L'autre salon de the

Or, the tea salon that could've been.

This tea salon had everything going for it. A plentiful display of every pastry or cake imaginable as you walk in; a menu with pages and pages of different types of teas; cosy interior; chic clientele and waiters that were even more chic. I was ready to compare it to Demmer's in Vienna (the ultimate tea salon) or even Sketch in London.

But then I realized it was too cool for its customers.

After we sat ourselves, cleared our own table, and grabbed our own menus from the stack near the back, it was a good twenty minutes before someone came by to acknowledge us, much less take our order. I was ready to walk out after ten minutes of being ignored, but my boyfriend replied guiltily that we had to stay -- he had to use the facilities.

So stay we did, where we were treated to utterly contemptuous service. My favorite moment was when my boyfriend ordered a cappucino, reading directly off the menu. The waiter replied snidely "we don't do that." Then why is it on the menu? Yes, the tea was fine. But I can't say I enjoyed it. I had to get up to grab my own napkin, sugar and cream from the table in the back. Other customers were equally frustrated. At one point, the manager came through and doused the entire room in what smelled like Chanel No.5. Whether or not you like Chanel No.5 to begin with, it is certainly disgusting when it gets in your mouth, drinks, and on your food. Other diners began to cough, and you could hear people hissing "mais c'est degueulasse." I had been ready to leave for a long time, but after that I was outta there.

As we were leaving, an attractive gay couple came to take our seats. I warned them not to bother, explaining that the service was non-existent, and I was happy that they trusted me enough to walk right out of there. This place could be amazing, but if it continues to treat its customers like shit, there will be none left.

If by chance I went on a particularly "off" day, here's the address for you to try it out.

L'Autre Salon de Thé
45, rue des Tourneurs
31000 Toulouse
05 61 22 11 63
M: Esquirol

tags: grub

Le J'Go

Wow. This feels wierd. An actual blog post. Imagine that.

Anyways. In Toulouse for the day, wanted to try a great resto, but there are no bib gourmands in Toulouse! Or at least none that turn up on ViaMichelin.fr. So instead I turned to my backup online guide, lefooding.com, and decided to go with J'Go, even though it bothered me that they have a resto at Paris too. (At first I felt like it was a cop-out, but while I was shopping I ran into a boutique that had the J'Gos business cards next to its own, and the shopgirl raved about it.)

No worries, though, we had a good time. I went with the Formule Rest'o, at 23€, and my boyfriend had the Formule J'Go, at 30€. I would recommend the upgrade to the 30€ set menu - as you will see, it is worth it when comparing the main dishes, and to have the choice of the full range of desserts.

I started with the Soupe de Potimarron, which was excellent. This is one of my favorite soups anyways, and I was not disappointed. It was topped with croutons and dried ham.

The boyfriend had the pate. In a word: copious. Though I'm not sure that he even touched the salad!Not pictured is the pot of cocktail pickles and onions that accompanied it.

After, the boyfriend had the gigot, which was excellent. As it should be, given the name of the restaurant!It was served on a bed of haricots tarbais (they weren't bad). But most remarkable was the fact that this was all you can eat! When we were reading the menu beforehand, I remarked that the "a volonte" must be referring to the side dish -- not the lamb itself -- because who has ever heard of all you can eat anything in France?!* But much to my boyfriend's delight, this assumption was wrong. This is one reason it is now on his shortlist for a good guys' night out restaurant.

*except for Flam's, of course!

So tender and juicy, the gigot really outshone my sad dry roasted lamb in comparison. I definitely regretted not getting the restaurant's namesake!

But at least my fries were excellent - I had to force myself to slide them to the boyfriend's side of the table so that I wouldn't eat them all.



For dessert, I had the dessert of the day, caneles. These are one of my favorite sweets when they are done right, and happily these were wonderful. I rarely find good caneles -- I had just bought one the day before that was too doughy. Some are too hard, some have no flavor. But these were great - soft and sweet and warm. And the waiter even wrapped them up for me to take home! My boyfriend rolled his eyes at my request, but I wasn't ashamed. They were even better the next morning. ;)

My boyfriend was in heaven with his dessert: prune ice cream, generously topped with armagnac and a little pastry. "It's like rum raisin ice cream - but better!" he pronounced after his first spoonful.

We had a bottle of red wine to accompany this; the wine list is available on their website, and starts at about 20€. I think our bill came to about 80€ total for the both of us, and we thought it was a very good value.* Service was great - I mean, they wrapped up my caneles! I can't really complain. One minor point, that might be a downside for some: we were surrounded by Brits, so it's easy to forget you're in France.

*Though now, with the Euro at $1.40+, can I really keep a straight face when I say it's a good value? Is anything a good value in France anymore? (for Americans at least.) Even French brands -- think Petit Bateau, Repetto, etc -- now seem to be cheaper, or at least the same price, in the US. This is the only part that worries me about my return to France, especially if I will be paid in USD. And especially since it's only going to get worse.


Le J'Go
16, place Victor-Hugo
31000 Toulouse
05 61 23 02 03
M: Jean-Jaures or Capitole
7/7
lejgo.com
Reservations recommended during the week; necessary on the weekends.

The menu (you can also check out their website for more details):

tags: grub