Our honeymoon brought us for one night to Monte Carlo, where we were easily able to secure lunch reservations for the next day at the Michelin 3-star Le Louis XV. The restaurant is located in the elegant Hotel de Paris and is decorated in the grand style of the Sun King -- the interior could have been an airier, brighter version of a room in Versailles. While we were excited to try our first Michelin 3-star restaurant, we were also a bit uncertain after a mixed experience at the Alain Ducasse owned Mix in Las Vegas.
We opted for the three-course seasonal lunch. In typical French style, my menu did not have prices on it but I believe it was slightly under 100 euros per person. Everything oozed quality and elegance -- my husband remarked that even the waiters wore better quality suits than he did. That said, the waiters (who numbered more than guests for most of the meal) were all extremely polite and attentive.
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Bread Selection
The grandest bread and butter presentation I've ever seen started our meal. First, a cart was wheeled out with a large mound of their special butter. The butter waiter then proceeded to carefully scoop out a slice of butter, as can be seen here:
Then a huge bread cart was presented with a dazzling assortment of breads. Normally I'm not a bread fan but I wanted to try them all, settling on a pesto loaf and an olive loaf (see photo of dessert menu, below, to view the breads I chose).
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Amuse Bouche:
Crudites with Pan Bagna
For a starter we were served a local Provencal speciality of extremely fresh vegetables with an anchovy dip. While beautiful to behold, I felt the dip was too refined -- it felt like it should be more rustic with a stronger garlic/anchovy kick.
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Appetizer:
Pissaladiere aux anchois de la Baie marines,
un condiment pile au mortier
Being an anchovy fan, I ordered the pissaladiere with no idea what it was. Afterwards I discovered it's supposed to be similar to a pizza, but the dish above did not look or taste anything like a pizza, although if I had known it was to be a pizza, the crisp layer underneath the fish would have made more sense to me. The extremely fresh anchovies were very muted in flavor, and I missed the strong brininess and fishiness that I associate with anchovies.
Courgettes du Val de Gorbio en fin veloute,
ravioli de ricotta et buratta
My husband ordered a cheese ravioli to start, with a zucchini sauce. Again the flavors were very refined, but it didn't excite our taste buds.
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Main Course:
Grenadin de veau fermier cuisine en cocotte,
oignons noveaux, girolles et amandes
For my main, I ordered a veal with baby vegetables. The dish was good, with tender veal and beautiful vegetables.
Morue de Bilbao pochee puis effeuillee,
brandade au persil plat, jus vert
My husband had a poached cod dish served on a potato brandade.
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Cheese Course:
Selection de fromages affines pour nous
One of the great things about France is the cheese cart, and the one at Louis XV was a glorious thing indeed. There were so many cheeses we didn't know what to choose, but our patient waiter recommended a few. Sadly I don't remember what we tried, but I do remember it was my first experience of the (in)famous Epoisse cheese of the smelly old sock funk.
The Epoisse is in the upper right corner of the plate in the photo below. While I did not enjoy Epoisse this first time, when I tried it again a week later in Burgundy, my tastebuds had acclimated and I greatly enjoyed it with a hearty red wine... yum!!
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Dessert:
We were given a separate menu (in English this time) with dessert choices, broken into "Seasonal Fruits", "Chocolate, Milk", "Traditional Fare", and "Ice Creams".
Rum Baba, served with your choice of rum,
lightly whipped cream
Alain Ducasse is famous for his rum baba, which I tried before at Mix. However I was curious how it would be different at his flagship restaurant. Here, it was listed under "Traditional Fare". The most interesting thing about Ducasse's rum baba was the option of selecting one's rum!
Afterwards, the sponge cake was brought out, and unlike other rum babu preparations where the rum is mixed with a sugar syrup and added to the cake, this time the rum was directly poured on top. While an interesting concept allowing for full enjoyment of the rum, it nevertheless made the dessert too alcoholic tasting for my preferences. It was not the same version as at Mix, which was sweeter and not as alcoholic, but drier. I didn't love either version but it was worth a try.
Seasonal Fruit
I don't remember what my husband ordered, but it was one of the "Seasonal Fruit" offerings which came out like a large ravioli:
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Extras:
Mignardises et Chocolats Alain Ducasse
At the end of our meal, a selection of cute little desserts and chocolates were sent to fill us up.
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Shortcakes
Not listed on the menu, but given to us to take home, was this super cute bag of soft loafy cookies. We didn't eat them for two days, but when we did, they were so moist and full of flavor -- absolutely delicious!
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Le Louis XV had the best service of any restaurant we've ever been to, and have been to since (though we'll see if that holds up with our upcoming French Laundry visit). The service was polite, inobtrusive, and attentive, and the room was stunning in an updated traditional French manner. The food itself was not as stellar as the surroundings and the service, but with the whole package we were well-satisfied with our 3-star experience. However as may be apparent by this time, part of our lack of enjoyment may be our unfamiliarity with local French dishes, since quite a bit of our meal were riffs on French classics. I doubt we would revisit Le Louis XV if we were in Monte Carlo again, but we did not regret our sojourn.
Le Louis XV
Hotel de Paris
Place du Casino
Monte Carlo, Monaco
+37 (0) 79 806 8864
http://www.alain-ducasse.com/public_us/louis_xv/fr_cuisine.htm
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