La Rose des Vents

Picture with Santa <3

I had my Christmas Staff Party yesterday, with 10 people from my workplace. Some 2 or 3 of them could not come, and the kids washing dishes did not come either. We went to bowling around 3P.M. and had quite a lot of fun, being the only ones - plus one little family - in the entire place. I usually suck at this sort of stuff, lacking quite the strength to throw the balls like people normally do - I basically aims the best I can, and let the ball roll slowly and happily down the alley. My usual score is around 80-90. Probably the most I can ever get in bowling. We were not really good anyways, so I was actually in the high average. 

What was funny enough is that on the television showing the scores, there was also something that calculated the km/hr of each throw, which I had never had the occasion of using. The average speed was arouns, I would say, 17km/hr, which is quite fast IMO. One of the girl cooks had easy 25km/hr, beating the guys often by far.

Here, though, I must have broken records. My average was around 6km/hr :) Ain't I a sweet weak little person? Now I do not wonder why I never beat anyone with strength, there is no way I can.

After the bowling, that was more like a get together and chilling in the afternoon without the stress of work, we went to a Fine Cuisine restaurant calles La Rose des Vents to get a Christmas dinner. It was my first time going so I'll take the time to make a review. Ever since I tried The Bistro Jezz, I felt like all the other 'fine' restaurants around town were not going to be much impressive (Afterall, the place I work at actually has me saying it makes the best Western food I ever ate in my life, and I believe I've tried quite my lot of different places). I had heard of La Rose des Vents a couple of time without having gone, since it could be classified as more or less equal in quality with Bistro Jezz food-wise. At least that's what people say about it. The very fact that the Rose des Vent actually chose to have it's Christmas party at our place, and us at theirs could explain that we both have around the same standards. Anyways, yesterday, I got to try it myself. 

God it feels so good, in restauration, to actually be the ones to be served!!!

First impression: a cozy little restaurant, with probably a capacity of 20 people maximum, nice floral pattern on an old school wooden bar, big wooden chairs and white table cloth. The decoration is really sweet, much more my style than Bistro Jezz, that has more of a modern look (you can see the picture on the website I liked to, as mine did not turn out quite as well in the feeble lighting of yesterday night). We were the only customers, most people having already had their Christmas party before the Holidays, and the fact that the place is quite small. There is a big blackboard on the side of the room, with a listing of the day's menu, starters, main dishes, and Trou Normand.

After we settle down with alcohol, the chef (judging from the accent, French, but I did not get to ask where from) explains us everything in the menu in detail, from the ingredients, to the cooking methods not forgetting to mention why he chose one ingredient instead of another, and the intention of each of them. Just listening to the explanation had me gain 3 pounds I am sure. Everything seemed really good, especially the starters. There were two of them that got my attention in particular: Duo de Foie Gras and a Pâte feuilletée of regional goat cheese. I hesitated for a long time whether if I should not actually take two appetizers, then the onion soup offered before the main dish comes, and end up with a dessert - the latter being written on a separate little blackboard on the other side of the room. I ended up choosing a cranberry goose main dish, served with mashed potatoes seasoned with chestnuts. 

Verdict:

After the first impression, we had an awesome red wine Les Charmes - I'll have to look up for the whole name later... - and I took the Foie Gras Starter. It was pure bliss. Served with a Spice Bread - like those gingerbread men - each bite was like an explosion of flavor. People who took my second choice, the goat cheese one, said about the same thing. I can say I was anticipating the main dish more and more.

Goat Cheese Starter - I apologize for the bad quality of the picture, iPhone is not meant to take pictures underexposed
Ironically, I haven't taken a picture of my Foie Gras starter, I was too busy eating it.... Shame on me I suppose...

Thing is, the main dish was really insipid. The meat was cooked quite fine, the plates looked good and the ingredients were all nice and all, but there was literally no taste. I was really sad I did not stick to my first ideas, the two appetizers. A coworker and I had planned on sharing our plates, which we did (she got a beef tenderloin), with the same sad result. We had to come face to face with reality, the food was tasteless. 

Goose mean with Cranberry sauce and chestnuts potatoes

This is why I ended up taking a dessert. I felt like I had to finish with a positive overview of the place so I wanted to give it a last chance. My boss ordered three big plates of various cheeses, that were really good. Among them one of my personal favorite, the Cendrillon, which we had at Christmas at my brother's. I took a chocolate mousse and praline on a layer of crispy cookie served with red berry sauce. The dessert was just as blissful as the starters, luckily. This, IMO, saved the day. 

The quality of this picture got surprisingly much better than the other photos. lucky

So my suggestion is, if one needs to go at La Rose des Vents - and don't misunderstand, I absolutely recommend it - he should take the starters that appeal to him most, maybe two of them, instead of getting the more expensive and not tasty enough main dish. To end the evening in fashion, let him take the Trou Normand, of which there is a good selection, my personal favorite being the one with apple sherbet (really tasty, with little peel of apples in it), cheese and a dessert. They have a very big and good selection of wine, alcohol and cocktails for amateurs too. 

Having fun in between services....