Photos taken from my IG vinoyvaca.
A few days after lunch at Waldhotel Sonnora that I wrote about here, it’s time for my most anticipated reservation of 2025 at the fabled Plénitude. To rehash how I got the table, I simply sent a request almost a year in advance and made my calendar work around this immutable date. Led by Chef Arnaud Donckele under LVMH group's banner, the restaurant famously earned 3 stars within 7 months of its opening. Sauces take center stage here with elaborate ingredient lists and poetic Titled Names. I came with impossibly high expectations but left puzzled and under-satisfied. I’m sure this will disappoint the plenitude of fans of this restaurant here but I will try to explain specifically why so. Before that, let’s look at the individual dishes…
– Openings: tart with raw 'crevette bouchet'; Gillardeau oyster slightly grilled with cucumber jelly; mullet and bottarga on chickpea biscuit. Good.
– Gambero (i.e. gamba roja) cured in kombu, broccoletti, sauce 'Fiolaro' containing prawn stock, Ume vinegar, prawn oil, citrus elements, and Thai basil. The precious (and huge!) gamba roja was probably very lightly grilled which concentrated its flavour and gave it a dense but still raw consistency. The sauce was almost too acidic, with some grilled prawniness in the background.
– 'Kanzuri' crab consommé featuring fennel, Cognac, yuzu, and pepper. Rather restrained crab bisque that was more fresh than rich.
– Grilled sardine, 'Velours d'Eden' featuring escabeche stock, Lambrusco vinegar, Mexican tarragon, Callas mustard, and egg yolk to bind everything into a silky emulsion. Tarragon's anise-like aroma, the perfect sweet-sour balance of vinegars and mustard, and the umami base of fish worked in harmony. One happily mops the sauce up with the excellent anchovy roll. The sardine itself was fine and probably held special meaning to the chef but maybe the dish would be elevated if a more noble/meaty blue fish (mackerel or bonito, for example) was used.
– Gardener's salad, with 'Vierge Patidou' that contained squash essence, chestnut honey, Jerez vinegar, truffle, and artichoke among other things. Beautifully plated but did not work for me taste-wise. Sauce had an overly intense earthiness like the powder in the bottom of a packer of dried porcini.
– Scallop, fennel, and caviar with 'beurre monté Perce-Pierre' composed of fish fumet, lemon peel, abalone juice, and roasted star anise. Best sauce of the night! With the scallop protein, the obvious sauce would be scallop-based, no? Chef Arnaud went with something fish-based. Restrained in sweetness but with gentle and long-lasting umami and a subtle bitterness. Finished every drop from the generous pot.
– Langoustine, squash, rosemary with a 'Sabayon Buisson Divin' of langoustine claw butter, coral, shallot, flowering vinegar, citrus, and Limontte pepper. A bonus course not part of the menu though I observed that most other tables that night got an extra plate of some sort (it does not happen all the time, so I wonder what's the deal). Excellent material and the coral sauce had a good sweet-sour balance.
– Poultry and its giblets with 'Salmigondis Astérion' featuring pigeon stock, grille foie gras, offal, Jerez vinegar, caramelized shallots, picholine olive, and Kampot pepper. Problematic – the breast meat was tender but oddly dry and sticks to the teeth. I never go for the 'boring protein’ but I figured if someone is going to make fireworks from chicken it has to be here, no? A pity… The deep and meaty sauce was pretty good.
– Satined meringue with cream, with 'Esquisse d'Endocarpe' of macerated lemon, chamomile infusion, different citruses, marjoram, and bergamot oil. Achingly beautiful to look at. However the contrast between the sweet/creamy parts and the tart/bitter sauce was a little too stark for me. Lacked harmony.
So 3 out of 7 successful mains plates wasn’t great but IMO the bigger concern was the mediocrity of the garnishes. Re-read my comments. Not once I highlighted something that was not the main element or the sauce. The broccoli with prawn, the fish mousse thing with the scallop, the pumpkin tart with the langoustine etc. all did not do much to lift the overall composition of each dish. The style seems to favour a random assortment of disparate pretty things around a main element. Much wasted potential.
And the service… It started very well with wide smiles all around but soon the experience started to feel like a packed and elaborate choreography that the dinner was obliged to play along and adhere to a schedule. Among the many ‘acts’ are the cellar tour, the champagne cart, the conversation (yes I believe they plan to strike up a conversation with the diners), the kitchen table visit, the cheese cabinet, etc. With such a busy itinerary, timing is very important and unfortunately it did not help that several times I threw them off balance like when I perhaps took a little too long to look at the wine list (very marked up, but had a fantastic glass of Ganevat Savagnin) or when I slowly savoured the entire pot of Perce-Pierre sauce while the next dish was already on the way. To be clear, all the servers were impeccably friendly and I am sure had the best intentions. I take issue with the choreography itself, not the dancers. This review here somewhat mirrors my feeling.
Still, I am glad I made it to see what all the fuss is about even if I would probably not return.
by vinoyvaca
3 Comments
I had a lovely time at Plénitude but I understand the criticism. I liked the conversation with the staff, at one point they overheard me saying I wish i could try to recreate some sauces at home and at the end of the dinner they gifted me Arnaud Donckele’s cook book. I spent 5h at the table and didn’t see the time go by. Was a little disappointed by the desserts though, but that may be because I went to Kei the week before and had one of the best desserts I’ve ever had haha.
That first prawn looks like something I’d give up my kidney for. Why does it look so perfect?!
Thanks for sharing both the photos & experience write up.
Agree. Food was excellent but not nearly as breathless as rumored. (Sauces were top notch, though.) Service was among the oddest and most uncomfortable I’ve ever experience. Would definitely not return.