Best Food In China

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Le Petit Gourmand -- Bringing Mama’s French Cooking to China
At around 200-300 rmb per person, Le Petit Gourmand is a great place to get high quality French food in a warm environment and leave satisfied. In fact one will leave feeling almost loved and over-fed, just like if one was at Mama’s home for dinner.

Le Petit Gourmand has enticed French and Western expatriates with its alternative to fine-dining French cuisine, which can often be intimidating and snooty with its well-presented but minute portions. Gourmand serves large (French size not US size) portions of home-style french cuisine.

With a great selection of daily blackboard specials and the standard menu, the Mauritius chef trained under a 3 star Michelin chef, knows how to make each morsel perfect for students, romantic couples, businessmen and tourists. Styled like a library with actual books one can check out and a cozy lit veranda filled with greenery, Gourmand has the atmosphere of home, albeit a stylish home.

Chilled French beer and drinks like Hot-Spiced Wine, made of grilled almond, lemon, orange peel and cinnamon and side spoon of sugar are great starters to the meals. A must order is the Escargot, smooth with an intense pulsating garlic flavor. The sauce of olive oil and melted cheese it is satiated with is magnificent and wonderful for mopping up with the equally impressive freshly baked on the premises white bread- traditionally crusty and crunchy just like in France.

The Pan- Fried Goose Liver with caramelized napes and drizzled with balsamic sauce is another must. Placed on fried bread the goose is moist and succulent with an astounding contrasting taste when combined with the tart and spicy caramelized napes. The balsamic sauce was also perfect to dip the bread in.

Even the house red wine (VDP and) is reminiscent of France (and even bottled in France), with its medium tannin which finely adapts to the dishes. Surprisingly, Gourmand is famous for its couscous. The Maragese Couscous is served with home-made sausage, petite but juicy and chewy, and fried pepper and vegetable soup. The mild and light couscous which you would just love to toss and toss and observe its fluffy texture, is topped with spicy Harissa paste and then generously drizzled with the vegetable soup, and eaten with the sausage and eggplant. It was a fun presentation and interesting combination, but making it dry and a little bland for my preferences.

The Rib-eye steak with purple sauce included fatty cuts but was nicely and enthusiastically peppered leaving a aromatic taste though was served too cold. Gourmand is the only restaurant to do BBQ all year round, and one should take advantage of it this winter and have the meat barbequed.

The home-made French fries were also pleasant, not too salty but plump and light with a slight crunch to them. For dessert, the hot chocolate, a secret recipe and the only ingredient I can reveal is that Cadbury chocolate is used is a replica of traditional French hot chocolate, and a well needed addition. The Café Latte is exquisite. The Tiramisu is catered to those who desire less potent variations and has only a slight taste of coffee or alcohol, but one should try to the Upside Down Apple Tart, for which any proceeds go to an NGO to buy heaters for schools in China. The Floating Island custard was spongy yet fluffy and served with delicious sweet milk one could simply gobble up. To finish the meal do try the Pear Brandy or Charmeuse one of the oldest drinks in France, and potent with 55% alcohol yet sweet and thus dangerous.

At around 200-300 rmb per person, Le Petit Gourmand is a great place to get high quality French food in a warm environment and leave satisfied. In fact one will leave feeling almost loved and over-fed, just like if one was at Mama’s home for dinner.

-- by Larissa Paschyn

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