Restaurants
October 13th, 2009 at 2:25:21 PM
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This thread is to be used to discuss restaurants and dining available at Monte Carlo.
October 7th, 2011 at 2:43:21 PM
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Andre's at the Monte Carlo
I'd stumbled into Andre's with a friend a year ago after being told their cigar room had a range of excellent whisky's. It does, and after a very pleasant hour drinking some very good whisky, I'd aimed to go back again for the full experience. After being told they had a Michelin Star, and wanting to tick that dining experience of my bucket list, Andre's became the obvious choice.
The downstairs dining room is small, and probably only seat around 30, but the booth was spacious and reserved enough we hardly noticed our fellow diners. The continual run of waiters and servers was a bit confusing (never the same person twice, it seemed), but a well mixed G&T settled us into the menu. Dining here is mostly French-style dishes, with some fuss but not too much frippery or miniscule dollops of unidentifiable sauce.
The Sommelier made an excellent recommendation to my friends for the wine (suggesting a slightly more unusual Argentine Red than they would have gone for), and the wine list via iPad was a nice touch as it meant browsing for the style and price much easier.
I started with a Lobster Sausage in a Crayfish sauce, which was beautiful... moist and rich without being too much before the main course. My friend described the beef Carpaccio as the best he'd ever had, while the other dining partner had a trio of starters, including a piece of braised pork belly that was also in the "never eaten that good before category".
We were served an amuse bouche, courtesy of the chef (seems to be standard, so hardly a bonus), of Salmon Cerviche in a tiny bowl.... I wasn't too impressed with this, tasting a bit like a salmon salsa to me. The main courses however were great. I had the Venison with a pumpkin puree and apple compote. The Venison was cooked just right, with plenty of that rich gamey flavour. The pumpkin puree had gruyere mixed in, which made it both spicy and smooth. I don't much like pumpkin on it's own, but this was perfect with the meatiness of the venison. One of my friends had the beef fillet, which he said came how he expected it, was perfectly tasty, but he's had better.
Dessert, I went for a trio of cheese, with biscuits and a very nice 10 year old port. The rosemary goats cheese is something I've tried before, and this reminded me I really out to go get some for myself at home. My friends went for something chocolatey.... and it was good, I'm told. We finished up with some petit fours (mounds of cirtusy taste) with a coffee. We had intended to sit on the cigar lounge with another port and coffee afterwards, but it had been invaded by some Brits on some sort of bash. I was shocked to see one of them drinking Coors Lite... from a can! I mean, really :) Still, they provided the coffee for free, which is more than we could expect.
The dinner was about $130 per head, with pre-dinner drinks and a bottle of wine. Food was excellent, service relaxed and efficient, though their love of doing a simultaneous reveal when the food arrived was a bit over the top. Would recommend if your looking for a nice, relaxed fine dining experience.
I'd stumbled into Andre's with a friend a year ago after being told their cigar room had a range of excellent whisky's. It does, and after a very pleasant hour drinking some very good whisky, I'd aimed to go back again for the full experience. After being told they had a Michelin Star, and wanting to tick that dining experience of my bucket list, Andre's became the obvious choice.
The downstairs dining room is small, and probably only seat around 30, but the booth was spacious and reserved enough we hardly noticed our fellow diners. The continual run of waiters and servers was a bit confusing (never the same person twice, it seemed), but a well mixed G&T settled us into the menu. Dining here is mostly French-style dishes, with some fuss but not too much frippery or miniscule dollops of unidentifiable sauce.
The Sommelier made an excellent recommendation to my friends for the wine (suggesting a slightly more unusual Argentine Red than they would have gone for), and the wine list via iPad was a nice touch as it meant browsing for the style and price much easier.
I started with a Lobster Sausage in a Crayfish sauce, which was beautiful... moist and rich without being too much before the main course. My friend described the beef Carpaccio as the best he'd ever had, while the other dining partner had a trio of starters, including a piece of braised pork belly that was also in the "never eaten that good before category".
We were served an amuse bouche, courtesy of the chef (seems to be standard, so hardly a bonus), of Salmon Cerviche in a tiny bowl.... I wasn't too impressed with this, tasting a bit like a salmon salsa to me. The main courses however were great. I had the Venison with a pumpkin puree and apple compote. The Venison was cooked just right, with plenty of that rich gamey flavour. The pumpkin puree had gruyere mixed in, which made it both spicy and smooth. I don't much like pumpkin on it's own, but this was perfect with the meatiness of the venison. One of my friends had the beef fillet, which he said came how he expected it, was perfectly tasty, but he's had better.
Dessert, I went for a trio of cheese, with biscuits and a very nice 10 year old port. The rosemary goats cheese is something I've tried before, and this reminded me I really out to go get some for myself at home. My friends went for something chocolatey.... and it was good, I'm told. We finished up with some petit fours (mounds of cirtusy taste) with a coffee. We had intended to sit on the cigar lounge with another port and coffee afterwards, but it had been invaded by some Brits on some sort of bash. I was shocked to see one of them drinking Coors Lite... from a can! I mean, really :) Still, they provided the coffee for free, which is more than we could expect.
The dinner was about $130 per head, with pre-dinner drinks and a bottle of wine. Food was excellent, service relaxed and efficient, though their love of doing a simultaneous reveal when the food arrived was a bit over the top. Would recommend if your looking for a nice, relaxed fine dining experience.
"Then you can admire the real gambler, who has neither eaten, slept, thought nor lived, he has so smarted under the scourge of his martingale, so suffered on the rack of his desire for a coup at trente-et-quarante" - Honore de Balzac, 1829
October 7th, 2011 at 3:48:56 PM
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Quote: thecesspitAndre's at the Monte Carlo
After being told they had a Michelin Star, ..... I was shocked to see one of them drinking Coors Lite... from a can! I mean, really :)
How bourgeois! They should lose their star for that!
Quote: thecesspitAndre's at the Monte Carlo
The dinner was about $130 per head, with pre-dinner drinks and a bottle of wine. Food was excellent, service relaxed and efficient, though their love of doing a simultaneous reveal when the food arrived was a bit over the top. Would recommend if your looking for a nice, relaxed fine dining experience.
That price is very reasonable, especially with pre-dinner drinks and a bottle of wine.
Nice report. I love reading about the restaurants more than BJ rules.
"Poker sure is an easy game to beat if you have the roll to keep rebuying."
