Grâce à une invitation de Stéphane Gabrielly, enseignant formateur, j’ai eu le privilège d’aller échanger avec 2 groupes d’étudiants étrangers de l’école Grégoire Ferrandi.
Cette école de la CCI de Paris propose un impressionnant choix de formations, de différents niveaux et accessibles à différents profils. Le groupe dont s’occupe Stéphane et son collaborateur à la particularité (et la richesse) de venir du monde entier et de tous les horizons : Jusqu'à 17 nationalités, des âges variés et des niveaux de cuisines inégaux, qui viennent passer 6 mois de cours intensifs pour apprendre les bases de la cuisine Française. Le diplôme équivalent à un CAP est validé après un stage de plusieurs mois dans un restaurant.
Plusieurs fois par mois, c’est ce groupe qui prépare le repas servi au restaurant d’application : Tout est préparé le jour même, à base de produits frais et de saison. Ces repas valident les cours pratiques, mais permettent aussi de mettre les élèves « en condition »
Avant le service, j’ai pu faire un tour dans la vaste cuisine du restaurant, ou les 2 équipes d’une dizaine de personnes s’apprêtaient à envoyer 65 couverts ce soir la.
A la fin du repas, j’ai pu aller dire aux élèves ce que j’avais pensé du repas et avec l’accord de Stéphane, j’ai pris le parti d’aller chercher « la petite bête ». Les cours étant en Anglais, je vais tenter de vous retranscrire dans cette langue mes impressions sur ce repas, certains étudiants venant, semble t-il, faire un tour sur ce blog de temps en temps.
First of all, I must say that I was overall very impressed by the quality and presentation of the food served that night. The 35€ menu is an incredible value for money, and reflects the hard work done by the students. Have a look below.
“Bombe” de betterave, anguille fumée
A beetroot foam served in coffee cup, with some smoke eal and beetroot condiment. The sourness of the condiment works perfectly with the sweetness of the foam and the eal chunk. A very nice appetizer
One starter was the Marbré de canard et fois gras aux artichaux.
Each of the layers was well assembled and cooked, and each of its elements had a perfectly recognizable taste. One of my comments was that this dish would’ve been more balanced and creamier if the amount of potato was reduced in favour of the foie gras.
The other starer was a Pressé de volaille au fois gras et truffes
One of French’ classic, but as you can see very nicely presented with its cabbage leaves. Refreshing, even though the overall mixture could’ve been lighter in your mouth.
One of the 2 fish dishes was the Rouget escorté de jeunes legumes
A filet of perfectly cooked red snapper, with crispy skin. All the vegies around were well tempered and also well cooked. A dish reminding many of the trendy Parisian Bistrots, giving the product itself the best part of the play. The only thing that was perhaps lacking from this plate was a liaison between all of them. But the work behind this plate (carving, cutting, cooking, setting up, etc…) is definitely there.
The other fish dish, a Pavé de maigre, linguine aux coquillages.
One again, congrats for cooking of the fish, almost raw in its centre. The pasta was aldente, the peas slightly cooked and the shellfish juice at the bottom of the plate extremely tasty.
The first meat dish was a Carré d’agneau et crumble d’herbes, tarte de legumes à la tapenade et artichauts violets
And no, I have not played with the colour of the image : The lamb is greatly cooked. The lamb juice is also very well done and tasteful, even though there might have been a bit too much in the plate. One slight problem with that dish was about the herbs crust : The taste of the rosemary was too powerful and therefore overwhelming the rest. Once again, nothing to say about the vegies, but I’m not sure that the Tapenade was necessary.
The other choice for meat was Echine de porc pané, dés de legume au poivre vert.
Very tender piece of pork panned fried with bread crumbs, on another very good juice. The sort of “grenobloise” was lacking a bit of sourness, the green pepper being a bit flat. But again, that’s me being picky.
Nothing to say about the typical French Paris Brest.
Nice puff pastry, stuffed with creamy praline.
I think the 2 teams cooking that night can be very proud of the dishes that were served : They will have no trouble blending in the future restaurant they will go to, in order to finish their training.
I whish them all the best and can’t wait to come and test the food they will serve as an executive chef one day.
La carte des vins vaut aussi le détour, compte tenu de la faiblesse des marges appliquées : Superbe Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru « Les Morgeots » ’02 à 60€ et un sobre mais jamais décevant Château Potensac ’05 à 35€.
Je me répète, mais ces restaurants d’Application, c’est vraiment le Gastro au prix du McDo.
Merci encore à Stéphane, et toute l’équipe pour leur accueil.
Ecole Ferrandi, 28 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 75006 Paris, T. : 01 49 54 28 00, sur le plan
Very interesting.
Thanks for sharing your experience and congratulations to all these young talented and passioned people.