Maison Lameloise - Chagny
Menu cover
Rating: 18/20
Where: Chagny, France
When: Dinner for 2 on 18 March 2022
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 180-245 Euro, Wine pairing for long menu 190 Euro
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars
Why: Great food, service and wine in Burgundy’s only three-star Michelin restaurant
Maison Lameloise is located in Chagny at the southern end of the Burgundy region of France. Chagny is not the prettiest town in Burgundy by any measure, and the restaurant - located on the main road through the town - not particularly eye-catching from the outside either. However, the inside of the hotel and the dining room have been nicely renovated and modernized. The dining space is split into several rooms, each having six tables or less. So even though this restaurant is quite large, it still feels intimate.
Before dinner, we went to an impromptu wine tasting at a nearby chateau, arranged by the hotel staff. In fact, this was our first wine tasting ever in Burgundy, and a profoundly educational experience - somehow I only "understand" a wine region once I've been there. Knowing where the villages of Burgundy are located turned out to be a great help when placing the wines at dinner.
The dinner was tasting menu only, but the length could be adjusted anywhere between three and five savory courses. We went all in - five courses and a supplemental cheese course. Wine pairings were available as well.
Service throughout our meal was excellent, the (mostly Burgundian) wines we had by the glass were wonderful, pairing really well with one or two dishes (given the median value of zero great pairings for any restaurant, that's actually pretty good). My wife's pescatarian restrictions were taken care of in impeccable style. Initially, all appetizers were strict pescatarian (well, except that she'd argue that frogs are not fish...), even gelatin and eggs avoided. Once we mentioned that she was ok with chicken, a later dish with chicken truffle sauce was served to her unaltered. There was a small hiccup with the main course. By ordering the longest possible meal, we already exhausted all the non-meat dishes, and the waiter was unsure what to serve instead of the lamb. But after conferring with the chef, he reported back that, no worries, there would be a replacement, the chef just didn't have any clue what it might be. If that's not cooking at the seat of your pants, then I don't know what is.
As an aperitif, I chose a "Kir" (not to be confused with a Kir Royal), which is Burgundy white wine (Aligote) mixed with cassis liquor. Supposedly, Burgundian Aligote used to be too acidic to be drinkable by itself, hence the cocktail. I expected significant acidity in the drink, but it was very smooth - black currant juice with a bit of something extra.
Amuse bouches appeared next: a foie gras bonbon 18 (pescatarian: a candied carrot 17), a cracker with trout on top 17, a ham mousse 19 (pescatarian: truffle radish tartlet 18, a cheese pillow topped with sausage (amazing 20), and fried frog legs for both of us - so I had to eat them both 15.
Next was a small "soup", for me with cream and ham. The soup was on the bitter side and not that enjoyable, the deep fried quail egg on the side didn't help 16. The carrot soup for my wife on the other hand was excellent 18.5.
The first real course was a choice between arctic char 17 and (chilled) mini beef roulades on top of a lentil salad and pickled onions with a foie gras mousse. This was a pretty good dish, but the foie gras was very heavy compared to the other ingredients - I'd have preferred less of it. Other than that, it was light enough to be served as a first course with a white wine pairing 18.
John Dory with sunchokes, candied orange pieces and a chicken truffle sauce was next. This was an excellent dish, we couldn't get enough of the sauce, sopping it up with the wonderful bread provided throughout the service. I'm not sure what the candied orange pieces were about though, they provided more of a distraction than an addition to the dish 18.
Next was the scallop dish in two preparations. The larger one was a scallop tarte with scallop mousse, leeks and caviar, accompanied by green asparagus. The smaller preparation was served in a bowl: seared scallop in a lemon broth. The tarte was excellent, a wonderful combination of ingredients that were fantastic individually and in combination. The lemon broth scallop initially surprised us by being on the sweeter side, but it actually went better with the paired Chardonnay. We finished every last drop of the sauce, drinking from the bowl at the end, so clearly one shouldn't overvalue first impressions 19.
My main dish was suckling lamb, served two ways. One was a leg and two ribs with black garlic, the other was lamb shoulder with carrots and potatoes in a saffron mustard sauce. The latter was probably the slightly better among the two, bursting with flavor and much lighter than the ribs. On average 18.5.
The pescatarian replacement was a preparation of langoustine with a sabayon sauce accompanied by first-of-the-season peas and browned onions. Apparently, we were the beta testers for this dish that would make its debut on the spring menu in a few weeks. It was truly excellent, beating the lamb hands down 19.
The (optional) cheese course was next, concentrating on cheeses from Burgundy. I won't rate these, since choosing cheeses is always hit and miss, but my above-and-beyond favorite was the Soumaintrain, a funky soft cheese what was like a meal in and of itself, the different flavors evoked by this morsel of "processed milk" were just phenomenal. I'm fairly certain that no comparable cheese exists on the other side of the Atlantic.
Petit fours (lemon tart, apple/passion fruit tartine, chocolate mousse praline, chocolate praline, lemon madeleine) preceded the dessert, and were nice 16.
The main dessert was a choice between a variation of pear preparations (cooked, as ice cream, as broth, ...), that were truly excellent 19 and a chocolate/cassis combination that included different preparation of chocolate (mousse, tarte, etc). The chocolate dish was fine, but not particularly exciting, and (for this point of dinner) pretty heavy 16.
Overall: This was a very enjoyable dinner with excellent service and a very responsive kitchen. Several dishes clearly in three-star territory, this was a marked improvement over our dinner the previous night at Georges Blanc 18.
Tasting menu