As you may have noticed, I haven’t updated the blog in almost a week. I have a good excuse: I had an interview, away from Paris.

So I took advantage of my stay in Strasbourg for a little culinary enjoyment.

First things first, I ran over to Au Fond du Jardin, a tea room famous for its madeleines, Sunday brunch, but also its teas. This is exactly what I went there for: pick up some of their “Vancouver” tea, one with flavours of maple and caramelized apples. Yummy!!

For dinner, we stopped at Muensterstuewel.

Muensterstuewel is a gourmet brasserie, located just around the corner of the cathedral. The food is gourmet, beautifully traditional with a modern twist.

We started off with two starters:

Fresh salmon tartare with avocado and mango

I believe this is the dish that had us “sold”, and it turned out to be a very good choice: a creamy and melt-in-your-mouth blend of fresh salmon, avocado and finely chopped mango.

Homemade duck foie gras with Gewurztraminer jelly and apple compote

I had never had apple compote with foie gras, but they go beautifully together. The foie gras was excellent. I liked the jelly a lot, although I found it a bit strong, so it overpowered the taste of the foie gras.

For the main courses, …

Beef stew hamburger with foie gras and truffle oil

It was lovely and a nice reinterpretation of grandma’s good old beef stew (mine never made it, but anyway…). The meat was so tender and foie gras paired very well with it. It was served with spätzle (Alsatian pasta)

Muensterstuewel’s pig’s foot confit burger

I admit I didn’t try this one. Pig’s foot is one of those cuts I should try someday, but I’m definitely not attracted to. I heard rather positive things about this dish, though: very tasty but a bit greasy. It was served with sautéed potatoes.

Pan-fried scallops with Charlotte potatoes and truffle mash

This was my pick and I did not regret it! The scallops melted in your mouth, like I like them, perfectly seared on the outside and slightly underdone on the inside. The truffle sauce was beautiful, but you have to like the taste of truffles because it was very strong.

As the first and main courses were quite substantial, we had “only” 2 desserts:

Ice Kougelhopf with Gewurztraminer marc

Let’s be clear about it, ice Kougelhopf is an ice cream. Shaped as a mini Kougelhopf. And it tastes like a Kougelhopf. In the case of this one, an alcohol made of Gewurztraminer marc is poured in the centre. There again, I found the taste of the alcohol to be rather strong.

A rhubarb and pinot noir soup with strawberries and yogurt ice cream

A simpler dessert, maybe, but much lighter … which doesn’t mean I was able to finish it, even though it was very good and I love rhubarb. What I liked about this dish is that the rhubarb was well cooked, so it had lost that not-so-enjoyable stringy texture. The taste of pinot noir was very light, so it didn’t overpower the taste of the fruits. The ice cream was lovely too, not too sweet, and, I may be wrong, but I think there was some sour cherry syrup. Yum!

So there you are. I can only strongly advise you, if you ever stop in Strasbourg, to go have lunch or dinner at Muensterstuewel. You will be welcomed very warmly by the owner, the waiters as well as other clients.