Gourmet Week at Le Gray: Nothing Short of a Michelin-Starred Affair

November 12, 2016

If only wishes were always answered so swiftly!

Many of you might recall how I ended my last post wondering when I’d next be meeting a Michelin-starred chef, after having rubbed shoulders with the Lebanese-Australian icon Greg Malouf and Frenchman Maxime Le Van in the span of only 100 days.

Well, lo and behold, as fate would have it, this Monday will see me making the acquaintance of Chef Bruno Sohn from Alsace, France. In honor of Gourmet Week, which unfolds November 14-18 at select restaurants and venues across Lebanon, Le Gray’s Indigo on the Roof has invited Chef Bruno to proffer bistronomy, or “snob-free, accessible gastronomy,” as the contemporary five-star hotel puts it.

Indigo on the Roof at Le Gray

The idea is that every evening at dinner, the regular menu will be replaced by Bruno Sohn’s inspiring specialties, and prices are aligned to preexisting ones.

Let’s do a quick rundown of the food roster, which I assure you resides nowhere else in Lebanon.

In the entrées department, Alsace-style beef consommé (20,000 LL), savory bacon and onion tart (22,000 LL), and old-fashioned foie gras terrine with quince chutney on toasted sourdough (36,000 LL).

Up next, braised duck prepared in the Strasbourg style, with root vegetables, herbs and garlic (50,000 LL). Pescetarians will be baited with the loup de mer accompanied by crisp potatoes, sauerkraut and Riesling cream sauce with juniper berries (52,000 LL). I have my eyes set on the lobster fregula risotto in a lobster bisque sauce (66,000 LL).

Dessert is going to leave me divided and undecided like an impassioned toddler who has stumbled into a candy shop. Kouglof, an Alsatian marble cake shaped like a bundt, comes glazed with muscat and orange blossom water (18,000 LL). There’s also Munster cheese puff pastry (20,000 LL), soufflé iced with kirsch and Morello cherries (18,000 LL), and fused mandarin-quince fruit soup crowned with basil sorbet.

But it might very well be the pear clafoutis (18,000 LL) that will transport me back to my Parisian days, when after a tough day at work, I’d treat myself to the cherry rendition at a nearby patisserie.

Woe is me, Monday evening can’t arrive soon enough! I’m beyond ecstatic to encounter Chef Bruno, whose lengthy parcours includes stints under 3* Chef Antoine Westermann at Buerehiesel (Strasbourg), 3* Chef Emile Jung at Crocodile (Strasbourg), and 3* Chef Alain Ducasse at Louis XV (Monaco).

Chef Bruno Sohn

Outside of Strasbourg, Sohn has graced kitchens in Hong Kong, where he served as private chef to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. He returned to France to open a Mediterranean fine dining eatery, and years later he embarked on a mega-yacht to Greece before coming back full circle to Strasbourg in Obernai for a reprise of the essentials in “Mon Bistrot.”

I don’t know how Indigo managed to snatch up Chef Bruno for a full week, but I do know that this will be an inimitable experience. You can even score a 20% discount on any wine if you mention “Gourmet Week” upon reservation. The cherry on top will be a farewell dinner on Saturday November 19^th where Le Gray’s resident jazz artist Cinda Ramseur will be spiffing up the atmosphere with oldies music.

You’ve been tipped – don’t miss it!