Food: French creative
Address: 728 Route de Villerest, 42155 Ouches, France
Phone Number: +(33) 04 77 71 66 97
Website: www.troisgros.com
Guide Michelin: 3 stars
Gault & Millau: 19.0
What I paid:  258 € (tasting menu, water only and coffee)
Visited: July 29, 2017

2017 marked an end of an era, for this world-class iconic establishment, with three Michelin stars since 1968, when restaurant Troisgros with family moved to its new facilities in Ouches (in the countryside close to Roanne). A new location, but Michel Troisgros, his son César (the fourth generation) and the whole team intact, continues to deliver on the very top of the food chain.

The new setting was nicely set on the countryside and I think, that about everything, was top notch here. The location, the exterior, the interior…

Michel Troisgros has trained for some of the most celebrated chefs/kitchen in the world, e.g. Michel Guérard, Alain Chapel, Pierre Wynants and Alice Waters.

The restaurant formerly opened in 1930 by Michel’s grandfather. Michel’s father Pierre and uncle Jean trained with the legendary Fernand Point at La Pyramide in Vienne. When they, in the mid-late-1950s, took over the kitchen, the restaurant evolved and become famous. First Guide Michelin star in 1955, second in 1965 and the third definitive star in 1968, which it has kept ever since (for 49 years in a row and counting…).

My initial intention was to have dinner here, but that was not possible to schedule. Though I really wanted to sample as much as possible at Troisgros, we went for their biggest tasting menu (at lunch). As I was quite tired and a little bit hangover from the previous day (at La Pyramide and Ann-Sophie Pic), I skipped all alcohol this meal (first time in a 3-stars restaurant). However, that did not bother me at all. On the contrary, it helped me, enjoy the wine in the evening, even more…

SEASONAL IMPRESSIONS

Entre nos mains:

Entre nos mains

Good, but one of very few servings this lunch, who was not outstandingly good.

Bread #1:

Bread #1

This butter based bread was really delicious!

Tutti frutti:

Tutti frutti

The theme of this dish was “red”. Mainly fruits and vegetables, but some pigeon meat was also added to the dish (red meat…). Interesting combinations of both tastes and textures.

Mussels and girolles with a veil of milk:

Mussels and girolles with a veil of milk

Cantharellus cibarius, commonly known as the chanterelle, or girolle, is a fungus. It is probably the best known species of the genus Cantharellus, if not the entire family of Cantharellaceae. In this dish, the chanterelle was served together with mussels and veil of milk.

Toasted oysters, cabbage and curry:

Toasted oysters, cabbage and curry

Yet another tasty dish and perfect for “oyster” beginners (though the taste of the oyster itself was not that dominant).

Crayfishes in green sauce:

Crayfishes in green sauce

Good; again!

Barbue tomato et cacao:

Barbue tomato et cacao

Here I had a small remark and that was in regards to the fish’s preparation. This though I considered it a little bit to “well done” and consequently a little bit to dry for my taste. That being said, the brill (barbue) was still tasty.

Grilled “sim-sim”sweetbread:

Grilled “sim-sim”sweetbread

We were served sweetbread the evening before this lunch (at Pic) and the one served here were, at least, equally good.

Sweetbread is a culinary name for the thymus (also called throat, gullet, or neck sweetbread) or the pancreas (also called heart, stomach, or belly sweetbread), especially of calf (which we had).

Selection of fine cheeses:

Selection of fine cheeses

As expected, Troisgros had a good selection of good excellent cheeses!

Boiled egg:

Boiled egg

I was pretty full after the cheese serving. Consequently, when I studied the menu and saw that “boiled egg” should be served, I was not that keen…

However, it was something completely different (than boiled egg). Namely an excellent, very good and tasty dessert!

Cracked “egg”…

Not just fun, clever and surprising, but foremost very delicious!

Surprise from the kitchen:

Surprise from the kitchen

This extra, bonus dessert, was also very good.

Papillon:

Papillon

Papillon translates to butterfly. Initially, the name (i.e. butterfly) did not make sense. However, after the “rigid” ingredients were cracked in the middle and its final form appeared, as shown in the picture above, its name is more obvious.

Sur le bout de la langue:

Sur le bout de la langue

Sur le bout de la langue translates to “on the tip of my tongue”. This was the last dish on the menu and consisted of wild strawberries.

Petit fours:

Petit fours

Some small tasty nibbles ended this splendid lunch at Troisgros.

Summary: This is world class French cuisine in a solid 3-stars restaurant. I enjoyed everything single moment this lunch. Everything was “perfect” in accordance to my preferences; the setting with its nice exterior, the modern but still pleasant dining room (where you could see horses walking around the surroundings), the excellent service and last but not least, the excellent food. Highly recommended!