Le Gourmet de Sèze

On Saturday I was supposed to be at Le Gourmet de Sèze at 9:00am. I took two buses and walked the rest of the way. Its not a very big restaurant, only about 15 tables. The kitchen was small too, but the area where the pastry chef worked was TINY! Though I guess it was big enough for her (the pastry chef) to work in. I arrived at about 8:45 am and everyone was already there. The Chef (aka owner, Bernard) gave me a chef shirt and an apron to wear. I helped the pastry chef all day, making bread dough, forming rolls, preparing dessert plates, filling small white chocolate shells with mousse, cleaning, ect. The restaurant is open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner, reservations only. There is an épicerie (small café) joined to the restaurant (and owned by Bernard too). In all, there was one girl working in the épicerie, one pastry chef, three regular chefs, Bernard (head chef), three servers, one dishwasher, and me. During the service time (lunch= 1:30-2:30, dinner= 9:30~11:30) the pastry chef and I prepared five desserts for each guest. They were all fairly small. The first one was a crème brulée covered with a little bit of chocolate ganache and topped off with a chocolate piece with cocoa butter writing that said 'Le Gourmet de Sèze'. The second was a fruit salad consisting of one small piece of each fruit; kiwi, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, mango, lychee, cranberry, prune, apricot, pineapple, banana, madarine orange, normal orange, and grapefruit. This plate was topped off with mint jelly, two small scoops of ice cream (a fruit one and vanilla bean/ crème anglaise) and a red fruit coulis. The third dish had a round biscuit base wrapped in a white chocolate shell. The shell was filled with pieces of lychee and then topped off with a passion fruit mousse. The garnish was a sprig of mint, a tiny scoop of ice cream, a vanilla bean, and a piece of apricot. The fourth was a cup of chocolate mousse with a small scoop of chocolate ice cream in the middle, then a small layer crème anglaise and a round piece of chocolate. The fifth was a hot dessert, molten chocolate cake with a sauce I forgot the name of, though its made from the root of an endive... :) Lastly, the guests were served a café with madeleines (small spongy cakes in the shape of a shell) we made. I made one mistake and one almost mistake :) The mistake was squirting the red fruit coulis on the fruit salad plate too sloppily for the pastry chefs liking, she yelled at me saying it was too ugly! Then I almost dropped the entire tray of crème brulée/chocolate ganache when I looked up to smile and say merci at the guy holding the fridge-room door open for me! After that I decided it would be better to look a little rude and not say thanks, than drop an entire tray of desserts!! :) I stayed from 9am to 3pm. Then took a tram and a bus back home, then Claire took me back at 5:30pm and I stayed until 10:30 pm, though it wasnt even the busiest time for the pastry chef yet, but I wasnt allowed to stay past then because I am a minor and apparently there are laws about that. Bernard also sent home some dessert with me, though it wasnt the same as what we had made. He sent ile flottant (floating isle, a dessert made of whipped egg whites floating in a crème anglaise sauce), a café crumble, and a chocolate cake-type thing. We ate the dessert after lunch and dinner yesterday, it was all really good. Yesterday I didnt do much, and today I went to Part-Dieu after school to buy a swim suit for gym this wednesday. In other news it rained for a couple days, and now all the snow is gone, which gives me the false hope that spring is right around the corner!

1) Snow in Lyon!!!

2)All the chefs and the girl who works in the épicerie.

3) Three of the desserts for two people; fruit salad on the left, then white chocolate and crème anglaise

4) Me with my very big shirt and apron on filling the white chocolate cups with passion fruit mousse over the chunks of lychee

5) Me plating the fruit salad