French Martini, Little Stanley St, Southbank, Brisbane CBD
September 05, 2016
French cuisine is known for its complex and rich flavours, its unique way of both presentation and taste as well as their carefully thought out dishes and paying attention to the small details of each. It has since then always been known to be an art. If you have not tried French cuisine before then maybe you may want to think again. By taking yourself to French Martini, you find yourself in a petite restaurant offering various French dishes with an all-French wine menu from Rose to Cidre and more. If you are wandering at night, you may notice this restaurant by its Pink sign and accessories out front of house..
'Escargot' (AUD$14) was a classic dish that is usually eaten as a starter before mains. Consisting of a dozen Escargot in garlic butter served with fresh bread, although it may be quite a simple dish but usually it allows you to settle in nicely while having a chat with your family or friends or even your date. The word Escargot literally means 'edible snails' which may not sound so interesting nor make you want to eat it however do note that not all snails are edible.
My experiences with eating Escargot has allowed me to enjoy eating it when it is actually served in their shells and not out of them. So finding a few French restaurants that serves their Escargot out of their shell and instead put them into a small round bowl and drenched in garlic butter instead. Although not as pretty as if they were in its shells, the taste wasn't too bad however I did find it extremely quite oily. Yes, I do realise that it is garlic butter and that it is the primary flavour however I did feel that the snails itself wasn't juicy as I thought it would be and much chewier than usual. Regarding its taste, it is quite similar to let's say clams or oysters but just not as fishy in terms of taste and smell. Dip the bread into the garlic butter or take a spoonful of a snail and garlic butter and place it on top of one side of the bread and take a bite. Overall, it was not bad, but I've had better.
'Cote de Porc Sauce Olives et Tomates' (AUD$30) was Crispy pork fillets with green olives and tomato sauce served with roasted potatoes and sauteed zucchini. At first instance, you can see that the portion of this dish nearly filled the whole square plate. The crispy pork fillet was quite big in size but I was quite dissapointed to see that it wasn't crispy skin but instead the crispy pork skin was given in a strip separately.
The green olives and tomato sauce was quite acidic as it should be from the tomatoes and had the right amount of green olives and it was really nice to be able to see the chunks of the green olives. If you're not a fan of olives, then do inform the waiter to see if they can do something about it as I do know some people isn't a fan of it. I myself however, do love Olives so it was fine for me.
The roasted potatoes were cut in the shape of your typical wedges and was crispy on the outside but was full of flavour from the seasoning and herbs. The sauteed zucchini were placed underneath the roasted potatoes and crispy pork fillet. The zucchini was sauteed well and didn't have extra seasoning that would clash with the seasoned roasted potatoes as well as the green olives and tomato sauce.
At first I thought that it would be Crispy skin pork fillet but instead, it was a pork fillet alright but the crispy pork skin was instead separated. The crispy pork skin was just a strip with half being easily bitten but half was very hard to bite that actually hurt our teeth abit. It was definitely a big portion dish but in terms of having to eat it again soon, maybe not. I didn't really feel too good after eating that much pork afterwards as well as the next day.
'Filet de Beouf et sa Sauce Au Bleu' (AUD$33) was the only Steak or Beef dish in the menu for Mains and so, he decided to order it. Eye Fillet with blue cheese sauce served with gratin dauphinois, courgette and petit salade. Expecting the blue cheese sauce to be more than what was dolloped on top of the Eye fillet, we weren't sure if there would be enough sauce to cover it all.
Gratin Dauphinois is a traditional French dish based on potatoes and creme fraiche. It is usually made with raw potatoes, thinly sliced and cooked in a buttered dish with garlic and cream. It was quite delicate as you can see with the thinly sliced potato layers however I could not really taste the creme fraiche.
The steak was a bit undercooked than what he had asked, from medium it became a bit medium rare. Although it may not have been a big problem for us, but it would have been better if the steak was cooked well and to our liking. The blue cheese sauce was unique and definitely something you don't get very often in other restaurants when ordering steak. The blue cheese sauce was creamy and light though I think that if there was a stronger punch on the blue cheese itself within the sauce were you can taste it more than just slightly, would be perfect.
Courgette is just another name for Zucchinis to be honest but it is just British English and has a French origin. The courgette were thinly sliced along with carrots which seemed to be baked in a dish and was a great accompaniment for a steak dish however, it was quite petite being very thinly sliced plus they were the only French vegetable dish other than the fresh green salads on the plate which had no sauce.
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