We thought Saturday night would be one of the busiest nights for folks to go out and eat in Bordeaux, but I guess we were wrong because when we arrived at Akashi, only 5 minutes from the hotel. The place was empty and believe it or not only one other couple sat down about thirty minutes after us.
It seems that this wonderful French restaurant with an Asian chef who fuses a little bit of Asian style into real French food is not that popular here, and Sarah the manager told us that they will sadly be closing soon. It's a real shame as it's the best meal we've had since we arrived, and it was the last we were having before we moved into our apartment today.
It's a small, simple elegant setting with super comfy high back velvet chairs that I wished I had bought for my own and rough gray tables only nine in total. We decided on the larger tasting menu which was four or five courses for 68 euros($74US and remember, no tax here) and then ordered a bottle of white and red:
Pessac-Leognan Coquillas 2022 was a refreshing Bordeaux of 100% Sauvignon Blanc that we loved and paired superbly with the first two fish courses. Our red was a Frank Phelan 2018 Saint Estephe is a magnificent second wine from the famous Château Phelan Segur that we fell in love with.
Amuses bouches arrived beautifully set on a plate with uncooked chickpeas as the bed: Goat cheese and caviar was on a rice cracker, radish was with a wonderful pasty hummus-like sauce and the Corsican sausage was akin to a rustic blood sausage.
The first course was Crevettes roses et Asperges Blancs: mi-cuites, mi-confits, sauce Pedro Ximenes, pousses de shiso or Beautiful red shrimp that were partly cooked along with super thin slices of barely cooked white asparagus served in a delicious sherry sauce with a kick and a small cup of crème d'asperges that was to be poured over it. It was totally light and refreshing and a real change from some of the very heavier dishes we had been having.
Second came Turbot et Combava poîlée, coulis de laitue, sauce vierge... This was a gorgeous piece of Turbo poached and served in a lettuce sauce with kaffir lime and a foam of lime and lettuce on top with Asian asparagi. This was something we had never seen before as the asparagus were very small and very unique. Check out the photo on facebook.
We enjoyed our red during a break before the main course which was a complete revelation as we had been told that the beef on the menu was being substituted for pastrami. This had to be the best pastrami we have ever had, and it was topped with a pesto/wasabi aioli and served with canneloni of eggplant wrapped inside grilled eggplant slices as well as bok choy. The meat was so mouthwatering and completely melted in your mouth. This was what they called cuisine française au perfumer Japonias, but some NYC deli thrown in!
Douceur d'hibiscus(meringue) et fruits rouges avec Sablé Breton, mousse limoncello was dessert and it was fabulous. I am not a meringue fan but the fruit, mousse and shortbread cookie from Brittany made a magnificent combination.
We ordered Akashi whiskey from Japan and then had the pleasure of meeting the chef Akashi who was as sweet as can be. His plans are to open up a pastrami centric bistro or shop... I gave him my card to make sure we know about it. We are so sad that this magnificent gourmet dining spot will be gone when we next return.
