I discovered Buffet by way of their beautiful photos shared on Le Fooding's Instagram. I was most…read morecaptivated by a photo of breaded poached egg atop a bed of spinach and cep mushrooms. You must understand, though, that while they have beautiful photos of eggs, it is not the only dish they make. Frequently, they do not have eggs on the menu at all. The bartender clarified this last weekend when we had an (eggless) evening among friends. Not that we asked: he says it up front now because so many diners expect them.
So we got chicken.
Just kidding. There was a half chicken, to split between two people, but none of the five of us were keen on that. Instead, we had delicate cod, aromatic lamb and tender pork main courses, accompanied by endive cream, Brussels sprouts and thin leeks, respectively. To start, we ordered sausage, creamy fennel soup, and lamb kefta with "sauce blanche." And, of course, excellent red wine per the waitress's suggestions.
I was disappointed with the lamb kefta appetizer. It was undercooked as kefta shouldn't be--the middle was pure tartare. The sauce it came with was lovely (made more so by squeezing a lemon slice over it), and I dunked the lamb balls into it to disguise its rawness. Raw meat doesn't bother me; it's the texture that threw me off. It was slimy inside while charred outside. Not great.
The winning appetizer was the fennel velouté, dotted with almonds and accented by fresh goat cheese. (I was also tempted to try the oysters topped with kiwi, out of pure curiosity, but was reluctant to spend 9€ for three oysters.)
Nothing to complain about for the main courses. My pork sat atop apple purée (but was there some potato in there too?), and I even ate the fat with the meat, because all was so tender and delicious. I used their crusty baguette to mop up every last bit.
For dessert, three in our party ordered cheesecake with quince jam, and were surprised to see a mini deconstructed cheesecake: blobs of cream, chunks of cookie, and jam coulis. It didn't taste anything like cheesecake, and would have been better had they not tried to be so fancy. On the other hand, they could spruce up their cheese offering a bit. I ordered the St. Nectaire for the finish, and had a wedge handed to me on a small white plate. Small plate, just the cheese, the bread basket refilled. I would have liked a small touch or garnish that they were so careful to provide for the starters and other desserts.
Our table was at the back of the restaurant, past the tiny kitchen and disco-themed restroom. It wasn't a bad place to be parked, until a raucous party of ten arrived for the second seating and we could no longer hear ourselves think. A mirror runs along the back wall, to open up the well-lit space, and booths line the sides so you can cozy up to your neighbors. It's worth taking a trip to the toilet: the black paint and disco ball were entirely unexpected.
