I had a nice dinner planned for our first evening in Montpellier with reservations at the one Michelin Star Reflet d'Obione which I had read about in this post on the Edible Reading Blog. Being that we were spending an entire month in France I knew that we'd need to pick our "tasting menu" spots judiciously. We surely didn't want to burn out on these places. We both thought that having a nice dinner in Montpellier would be fun.
There was a reason we had taken our specific walking route earlier in the day. The restaurant was close to Porte du Peyrou off of Rue Foch, down a quiet side street so I wanted to have some familiarity with the area. Like many of these places, which really don't need to advertise, the entry was rather simple and discreet.
And the interior simple, but classy as was the service.
We took the larger "Horizon" menu which featured 7 courses and shared a wine pairing. All the dishes are sourced from the region and seasonal. Montpellier is located a short distance (+/- 10 kilometers) from the Mediterranean, so we were interested to sample the seafood,
The oysters were nicely presented and prepared.
Crisp and briny, with savory minced sea asparagus (salconia) and was topped with frozen, mildly tart shavings that we were told was yogurt (?!?). This was a very nice start to the meal.
The next item was a bit strange. They called it Alkaline Broth.
This was like a weak dashi with sprouted lentils in it.
The scallop dish was outstanding.
The scallop was perfectly seared, rare, sweet, and tender. The charred endive was wonderfully sweet with a pleasant bitterness, the sabayon was light, yet rich, with a very clean finish.
The Missus loved the Guinea Fowl Quenelle.
Which was light and savory; but I think it's the celeriac puree, the Missus is not a big fan of celeriac, which went so well in this dish with a light celery-sweetness. The coffee veloute was a nice and savory surprise.
The Langoustine was sweet and tender.
And one thing we had noticed with this and all of the previous items; in spite of the rather elaborate presentation and combinations, the flavor of the primary ingredient shone thru. The minced butternut squash and puree went well with this.
The local line caught fish, in this case sea bass was again seared perfectly. Tender, buttery, with a hint of sweetness.
Up to this point we had enjoyed this dinner more than what we'd had at Granite a few nights previous. The one dish that we enjoyed more at Granite was the pigeon. Here the overall flavorings of the pigeon was too sweet and tart.
We did love the beetroot Napolean, though it added yet another layer of sweetness to the dish that was not needed in our opinion.
The entrements were good, refreshing, and very restorative.
The Missus enjoyed dessert.
And heck, even non-dessert lover me, enjoyed the Chocolate Fondant, which wasn't overly sweet.
It was rich and creamy; the praline crisp with the unique nutty flavor of chicory.
This was an excellent meal. The service was well paced, efficient, polished, and professional, while still being friendly. Except for the wine pairing and the pigeon dish, we enjoyed this more than Granite in Paris.
Reflet d'Obione
29 Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau
34000 Montpellier, France
Well, Montpellier who knew…..
