Ze Kitchen Galerie is a place that never sleeps, never rests on its laurels/star, never looks back. Today we were greeted warmly by himself, Cedric and the staff; saw new place-mats with a very cool subtle zkg stamp; new holders for the kooky utensils that prevously flopped over without warning; and a carte stream-lined from the old one described by one of my friends as a confusogram.
In a flash we were "offered" coupes, presented amuse-gueules of pot-au-feu croquettes with artichoke or was it asparagus - some "a" veggie - and wasabi sauce and a step up from Chateaus Talmar and Martal, a very pleasant St Emilion.
Colette and I had the raviolis stuffed with succulent shrimp in a "Thai" sauce that I unabashedly drank from the bowl violating all the laws of French etiquette and our guest, a birthday girl, the staff estimated at 18-21 years of age, had linguini with mushrooms and parmesan. Then the chef sent out a between course treat to cleanse the palate - a bit of squid perfectly cooked.
Our guest then had the red tuna, Colette had the squid or was it cuttlefish, oh well, same idea, and I the quail and foie gras - all with super sauces and great vegetables, crunchy scallions scoring tops with me.
Then, just when Colette and I had decided to fold our tents and creep away thoroughly satisfied, our expat expert extraordinaire ordered a dessert after debating her choices - of course they brought her out all three, each of which was generously adorned with raspberries, the last with a birthday candle, a very nice touch.
So, with all that, their self-filtered water, 1 1/2 bottles of wine and 3 coffees our bill amounted to 91.60 E a couple - at a one-star restaurant, beat that!