Just a quick update on how things are going with the reservations, preparations, the menu and the stress !!
20 reservations so far – my little Google Docs booking form is working a treat (give it a go if ever you need a quick and simple way of getting people to give you feed back, and so on). Almost all of you are going for the 6 course option – shame because you’re going to miss out either on the dessert or the cheeky cheese number.
Speaking of the cheese course, I have to admit that there’s probably a good reason why people aren’t being tempted – I haven’t yet told you what I am doing for this course. I was thinking about this coming home tonight from work – at the moment I’m working on 3 different styles of cheese with 3 different accompanyments (crikes…do we say that in English ??!!), but all around the theme of the famous British dish, the “Ploughman’s Lunch”. I won’t say any more on this for the moment.
This week I have to check with Frédéric (the owner of Zoé Bouillon) how much this is all going to cost – I’ve pretty much got the “shopping list” sorted, I just need to check what prices he has with his suppliers. I am going to be able to get most of the stuff from his suppliers, I hope. I’ll only go elsewhere for certain specialist products – for certain veg I am planning to go to Joël Thibault at the Alma market in the 16th arrondissement in Paris, for the pork…..well, it’s either Brittany or I change the meat that I use, for the truffles…..we’ll see.
I’ve got to go to see my wine merchant as well to decide what wine I’ll be choosing to accompany the menu. A new offer, by the way, will be 3 glasses of wine (a different one each time) for 5€…this I will work on with the caviste.
Stress ? Personally I’m really looking forward to the 5th. I’ve got Monique in the kitchen with me, and several people are going to help with the prep before hand. So, I’m feeling good. The main thing left to sort out on the menu is the pork dish which could well be replaced by a cheeky Oxtail (“queue de boeuf” in French) dish….very British !
I’ll keep you up to date as things progress.
Cheers, Dom