PARIS: Auberge Bressane

I went to Auberge Bressane on a day that I was thoroughly sick of french food and was sorely missing simple, home-cooked food. Even so, they had enough refreshingly unique dishes on the menu to trigger my appetite. 
I love soufflés because despite their fluffy lightness, they somehow manage to maintain an elegant yet unrestrained flavour. Naturally, I ordered the crab souffle and tried some cheese souffle, but they were disappointingly soggy underneath, belying their magnificently browned, crusty tops. 

the best bread appetizer I've had, ever. 

Isn't it funny how the bare necessities of life can taste so good you wouldn't dream of asking for anything else? It may not look it, but this bread was so heavenly I would've been satisfied if it were all I'd eaten for dinner. When I described french bread in this post, it was Auberge Bressane's bread starters in particular that I had in mind. 

Cheese souffle (I'd tell you the full on, fancy french name but I forgot to take a picture of the menu)

Crab souffle 

Littered with multitudinous cafes, Paris is never short of chocolate tarts, macaroons, mille-feuilles, cheese cake...the list goes on. In other words, I don't blame Auberge Bressane for desserts that paled in comparison to those we found in these little pockets of dessert havens we call cafes.  

Chocolate souffle (sadly, this one wasn't nearly chocolatey enough)

We got a free baked alaska because I think it fell apart when they lit it. That's strawberry ice cream inside! 

What baked alaska is supposed to look like

Baked Alaska: A cake layer, enveloped first by ice cream, then a glorious cloud of stiffly beaten egg white; the whole of which is then either browned quickly in an oven or poured over with alcohol and lit in a lustrous blue flame. 

I wish I'd had the chance photograph the "baked" alaska swathed in a gossamer of blue flame, but I think they wanted to avoid the awkwardness of dealing with a failed attempt, so we never got to see the process. 

I remember a science question that greatly frustrated me back when I was in MGS because I had no idea what the hell a baked alaska was: "Why doesn't the heat from the flame on a baked alaska melt the ice-cream inside?" I think the answer was: "the air pockets in the egg white insulate the ice-cream against the heat of the flame". I didn't really care about it then, but now that I've had it, it's pretty amazing if you think about it. 

raspberry mille-feuille

Auberge Bressane:

16 Avenue La Motte Picquet
75007 Paris, France
Tel: 01 47 05 98 37