Ah, Valentine's Day in arguably the most romantic city in the world. I'd never been to Paris before, and certainly wouldn't recommend visiting in the middle of February. After three days of wind, rain, hail and more wind, Mr. Orange and I finally decided we would spend our Valentine dinner at the restaurant of the hotel we stayed at, Sofitel Paris Forum Rive Gauche.

Preliminary Internet searching told me the restaurant, La Table et La Forme (17, Boulevard Saint-Jacques, 75014 Paris), served light, modern fare. They had a Valentine menu for the occasion. It is the menu that made the experience worth posting - it hadn't even occurred to me to photograph other restaurants we ate at, as I was too busy enjoying the vacation.

 

La Table et La Forme's Valentine menu included three appetizers, three entrees, and three desserts - all served in small plates. The overall effect reminded me of tapas. Each diner received the same meal and it did not appear that any other food was being served.

I neglected to photograph the first course, but feel free to scroll down to look at the dinner and dessert photos for an idea of how it was presented. The first course consisted of a creamed corn soup accompanied by popcorn and a baby corn wrapped in pork (bacon), a shrimp eggroll over mixed grees accompanied by soy sauce, and duck fois gras with a fruit jam. The waiter told us what each dish was and the order we should eat it in. The soup was good, but the popcorn and baby corn accompanying it were very odd. I'm not sure if we were supposed to dip the popcorn ito the soup or just munch on it plain. The eggroll and fois gras were pretty tasty.

The main course consisted of a fish entree and two meats. Again, the waiter pointed out each item and gave us an order to eat them in.

On the bottom right, we started with whitefish served over spinach and tiny mushrooms in a soy based sauce. At the top, there is sliced beef and fig in a fig sauce. At the bottom, roast duck in, um, some kind of sauce that goes well with duck. The meal also included garlic chive mashed potatoes and parmesan risotto. I overheard a woman at the next table complain that the beef was "almost like jerky", but I thought my serving was tender and flavorful. The sauces were somewhat overpowering, especially that of the duck, but it's easy enough to not coat the meat in sauce.

After dinner, we were served a platter of desserts. As these were pretty self-explainatory, the waiter did not go over them or suggest how to eat them.

Beginning at the top and going counterclockwise, dessert consisted of chocolate gelatto and fig with chocolate sauce, diced tropical fruit with mint, orange creme brulee, mint sorbet, and tiramisu. The sorbet and fruit were mainly to clear the palate. The fig dessert was interesting and tasty and the creme brulee was very creamy. The tiramisu, generally my favorite dessert, somehow ended up somewhat dry and bland. If it had been the only dessert, I'd have been extremely disappointed.

 

We ordered coffee with dessert, but it didn't show up at the table until well after we were finished. The service was, by American standards, inattentive and lackluster. The meal moved slowly, and the waiter managed to bring us another party's check somewhere between the entree and dessert. But, overall, it was a delicious and amusing dinner and I don't regret the choice to not venture back to the city center this evening.

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