TinkerBelle_325
DIS Veteran
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- Aug 21, 2001
- Messages
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"The soup! Where is the soup? Out of my way. Move it, garbage boy!" - Chef Skinner, Ratatouille
On December 20th 2012 we had the distinct pleasure of dining at Monsieur Paul at Epcot. While the experience started out a bit rocky, the overall meal was among the best we have ever had at WDW. So please bear with me as I walk you through the rough patch of the experience.
The experience started off....interestingly. We checked in at about 7pm and there were a few parties waiting downstairs. We sat down and saw the other parties escorted upstairs....and within 5 minutes both came back downstairs. Hmm...that is odd. But we chalked it up to the menu being a bit pricier than expected.
After a 10 minute wait we were escorted upstairs. And were offered a table right beside the service station on the back wall. Um...no thank you. We then asked to move a few tables over and were accommodated without question.
Then we heard it.....screaming children. Three of them about age 5 to 7, running amok around the table of 10 right beside us. Ugh. This was not the signature dining experience we were expecting.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have no issue with children in signature restaurants. But these children were screaming and running around as if they were at a play ground and every table was giving them the stink eye.
DMom peered around the corner and noticed a quiet table by the window. DDad approached Phillipe, one of the managers, and before he could even utter a word Phillipe said "We will move you to that table Sir." Impressive!
From here, the experience can only be described as sublime. While the children were still loud, we were now half a room away from them with some barriers (the bank of seats) between us.
Eduard was our server for the evening and he was very charming and knowledgeable.
We decided to go for the Prix Fixe Menu, which I will outline. The menu listed the Prix Fixe as:
Mise en Bouche
Saumon mi-cuit marine, salade de concombre
Lightly cooked marinated salmon, blinis, cucumber salad
Appetizer
Soupe aux truffes V.G.B.
Beef broth, oxtail, vegetables, black winter truffle, puff pastry
OR
Homard du Maine a l'Armoricaine
Maine lobster, vegetable brunoise, crustacean bisque reduction (available as an entree)
Entree
Cote de Bceuf pour deux, haricot vert, pomme fondante , sauce au poivre
Roasted bone-in rib eye for two, green bean and fondantes potatoes, black pepper sauce
OR
Carre d' Agneau du Colorado en croute d'herbes, pi saladiere Nicoise, ca solette de flageolet
Herb crusted rack of Colorado lamb, Nicoise style tart with goat cheese, onions and arugula cassolette of flageolet beans
Dessert aux choix
Choice of desserts
The price us $89 per person. For those on the DDP, it is 2 credits plus $30.50/person. For those on the Deluxe DDP, it is 2 credits plus $14.50.
DMom and I started the evening with a glass of champagne each and DDad had a Chivas Regal.
To begin the meal, we were presented with an Amuse Bouche.
Escargot en Brioche!
These are the very same escargot from the Food & Wine Festival, one of our favorite items, so we were thrilled. As always, they were garlicy, buttery and tender!
View from our table - located at the end of the restaurant closest to Morocco.
Between the Amuse Bouche and the Mise en Bouche we were offered some freshly baked bread and french butter.
Wonderful! Not quite as good as the petite baguette from V&A, but better than the baguette from Chefs de France. The butter was divine!
Eduard informed us that tonight the Mise en Bouche was the Raviole d'escargot, creme au persil (Escargot ravioli, cream of parsley) in place of the Salmon. This was perfectly fine by us as we all love escargot!
This was different than I was expecting. It was one large ravioli with three escargot inside. There was also a small amount of finely diced tomato with the escargot within the ravioli. The sauce on top was nothing short of divine. Rich, creamy and wonderfully flavored with parsley, garlic and butter. The escargot were tender and sweet and the parmesan crisp added the perfect amount of salt.
For appetizers, we each ordered the famous Truffle Soup! (Hence the title of the report). The presentation is quite impressive.
I almost felt bad breaking the flaky puff pastry shell. This is not something you can eat delicately as shards of pastry fly everywhere. But it is worth the mess! Once you break past the shell you are hit with a rich, earthy aroma. The broth was exceptionally flavored, the brunoise of vegetables, braised oxtail and tender chicken were perfectly tender. What is truly amazing is the amount of yruffle in the soup! Not so much as to be overpowering, but more than enough for the a la carte cost of $29.
I had easily 10 to 12 slivers of truffle, which you can see above. We all agree that the soup was one of the top 5 items we have eaten at WDW and that it even beat out some items from V&A!
At this point we also ordered a bottle of wine, a Bordeaux. It was reasonably priced and medium bodied. DDad was quite impressed when Eduard sniffed the cork after opening the bottle, the first time we have seen a server do this. A sign of great training!
For entrees, DDad had the Lobster and DMom and I shared the Bone-in Ribeye for Two.
Lobster with bisque reduction and brunoise
Absolutely wonderful. DDad often orders lobster and has tried numerous variations of lobster bisque, but he said this has spoiled him! The depth of flavor was incredible.
The ribeye is presented tableside!
While it may look on the medium rare side, the ribeye was a perfect medium, which was the recommended praparation of the steak. The salt crust was outstanding and the steak was craved so expertly that it tasted like prime rib. We opted for the sauce on the side, but your server will offer it over the meat if you would prefer. We were also offered more potatoes and haricot vert should we want them. The portion was very large and we struggled to finish the ribeye. The potatoes were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. If I had to guess, I would say they were cooked in Duck Fat! The haricot vert were slathered in garlic and butter, as all green vegetables should be in my opinion.
We had seen desserts leaving the kitchen all night, so we were looking forward to ending the evening.
DDad ordered the Souffle chaud au Grand Marnier, sauce a l'orange
(Warm Grand Marnier souffle, orange sauce) and a Grand Marnier of course!
DMom had the Creme Caramel, macaron, glace au caramel fleur de sel
(Creme caramel served with a sea salt caramel ice cream macaron)
And I had the Moelleux au chocolat noir et amandes croquant feuilletine, glace pralinee (Warm chocolate and almond cake, feuilletine, praline ice cream)
Each dessert was wonderful. DDad still gave the V&A souffle a slight edge, but I preferred the one here, more orange flavor!
The warm chocolate cake was out of the world! The light coloured top layer was a crunchy feuilletine and was a perfect textural balance to the molten chocolate in the warm cake.
We finished up our meal around 9:15, which made this a 2 hour meal. The total cost, after Tables in Wonderland, was just over $400.
We feel that Monsieur Paul ranks somewhere between restaurants like California Grill and Jiko, and Victoria & Albert's. It is almost like "Signature Plus". Well worth every penny and it will give V&A a run for it's money for our family.
We cannot wait to return!
On December 20th 2012 we had the distinct pleasure of dining at Monsieur Paul at Epcot. While the experience started out a bit rocky, the overall meal was among the best we have ever had at WDW. So please bear with me as I walk you through the rough patch of the experience.
The experience started off....interestingly. We checked in at about 7pm and there were a few parties waiting downstairs. We sat down and saw the other parties escorted upstairs....and within 5 minutes both came back downstairs. Hmm...that is odd. But we chalked it up to the menu being a bit pricier than expected.
After a 10 minute wait we were escorted upstairs. And were offered a table right beside the service station on the back wall. Um...no thank you. We then asked to move a few tables over and were accommodated without question.
Then we heard it.....screaming children. Three of them about age 5 to 7, running amok around the table of 10 right beside us. Ugh. This was not the signature dining experience we were expecting.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have no issue with children in signature restaurants. But these children were screaming and running around as if they were at a play ground and every table was giving them the stink eye.
DMom peered around the corner and noticed a quiet table by the window. DDad approached Phillipe, one of the managers, and before he could even utter a word Phillipe said "We will move you to that table Sir." Impressive!
From here, the experience can only be described as sublime. While the children were still loud, we were now half a room away from them with some barriers (the bank of seats) between us.
Eduard was our server for the evening and he was very charming and knowledgeable.
We decided to go for the Prix Fixe Menu, which I will outline. The menu listed the Prix Fixe as:
Mise en Bouche
Saumon mi-cuit marine, salade de concombre
Lightly cooked marinated salmon, blinis, cucumber salad
Appetizer
Soupe aux truffes V.G.B.
Beef broth, oxtail, vegetables, black winter truffle, puff pastry
OR
Homard du Maine a l'Armoricaine
Maine lobster, vegetable brunoise, crustacean bisque reduction (available as an entree)
Entree
Cote de Bceuf pour deux, haricot vert, pomme fondante , sauce au poivre
Roasted bone-in rib eye for two, green bean and fondantes potatoes, black pepper sauce
OR
Carre d' Agneau du Colorado en croute d'herbes, pi saladiere Nicoise, ca solette de flageolet
Herb crusted rack of Colorado lamb, Nicoise style tart with goat cheese, onions and arugula cassolette of flageolet beans
Dessert aux choix
Choice of desserts
The price us $89 per person. For those on the DDP, it is 2 credits plus $30.50/person. For those on the Deluxe DDP, it is 2 credits plus $14.50.
DMom and I started the evening with a glass of champagne each and DDad had a Chivas Regal.
To begin the meal, we were presented with an Amuse Bouche.
Escargot en Brioche!
These are the very same escargot from the Food & Wine Festival, one of our favorite items, so we were thrilled. As always, they were garlicy, buttery and tender!
View from our table - located at the end of the restaurant closest to Morocco.
Between the Amuse Bouche and the Mise en Bouche we were offered some freshly baked bread and french butter.
Wonderful! Not quite as good as the petite baguette from V&A, but better than the baguette from Chefs de France. The butter was divine!
Eduard informed us that tonight the Mise en Bouche was the Raviole d'escargot, creme au persil (Escargot ravioli, cream of parsley) in place of the Salmon. This was perfectly fine by us as we all love escargot!
This was different than I was expecting. It was one large ravioli with three escargot inside. There was also a small amount of finely diced tomato with the escargot within the ravioli. The sauce on top was nothing short of divine. Rich, creamy and wonderfully flavored with parsley, garlic and butter. The escargot were tender and sweet and the parmesan crisp added the perfect amount of salt.
For appetizers, we each ordered the famous Truffle Soup! (Hence the title of the report). The presentation is quite impressive.
I almost felt bad breaking the flaky puff pastry shell. This is not something you can eat delicately as shards of pastry fly everywhere. But it is worth the mess! Once you break past the shell you are hit with a rich, earthy aroma. The broth was exceptionally flavored, the brunoise of vegetables, braised oxtail and tender chicken were perfectly tender. What is truly amazing is the amount of yruffle in the soup! Not so much as to be overpowering, but more than enough for the a la carte cost of $29.
I had easily 10 to 12 slivers of truffle, which you can see above. We all agree that the soup was one of the top 5 items we have eaten at WDW and that it even beat out some items from V&A!
At this point we also ordered a bottle of wine, a Bordeaux. It was reasonably priced and medium bodied. DDad was quite impressed when Eduard sniffed the cork after opening the bottle, the first time we have seen a server do this. A sign of great training!
For entrees, DDad had the Lobster and DMom and I shared the Bone-in Ribeye for Two.
Lobster with bisque reduction and brunoise
Absolutely wonderful. DDad often orders lobster and has tried numerous variations of lobster bisque, but he said this has spoiled him! The depth of flavor was incredible.
The ribeye is presented tableside!
While it may look on the medium rare side, the ribeye was a perfect medium, which was the recommended praparation of the steak. The salt crust was outstanding and the steak was craved so expertly that it tasted like prime rib. We opted for the sauce on the side, but your server will offer it over the meat if you would prefer. We were also offered more potatoes and haricot vert should we want them. The portion was very large and we struggled to finish the ribeye. The potatoes were crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. If I had to guess, I would say they were cooked in Duck Fat! The haricot vert were slathered in garlic and butter, as all green vegetables should be in my opinion.
We had seen desserts leaving the kitchen all night, so we were looking forward to ending the evening.
DDad ordered the Souffle chaud au Grand Marnier, sauce a l'orange
(Warm Grand Marnier souffle, orange sauce) and a Grand Marnier of course!
DMom had the Creme Caramel, macaron, glace au caramel fleur de sel
(Creme caramel served with a sea salt caramel ice cream macaron)
And I had the Moelleux au chocolat noir et amandes croquant feuilletine, glace pralinee (Warm chocolate and almond cake, feuilletine, praline ice cream)
Each dessert was wonderful. DDad still gave the V&A souffle a slight edge, but I preferred the one here, more orange flavor!
The warm chocolate cake was out of the world! The light coloured top layer was a crunchy feuilletine and was a perfect textural balance to the molten chocolate in the warm cake.
We finished up our meal around 9:15, which made this a 2 hour meal. The total cost, after Tables in Wonderland, was just over $400.
We feel that Monsieur Paul ranks somewhere between restaurants like California Grill and Jiko, and Victoria & Albert's. It is almost like "Signature Plus". Well worth every penny and it will give V&A a run for it's money for our family.
We cannot wait to return!
