Warmer weather calls for “something refreshing, but explosive in flavour”. Photo: Les Bistronomes.
Nothing is incidental about the ever-changing menus at Canberra’s multiple award-winning French fine dining mecca, Les Bistronomes.
According to its owner and chef, French native Clément (Clem) Chauvin, three things go into their very deliberate design.
“You have to stay across market trends, and I get inspiration from the Michelin-starred restaurants of Europe and on social media. You also need the skill that comes from experience – of knowing instinctually what works and how to plate things up,” he says. “But the final say always goes to the seasons.”
There’s a reason spring and summer menus at leading restaurants read like an ode to asparagus and stone fruits – in terms of flavour and nutritional profile, you can’t beat produce grown and harvested in its own ideal conditions.
The seasons also impact what Clem’s customers crave.
“The secret of successful menu planning is simply to plan for what people will want to eat at the time. When it’s cold outside, I know the people are going to want to come in and enjoy hot soups and beef bourguignon; something hearty that’s like a cuddle from the inside,” he says.
“In summer, when you’re circling 40 degrees and the aircon is cranking, the last thing you want is something warming. So it’s chilled tomato consomme with confit heirloom tomato or smoked tomato sorbet – something refreshing, but explosive in flavour.
“There are rules when it comes to seasons, and I’m a stickler for those rules. Mushrooms, quince and chestnuts are for the colder months, stone fruit and berries are for warm weather … The weather tells me what to cook.”
“Le bœuf en croûte”, aka beef Wellington could be carved at the table at Les Bistronomes. Photo: Les Bistronomes Facebook.
An adjacent rule helps Clem maintain menus true to the seasons; when it comes to fresh produce, use local wherever humanly possible. Not only is it fresher and supports local producers, but it tells you what’s in season.
“I am not saying I never import anything – I am French, after all, my cuisine is French and there are simply some things I use that you cannot get here. But if you’re trying to make a dish with fresh cherries in winter, there’s something wrong with your menu planning,” Clem says. “Australian growers offer a variety of amazing produce in all seasons, so it’s easy to devise new and exciting seasonal menus all the time.”
Case in point: there are no fixed dates for the arrival of a new menu at Les Bistronomes. Clem never overhauls the entire menu at once. Rather, as the seasonality of key ingredients in a dish changes, it is replaced by something new.
It happens literally every week.
“By doing that you really follow the seasons and also the trends, and that’s important if you want customers to come back,” he says. “Produce comes and goes, ideas come and go, and so must my dishes.”
There is one trend that Clem says is due for a comeback – what he calls the “at-table presentation experience”.
It’s something Les Bistronomes has dabbled in, but which Clem is ready to push the envelope on.
“It ups the ante on table service, by bringing elements of creation in front of the customer’s eyes, and I’m already dreaming up the many ways we can do that,” he says.
“For example, the steak tartare is one thing that has never left the menu since Les Bistronomes opened, but we’ve never seasoned or assembled it at the table. Something as simple as cutting the chateaubriand, the duck a l’orange or the beef Wellington in front of diners – that kind of theatre at the table is due for a comeback, I think.
“Trends are funny things that way – we’re always moving away from what we’ve done in the past and once moved far enough away from it, it reverts to becoming ‘classic’. Luckily I’m in the industry of French cuisine, and classics are what we do best.”
Les Bistronomes is located at 18 Blamey Place, Campbell Shops and open from Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner.
Original Article published by Dione David on Riotact.
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