Fournil de Pierre. A friday feast review.

Me: “Where do we go today?”
Him: “I don’t know.”
Me: “How about Chinese?”
Him: “I hate Chinese.”
Me: “Then let’s do Italian!”
Him: “I don’t feel like it.”
Me: “Ok, what DO you feel like?”
Him: “I don’t know.”
Me: “Perfect. Start the car!”

It was not the first time I utilized my husband’s PMS-like mood swings for my personal schemes (and it certainly wont be the last). It was easy to give directions to Fournil De Pierre. It was bookmarked in my head in the “To Try” folder. After having driven past the place on Sheikh Zayed Road a hundred times, when the day finally emerged when I could walk up their steps, I was suddenly overcome by a pang of confusion – “Wait, is this a café? Or a restaurant?”. The entrance had signboards displaying croissants and coffee, and my husband’s hunger was not something to be toyed with, especially on a Friday. The risk was too much to take. I opened the door to a cozy but crammed interior with an almost arousing display of cakes, tarts and patisseries at the entrance. It was agonizing to imagine saying au revoir to the place without saying bonjour to each of those pretty creations. So with crossed fingers, I asked for the menu to see if they served only sandwiches or some good old fashioned tummy-filling, meat based lunch dishes. Yes. There was strong potential for some serious appetites to be sated. Cheerfully we took the offered seats and set to decipher the French words in the menu. There were Traiteurs Chauds, Les Plats Chauds de Pierre, Les Galettes de Pierre and more. French wasn’t our forte, food was. So we went ahead and ordered a storm.

Freshly baked breads…always a lovely sight!

Starting with Soupe de Poulet et Champignons (creamy chicken and mushroom soup), we dived into French cuisine with Confit de Canard and Coq Roti Campagnard for the mains. The tempting seductress of a pastry section, clubbed with our escalating hunger was making the wait for the food almost excruciating to deal with. Luckily our drinks were brought to the table and this helped bring back some decorum to our wayward thoughts of attacking the desserts first.

The pull of the sugar!

Passion Parisienne. Passion fruit puree, wild mint syrup and mint leaves, fresh lemon juice with sodawater. One word. Amazingly refreshing. Ok, that’s two words.

Passion Parisienne

Speciale Epinard. Peach puree with fresh pineapple and spinach leaves. It was richly thick and had an over all healthy feel to it. Did a chocolate shake lover like it? You know what…I did!

Boissons Rafraichissantes et Cocktails- Speciale Epinard & Passion Parisienne

Then again, for AED 27 a glass, will I order them again? Probably not.

The bread basket was accompanied by butter and a dip of crushed olives which Mr. Foodkisser took upon him to wipe clean.

Bread basket with butter & crushed olives dip

When the soup was brought to the table, we knew it was going to be a good day. Scrumptious rich soup with mushroom shredded to bits along with small delicious chicken meatballs. Would I go back for it? If it calls for chartering a helicopter, the answer would still be YES!

Cream of chicken & mushroom soup.

Our moods were lifted and we were chit chatting with little noises emanating from Mehreen. One of the servers stepped up and offered us a high chair and took care to entertain our girl for a good 5 minutes (which is no small feat!). By then the mains arrived, looking good and smelling better.

Coq Roti Campagnard

Coq Roti Campagnard was described as a well-known traditional French recipe prepared in a Burgundy style. Herbs marinated juicy chicken leg on the bone was cooked in butter and rosemary with shallots, garlic and delicious button mushrooms on a bed of roasted sliced potatoes and served with a creamy and thick brown sauce, crispy bits of beef bacon, green beans and baby carrots. The mushrooms were an absolute delight to munch on, drenched in the flavor packed brown sauce. The chicken was cooked well, and the FoodKissers performed their regular knife-fight for the crispy skin on the leg.

Confit de Canard

The menu described Confit de Canard as a preserved duck, the traditional recipe of which hails from the Aquitaine region of France. A melt-in-the-mouth duck leg on the bone was seasoned and oven baked to perfection, and served with jeunne pousse salad, cherry tomatoes, potato salardaise and a fresh thyme sauce. It was undoubtedly one of the best meals I had off late, though I’d be happier if they minimized the salt just a tad bit in the seasoning.

Sated and stuffed, we leaned back in our cushioned chairs. There was no scope for vacillation. I got up sucking my tummy in, and headed towards the patisserie display racks. The Craquant au Chocolat had my name written all over it, while the Tiramisu was a no-brainer for my mister.

Tiramisu

Though we prefer the tiramisu the way it is meant to be created versus the way it is created in unlicensed cafes in the middle east, this one crossed the average mark, but barely. The craquant au chocolat whereas….ah, let me just let the picture talk.

Craquant au Chocolat. DIVINE!

Silky, rich, decadent dark chocolate with a layer of crisp biscotti, that made me say a tiny prayer of gratitude to the creator of all things wonderful, especially chocolate. I just HAD to give a supporting statement to my picture, apologies!

Patisserie racks at Fournil de Pierre. If visions can give you a sugar high!

Fournil de Pierre was a good find. That is indeed a wrong thing to say, as it is right there on Sheikh Zayed Road and Emaar Boulevard, not a challenging find at all. Never the less, I’m glad I guided my mister and his Friday grumpiness to its doors. To serve good food is one thing, but to serve it with a constant smile and a manner that would entertain even my 9 month old handful-ness, that is where they truly scored in my cards. Not to forget the croissant they gave her as a parting gift to play with, nor the AED 50 voucher for the 200dhs + we spent there. Bon Appetit, it was!

Fournil de Pierre. A patisserie heaven!

The pricing story:

Chicken & mushroom Soup- Aed 25
Speciale Epinard- Aed 27
Passion Parisienne- Aed 27
Confit de Canard- Aed 86
Coq Roti Campagnard- Aed 86
Craquant Au Chocolat- Aed 23
Tiramisu- Aed 23

*Foodkissers utilized the Entertainer Voucher to receive one of the main courses free. YAY!*