COCONUTS HOT SPOT – It’s been over seven decades since the culinary secret – Café de Paris sauce – was unlocked. From that point on, the sauce became a legend in the culinary world, and has been included in god knows how many cookbooks, and it has now successfully found its way to a fancy new outlet at “Le Boeuf” on Lang Suan.
Before I mention my experience with the sauce, I feel an explanation is definitely needed.
Firstly, where does this green sauce come from?
Long story short: A French restaurant, “Café de Paris,” opened in Geneva, Switzerland, in the 1940s. There, Mr. Boubier – head chef and owner – decided to serve nothing but a premium cut of steak together with a sauce he created and named after the establishment. In his mind, this sauce would single handedly carry the restaurant to its success.
Guess what, he was right. So darn right!
Both “Café de Paris,” the restaurant, and Café de Paris, the sauce, have satisfied many meat-loving customers for 75 years. During this time, many people have tried to deconstruct and reconstruct the sauce, served some appalling look-alikes elsewhere, and as a result, added to the mystery of the secret mix.
Which leads me to the next question, What is the sauce made of? To the best of my knowledge, the sauce definitely contains the taste of butter, mustard, thyme, pepper, and salt – a LOT of salt.
Le Boeuf has managed to get the formula passed down directly from its home kitchen in Geneva, and ordering is extremely simple. There are only three things you can choose from: beef (THB680/ 180 gram), lamb (THB720), or salmon (THB880). The dishes are served the same way: on a green bed of Café de Paris sauce, with a bottomless serving of fries and a small portion of complimentary Walnut Green salad. You bet I ordered one of each and shared them with a small crowd.
When the main dishes arrived, I was overwhelmed by the sight… as well as the size. The protein portions were not particularly surprising, but the sauce, it was so much that I started to think most of it would eventually go to waste. I was wrong.
As if I wasn’t alarmed enough, when I had my first taste of the green dip, I was shocked by just how much sodium I was trying to process in my mouth. But after a good hour later, I found myself sweeping the very last bit off the plate with a fry.
Effectively salty, that’s what it was. Highly recommended with a sufficient amount of red wine.
A few days after the meal, the saltiness of the sauce still lingered at the back of my mind and how it tasted so distinctive against the meat (even when there was nothing impressive about the meat itself). Last but not least, I remembered the joy of wiping every last bit of the sauce with my bottomless portions of fries. I will definitely return.
But that’s not the only good thing about the restaurant. The Mont Blanc will unlikely taste like any Mont Blanc you have tried. It doesn’t even look like one. Instead, it will look like a bowl of whipped cream and will be the fluffiest, frothiest, most delightful essence of Mont Blanc you will find anywhere.
After all, “Le Boeuf,” to me, is the epitome of specialty restaurants. The choices may seem limited, but you can trust they have all been tried and tested to find the best selection.
FIND IT:
Marriott Mayfair, Soi Lang Suan
Hours: 11:30am-11:00pm
BTS Chitlom
