/ Reviews / French
French Flair
by Monica Liau
on Friday, August 27, 2010 12:00 AM
Maison Pourcel by the Pourcel twins is utterly and completely French. From the sixth floor's bar and tapas to the eighth floor's dining hall, every brick, every waiter, every sound oozes French fine dining. Indeed, the Pourcel brothers, who were behind Sens&Bund and run 6Sens at the French Pavilion, now offer well-moneyed diners in the French Concession a fabulously presented trip to the South of France via a glassed-in dining room with gorgeous views.
Hints of nouveau style pop up unexpectedly from amongst the traditional. Diners are swept up to the eighth floor for dinner, where they're met with a bright, flat television. On the screen, gazing out at you with a look of quiet amusement and subtle flirtation are Jacques and Laurent Pourcel. They sit; they look at each other; they look at you; they simultaneously lend the gravitas of their presence and tickle the funny bone with their bizarre expressions.
The menu is just as intriguing a mix of lighthearted and time-honored. A cold dish starter of pig trotters, uncooked baby artichoke salad and a vinaigrette dressing is garnished with two fresh and enormous king prawns on skewers (RMB158). The salad is full of interesting textures but the vinaigrette overwhelms its more delicate flavors. A hot starter of homemade duck foie gras and cèpe mushroom ravioli, bathed in a sweet pumpkin purée, also boasts a good play of salty and sweet, each bite a butter-loaded morsel (RMB188).
Mains continue to toy with textures and colors. The roasted turbot fish on a bed of bamboo shoots, paired with three petit-four-sized slices of Peking confit pig belly, is a triumph. Fleshy fish and delicate meat play nicely with each other; the brilliant green thyme sauce serves to bind flavors rather than deaden the senses. The same cannot be said for the oven-cooked rack of lamb (RMB188). It is by far the most beautifully presented dish: dark coconut curry sauce dramatically swirls around chanterelle mushroom salad, baby zucchini in gingerbread chutney and lamb samosas. However, the dish still ends up feeling a bit piecemeal.
Whatever detractions there may be, Maison Pourcel is still a beautiful, elegant and professional space to spend an evening nibbling, drinking and conversing in well-bred undertones.
The Bottom Line: Polished with the suavity of Southern France, Shanghai's French Concession has a new piece of Montpellier to tempt the big spenders.
