RESTAURANT ADDRESS

Auberge de la Grenouilliere

La Madelaine-sur-Montreuil, France

33-3 21 06 07 22

RESTAURANT STAFF

Chef/Owner: Alexandre Gauthier

OAD HISTORY

Ranked 29 in 2013.

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Among the group of chefs who practice the hard-core version of naturalism that is in vogue these days, Alexandre Gauthier might be the edgiest of them all. After inheriting a successful family restaurant, he added a gorgeous modern dining room, while changing the cuisine from traditional French to what one diner described as “experimental dishes using fabulous products.” An example of the style of cooking Alexandre favors is the way he prepares a lobster tail: He cooks the plumpest Breton lobster tail you have ever seen and buries it within a pile of juniper berry branches, then, using a blowtorch, sets the entire bundle on fire. The fire has subsided by the time the dish arrives tableside, but the slight taste of smoke permeates the lobster. It gets even better when the server instructs you to eat the tail with your fingers. No wonder one reviewer described the experience as being “as sauvage as it gets.”

Homard Genièvre: Blue lobster with Charred Berries and Pine
Photo Courtesy of: Spanish Hipster