It’s Back to School for Lunch in Paris
There are some caveats to accessing this dining experience – but thankfully not too many. The food for the restaurant is prepared by students under the careful supervision of their instructors, thus the restaurant is only open during the months the school is in session and when the students are not in exam periods. There is a somewhat limited choice of menu—one amuse bouche, two entrees, two main courses, two desserts (plus a cheese course and coffee). You need to be at the dining room ready to enjoy lunch promptly at 12:30 since the students who cook and serve must move on to afternoon classes after 3:00. But that’s about it for possible limitations.
The food is contemporary French gourmet-bistro style cuisine at lunch. I have not yet enjoyed dinner at the school, but the informative English-Language Programs coordinator, Stephanie Curtis, described the weekly dinners as being prepared by the most experienced students and incorporating luxury ingredients such as lobster or caviar.
There is always a strong emphasis on seasonality and market-fresh ingredients. One May lunch commenced with a beautiful plate of fat white asparagus with four different sauces available for pairing with the delectable vegetable. An October lunch incorporated fresh wild mushrooms in the sauce for the saddle of lamb and featured a stunning apple-based dessert. There is always a meat and a fish choice on the menu in both the entrée and main course section.
My most recent meal at the École Ferrandi began with a visually beautiful and quite delicious amuse bouche. The plate included triangles of polenta baked with mushrooms, and oven-roasted tomato, mozzarella, and zucchini mini-brochettes, plus thin crispy grissini wrapped with Parma ham. For a satisfying first course, my sautéed chipirons were accompanied by a flavorful and attractive timbale of aubergine purée enrobing a poached quail egg. My choice for the main plat was the saddle of lamb with a bulgur, wild mushroom ‘stuffing’, accompanied by perfectly steamed vegetables. The cheese trolley featured a trifecta of perfectly soft and aromatic Brie de Meaux, a characterful Valencay (chèvre) and an assertive Livarot.
Dessert you say? Bien sur. Dessert options were a choice of a fresh berry trifle or La Pomme dans Tous les Etats (translated as ‘the apple in all its guises’). Who could resist? I had seen the gorgeous plates of the ‘Apple In All Its Guises’ being delivered to other tables and decided it must grace mine as well. Featuring three miniature apples in a ruby-red spun sugar glaze, a perfect little buttery tarte aux pommes, and a killer apple sorbet, this was a dessert plate worth the price of admission. The trifle didn’t look bad either!
My wine was a half-bottle of a fine Bergerac which complimented the robust flavors of the food and set me back 9 Euros. A kir, had I wanted an aperitif, would have been 2 Euros. The wine list features a Rhone, a Burgundy, a Bordeaux, a Bergerac and selected other regional French wines.
Following all this gastronomic glory, one is offered coffee or tea. Coffee is the classic rich dark roast. But I was in the mood for tea and thus unwittingly uncovered the one less-than-remarkable aspect of this dining room. During the meal, I had been chatting with the student server about the guide to Paris tea salons that I am writing. We had been sharing tips on great places to have tea and where to find fine, even rare teas in Paris. Thus when I ordered tea I could see the server was mildly consternated. There is generally one serviceable but quite unexceptional choice for tea on offer here, since as in most French restaurants, just about everyone orders coffee. However, ever resourceful and dedicated to serving the customer, my charming server went off on a search for some extra-good tea and somehow scared up some excellent Betjeman and Barton Earl Grey that made for a very good pot indeed.
Guests are made to feel very welcome in this dining room. During the meal, the professor who was overseeing the service introduced himself and chatted with me about one of his memorable trips to the USA and about his work at the school. As I tucked into my fifth course he described, in charmingly animated terms, his hobby as a marathon runner. It was a delightful experience.
There are several student servers at work so one is never left with an empty water glass or bereft of service. Granted I was dining alone and thus extra sensitive to the ambience of the dining room, but my repeat visits here both with friends, clients and solo would lead me to give a high mark to the service and the welcome of the ‘staff’. Ditto for the quality food and the excellent value for enjoying lunch ‘back at school’.
If you go: The Ecole Supérieur de Cuisine Francaise-Ferrandi is located at 28, rue de l’Abbé Grégoire. Metro: St. Placide or Sevres-Babylone. Lunch: Monday through Friday when school is in session. Reservations (you must reserve ahead): 01 49 54 17 31. Dinner Thursday evenings only.
Lunch runs 18E to 25E depending on the level of the students preparing the meal on the given day that you dine. Dinner Thursday evenings only is 35 Euro. The restaurant is non-smoking.
More info: http://www.escf.ccip.fr/ (excellent website, with English!)
