Lunch at France’s oldest restaurant, La Tour d’Argent
La Tour d’Argent is a very famous French restaurant on the left bank in Paris. It looks on to the Seine, opposite Ile St. Louis. It’s a beautiful location.
La Tour d’Argent was founded in 1582. It has operated from the same site the entire time. It was once a three star restaurant but has grown unpopular over the last few decades. Nouvelle cuisine has not been uttered inside its kitchens. Things are old fashion and people come there for that reason.
Just take a look at this table:
(Yes, those are silver cups to drink out of)
The restaurant is reputed to have the largest restaurant wine list in the world. It is said they have anything from 400,000 to 750,000 bottles of wine in the cellar. The wine list is gargantuan and really requires a whole day’s study before ordering. As it was, Alex and I discussed it for one and a half hours before choosing — and we didn’t look past red Burgundy.
In the end, we settled on a Domaine Armand Rousseau Clos de Bèze 1993 and a Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Les Amoureuses 1976.
As an entrée, I ordered a royal of foie gras.
I probably would have preferred a white wine with this but the Armand Rousseau Clos de Bèze stood out nonetheless. This wine was very young, with a pronounced bouquet of cedar, green tea leaves, drying rose petals and orange peel. The palate had loads of very fine, elegant tannin. The acid was superb. In time, this will be a great Clos de Bèze, surely one of the best ever from Rousseau.
Next, came the first main plate. La Tour d’Argent specialises in duck. They employ full time canardiers to handle the duck preparation and cooking (preparation includes gentle strangling the ducks to preserve the blood). As such, we had to order the specialty of the house: caneton à la press. In this dish, an unbleed duck is roasted for about 15 minutes, at which time the filets are removed. The thighs are set aside for a later course and the carcass is pressed, ringing out blood, fat and jus. The canardier then cooks this into a unique sauce with cognac and spices according to the likes and dislikes of the patron and the wine they are drinking. This is all done on the floor of the restaurant:
Here, the canardier relates the exact details to Gen and Nina.
The result is a dish of unsophisticated presentation but superb taste:
With this was served an aged Burgundy, a Comte Georges de Vogüé Les Amoureuses 1976.
This wine was produced during a bad time for this domaine but we took a gamble anyway. The wine was expertly opened by the sommelier, the bottle being opened almost sideways, haven’t not stood level since it was put in the cellar nearly 30 years ago.
At first it was very reticent, but with time in the glass it put on weight. Again, lots of Asian spice, this time the distinct smell of jasmine tea, dried flowers, dried cranberries and cedar. It was a powerful wine on the palate and suited the duck well. It was important to treat this wine gentle, any swirling or vigorous movement would see the loss of the volatile compounds which make up the majesty of an aged wine.
Although not richly scented, the wine was not too advanced in age. The colour was superb, the palate showed no signs of giving in. It goes to show what a good cellar can do for a wine. A pleasure to drink this piece of history in a place so steeped in it.
The next course was the remainder of the duck:
This was a delicious serving of duck, simple but extremely enjoyable.
To finish off the wine, it was time for cheese.
With the dessert course, we ordered a bottle of Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume 1990. This was a delicious sweet wine from the Loire, a light golden colour, rich botrytised nose. The palate was very well balanced, it was positively refreshing to drink. Still very youthful, this kind of wine will last for ever.
We were the last to leave the restaurant. At no time did anyone indicate that it was time to leave. The staff — everywhere in the restaurant — wished us a good day and that we may come again. As we put our coats on, the doorman took us, covered by umbrellas, to the waiting taxis. A magical meal.
