We finished our wonderful trip to London and Paris with a great meal at Au Bascou, a Basque restaurant in the 3rd Arrondissement. While not a typical Basque menu, it was definitely influenced by that region of France. This small restaurant was warm and inviting, and the staff was very friendly. We even had to opportunity to meet the chef/owner. We both rated this as our second best meal of the trip after La Mediteranee and a fitting finish to a series of fine food. After aperitifs of Kir Royale (Frank) and Campari with Soda (me), we enjoyed delicious and unusual appetizers of Piperade with ham, served over scrambled eggs (Frank) and Fricassee of Escargot for me. For the main plate Frank ordered Chicken and Foie Gras served with cabbage and ham, while I enjoyed the best lamb dish of the trip (more on that in a minute). It was braised shoulder of lamb, cut-with-a-fork tender, and loaded with a rich deep flavor. It was served with roasted eggplant and tomatoes, and couscous with raisins. For dessert Frank enjoyed a chocolate ganache while I had a Beret Basque (which I ordered not knowing what I was going to get). It was a rich chocolate mouse on top of a thin chocolate cake, topped with chocolate ice cream and a thin chocolate wafer. Needless to say, I enjoyed it.
Back to the hold-that-thought lamb; I don't know how it happened, and it definitely was not intentional, but of the nine dinners we had on this trip, I had lamb for four of them, mostly in England. After the third lamb dish in London, I said, “no more lamb for me”. Well, I am happy I tossed that pledge out the window for the lamb at Au Bascou.
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