If there's one word to describe the Palace of Versailles, it'd be opulence.
We paid a little extra on top of the admission ticket for an English guided tour and would highly recommend it to anyone who is visiting because you will have access into special areas which are not usually opened to visitors with normal tickets. The tour took approximately an hour and bookings are necessary.
I wish I have a lot more to say but history/architecture is clearly not my forte ha ha so I shall let the pictures do the talking.
The royal chapel
The royal opera
The Hall of Mirrors
Galerie des Batailles - Gallery of Battles
View from behind the main palace - the blue surface spanned towards the horizon is the Grand Canal, a man-made, cross-shaped lake.
Unfortunately there were renovation works in one of the fountains and because it's winter, the garden was pretty much... non-existent.
Since the Grand Canal is so gigantic, we thought it'd save us time if we cycled around it instead of walking!
Getting my game face on
*cues Tian Mi Mi song* hahahaha this looks like photobomb on expert level but actually Wk took this with the intention of including me in it
After cycling what seemed like FOREVER we finally reached the tip of the canal! And we took a selfie to celebrate lol.
Versailles Palace pretty much took up one whole day for us. If you're a true fan of history, art, and architecture I'm sure you will need more than a day there. The size of the place is colossal. Since it's not free to get in, you want to make sure you cover like 110% of it lol. You're all the way in France, why not?!
Ok dinner time!
When I called to try and book this place the man who answered the phone could not speak a word of English. After muttering in French for a while, he passed the phone to a lady who thankfully spoke English.
I found this place randomly after looking up Tripadvisor, which I rely heavily on when looking for places to eat. I think this place ranked no. 1 or 2 in restaurants in Versailles? Can't remember. I gave it a go because I thought since it wasn't (Read: wasn't) Michelin starred it wouldn't be that pricey.
In saying that, I do take Tripadvisor rankings with a grain of salt - this restaurant although ranked highly, the amount of raters were far lesser than the other restaurants (we're talking about difference of 20s and 100s) which meant it's most likely a new restaurant in town and when everyone rates it highly naturally the ranking will shoot up. The only other reason I picked this restaurant was because it was close to our accommodation.
To cut the story short, we were just looking for a place to eat. Did not expect much, but did not want to be disappointed either.
Walking into the restaurant we instantly noticed it's quite small, had a modern set up, and minimal amount of tables. We didn't know what to expect because the website was in French. When the menu was presented to us, we realised it's degustation - multiple courses of the chef's specialty in small portions. There were 5 or 7 courses degustation menu and we picked the 5 courses one.
Once again, this happened over a year ago so unfortunately I can hardly remember what each dish involved.
We started off with these fritters - they were complimentary starters.
Then came the amuse-bouche.
Some kind of julienned vegetable and bonito flakes in dashi stock - that julienne skill is freaking out of this world.
First course - All I can remember was potato and mushroom and it was.
FREAKING. AMAZING. WTFBBQ
Wk and I were seriously blown away. I don't even know how to describe how mashed potatoes and mushroom foam could blow our minds away but it did. It started off so amazing that we were looking forward towards our next course.
Second course was fish with a white sauce and... I'm guessing it's either a pumpkin or sweet potato puree. This one didn't blow our minds away, but it was a good dish. Fish was perfectly cooked, very elegant and delicate.
Third course - duck and beetroot. This one...
HOLY DUCK. (see what I did there? LOL)
The perfect example of negative space plating
My first duck dish in France was in Perigord, the region of the finest duck/goose produce and I was quite disappointed because my duck was overcooked even though I asked for medium rare.
Here, the lady asked me how I would like my duck cooked. We asked her how does she likes it cooked? She said "rare".
Absolutely perfect. Makes me wonder, maybe the French only identify well done, medium and rare, and no in between? I don't know. Back to the duck.
It was cooked to absolute perfection. Tender and juicy. The baby beetroot was cooked a few ways - some were crisped, some pickled, some braised. The beets' flavour and the duck were like match made in heaven.
Fourth course - First dessert. Best dessert I've had in the world! How awesome does the glass look??? If I have no shame I would have stolen it...
I remember this being a very light and well balanced dessert. The orange thing is a mango sorbet, sitting in (I think) a pool of coconut milk foam. Sunken at the bottom were some diced mango and I think there were some micro coriander through it? It's topped with some red micro herb and (I think) meringue shards.
So damn delicious.
Last but not least, the second dessert and also the final course.
Presentation... ugh. Immaculate.
This one is a chocolate dessert constructed of white, milk and dark chocolate mousse, with a chocolate soil and a quenelle of vanilla bean... something. Sorry, seriously can't remember if it was an ice cream or some other form of dairy concoction.
Between this and the first dessert, I very much prefer the first one. Not to say this wasn't great. I loved it too, I wish they would have switched the order of the desserts around. I think it would be nicer to finish on a lighter dessert.
To finish off our meal we decided to have some tea. And it came with complimentary truffles! I don't know if we would have gotten the truffles if we haven't ordered tea. Either way, it's a nice touch!
The truffles were made of high quality chocolate, very intense but smooth in flavour.
I may not remember much about each and every course but the taste and experience was unforgettable. I truly felt like that was the best food I have ever tasted in my life. They weren't even exotic or luxurious ingredients like truffles or foie gras - your plain old potatoes, beetroot, duck, mango? Very simple and readily available ingredients but all prepared with so much thought and care. At the end of service that night, the head chef actually walked out and interacted with the customers. The lady who served our table was friendly, welcoming and helpful. She tried her best to explain each dish in English.
Remember I said when we decided to dine here it wasn't a Michelin starred restaurant?
I followed them on Facebook since visiting and found out (more like guessed since it's in French...) that they have recently received one Michelin star! I am not surprised and so pleased that I had the opportunity to eat there,. Truly deserving.
I can't remember how much we paid for but I remember it being very reasonable. The 5 course degustation menu on their website shows 55Euros per person which sounds about right, although I'm not sure if the price has changed since acquiring the star.
Closed on Sunday and Monday
Lunch: 12.30 - 1.45pm
Dinner: 7.30 - 9.30pm
T: 09 83 34 76 00
E: reservation@latabledu11.com
11, rue Saint-Honore,
78000, Versailles
And that concludes our time in Versailles.
We had a really pleasant time apart from our hotel's door man who was being an ass therefore I am not recommending that hotel.
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