Assiette Champenoise - Reims
Restaurant/hotel entrance with kitchen windows in front
Rating: 17/20
Where: Reims, France
When: Dinner for 2 on 5 December 2021
Cost: Tasting menu 335 Euro, Wine pairing 195 Euro
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: Only three-star in the Champagne region, enjoyable cuisine, a short trip from Paris
Assiette Champenoise is located in a drab neighborhood of Reims, but one quickly forgets that once driving past high walls onto its property. It is co-located with a modern hotel that allows for a convenient hotel/dinner stay. The restaurant menu is actually available via room service, but we opted for the traditional dining room. The night we visited, there were six occupied tables and a private dining room, so it's a relatively small restaurant. There seemed to be additional rooms and outdoor space, so maybe in busier months, more reservations will be taken.
Three menu choices: the surprise tasting menu, a truffle tasting menu and a shorter best-of tasting menu. We opted for the 7-course surprise tasting menu. As it not uncommon, the "7" is a pretty arbitrary number, there are plenty of pre-/post- and in-between courses, so it's easy to lose count.
Amuse bouches started with a tartlet of shaved cheese over vinegar. The chef is known for using lots of acidity in his cuisine. The cheese and baked part of this tartlet were magnificent, but the vinegar component felt overpowering - and that's from someone who generally likes sour dishes. We had seen a much better (and more natural) use of acidity in the pickled ingredients at Schloss Schauenstein a few days prior. More bites followed. Falafel was a bit dry, but otherwise good. Crackers with foie gras and beet were even better. Overall 15.
Bread came from a bakery in the middle of France and was served cold by the slice. Very good for a non-fresh bread, especially with the smoked salted butter 16.
The next dish was sourced mostly from a local beehive, and featured bee pollen as the predominant ingredient. I don't think the bee pollen's mealy consistency did this dish any favors. The accompanying cracker in a honeycomb shape was delightful, though 15.
Much better was the scallop from Brittany that followed. Served with a pinot noir sauce and veal-filled cabbage, this was a wonderful dish. We much appreciated here and in the following that the servers left ample extra sauce in a small saucepan. Perfect to add to the dish or simply dip the bread in 18.
A lighter dish followed: thin slices of John Dory over sea urchin. The uni flavor dominated this dish, the fish provided some texture, but little taste 16.
Caviar with potato foam over a custard (with an ingredient I forgot) was next. A delightful dish, the caviar in particular very good 19.
Lobster from Brittany was served two ways: as the tail, and as a fricassee inside a sweet potato wrap. Add a sauce made from the same lobster, and you've got a winner 18.
Perfectly cooked cod fish was next, with escargot and sauteed onions 18.
The final savory course was guinea hen, which I actually did like quite a bit - after being disappointed by a similar dish at Alain Ducasse in Monaco. Having "chicken" be the final course of a three star Michelin meal still feels a bit weird, but given the strong sauce, this felt like a substantial enough dish to end the meal 17.
A transitional dish was a kind of onion tart, again with liberal (read: over-powering) use of vinegar 15.
Cheese was mostly wonderful, as you'd expect in France from a restaurant of this caliber. Do not skip it.
Mignardises are served next (a marshmallow popsicle, small coffee cake, amazingly good chocolate truffle with cocoa nibs, and some other small bites that did not work quite as well - in particular a bitter liquor filled rock was something of an acquired taste) 15.
The dessert course was passion-fruit ice cream. Tasty, but not surprising in any way 16.
We were served coffee and tea in the downstairs lounge - really any reason to get up and move after such a filling dinner is appreciated. In terms on quantity, this was on the higher end of fine dining - we weren't bursting yet, but were also glad that we didn't have to eat anymore.
The wine pairing consisted mostly of (local!) champagnes and French wines, but also featured a French Sake (not too bad) and a beer with the cheese course.
Overall: This was a delightful dinner, the majority of courses very tasty with only a few drops here and there. Nothing was really mind blowing, but then you don't always need that 17.
