nine and had the nous to pre-order their signature dish a whole Black-legged Chicken with Foie Gras. I suggest you do the same.

When we arrived there was a selection of serious cars lined up outside and a mixture of Hedgehogs, assorted Mayfairites and us inside. HS has already been through the food in a previous post but for me the standouts were the Pissaldière which fair zinged in the mouth and the fried courgette flowers which exhibited a tempura like lightness. But really, everything was good although I found it slightly odd to pair delicate little deep-fried baby squid rings with chilli. Still good, though. A bottle of Domaine Tempier Bandol provided suitable liquid nourishment.

As the restaurant had used up their allocation of chickens during the lunch service we were the only table to have it for dinner. If ever there was an example of food as theatre it was the arrival of The Chicken. Heads turned as a huge dish containing the quartered chicken , gobs of foie gras and hunks of bread enriched with the cooking juices. A fab dish and up there with the Chicken dish I had many years ago at La Tupina in Bordeaux. Dear readers, we ate it all. The little side of gratinated potatoes was probably unnecessary but delicious all the same.

After the gastronomic onslaught and when things had quietened down a little we had a mooch around the kitchen and a long chat with the personable Chef Raphael Duntoye. They have one of those Josper charcoal grills so I would expect their Steaks and Veal chop to be pretty special too.

We finished off the evening with some puddings which were good but as we were flagging I don’t think they were given due justice. They aced the mint tea test.

Anyway, hope you had a good time Bro and maybe we can do it again when you get back - if we can get a table that is.