Going to a 3-Michelin Star restaurant is always an experience: you dress up a bit and get ready to spend an unusual amount of time at the table, ending with a need for a walk after that, every dish being an appeal to all your senses, making you stop for a minute before digging in and tasting what you came for. Maison Pic in Valence, France is no exception! Anne-Sophie Pic is not well known in the US, unless probably if you are in the food industry or maybe if you watched The Final Table on Netflix, the most famous woman French Chef who has 3 Michelin stars being Dominique Crenn, the only female Chef with such award for her restaurant in San Francisco, L’Atelier Crenn.

Anne-Sophie Pic comes from a family of chefs, with her Great Grand mother, Grand Father, Father and brother being in the kitchen. It is her Great Grandfather and Grandmother, Eugene and Sophie, who opened the restaurant in 1889 and under their son Andre that they got 3-Michelin stars in 1934 and then 1939. He then lost a first star in 1946 and a second star in 1950. Andre’s son, Jacques who was working in the automobile industry decided to go to culinary school and to train as a Chef to succeed his father and regain the lost stars. He won back the second star in 1959 and then the third in 1973. The story kind of repeated itself several years later: Anne-Sophie did not want to be a Chef and had a totally different career, traveling to Japan and the US as an intern, working for luxury brands like Cartier or Moët & Chandon. She eventually went back in 1992 to work with her father who past away three months later, working the front of the house. At that point, her brother took over the kitchen but left when the restaurant lost its 3-stars in 1995. Convinced that she owned to her father to regain these stars, Anne-Sophie decided to take over the kitchen and trained as a Chef. Mission accomplished in 2007, followed by the opening of restaurants in France, the UK, Singapore and Switzerland, with as of today a total of 10 stars obtained, a culinary school and several books published.

Entering the restaurant, you are immediately in awe, the decor being sleek and warm, sometimes extravagant but not intimidating, without being completely over the top, and with few stunning pieces of art that you cannot miss. What I like to visit in such place is the kitchen and I was surprised by how quiet, clean and organized the one at Maison Pic was considering how mine is after I cook a single dish!

The menu is a 10 course prix-fixe that is a celebration of French cuisine, with a modern take and international influence, where they would accommodate dietary restrictions, proposing a vegetarian version that was as good as the non-vegetarian to Jodi. It all starts with a letter from the Chef that welcomes the guest and explains the what this culinary experience is all about. Intriguing and exciting: you know that this will be unique from the get go.

This voyage was 10 courses with a choice for the entree and the dessert, each dish being described in French and in English that was a nice touch for Jodi, sometimes giving a bit of a background as to the origin or the process to make them that can be a bit complex and can only push your admiration further for such a craft. I should also mention the pairing: they propose the classic wine pairing with even one variation with only rare bottles, but also a non-alcoholic pairing that is mainly composed of tea and coffee, but not something basic: each tea or coffee has a story and several are being made table side with some detailed explanation of the process.

Slow drip coffee at Maison Pic in Valence, France

As we were reading the letter and thinking about our choices for the main course and dessert, we decided to order a drink. I totally forgot to photograph the one Jodi ordered and can only remember that it was non-alcoholic…On my side, I went for a whisky from Michel Couvreur, a single malt called “Candid Malt” that is peaty like I like them.

Michel Couvreur Candid Malt whisky at Maison Pic in Valence, France

First course:

They started the meal by bringing some amuse that were composed of a Mimolette cheese tart with dill and saffron, a carrot and green shiso macaron (shiso is a leaf that has flavor notes of basil, pepper, lemon and cinnamon), and a trout, ginger and seaweed cone (for the vegetarian meal it was replaced by a soba-cha tuile and mezcal (Soba-cha is like buckwheat).

Second course:

Variety of carrots (vegetarian menu): carrots infused with Espuma wine yogurt, jasmine flower and an emulsion of black pepper from Madagascar.

Carrots at Maison Pic in Valence, France

Oyster with a caper leaf accompanied with a sea water emulsion as well as a chip filled with a tuna tartare and served with a geranium and sea crest ice cream. The seaweed on the plate is just for the plating and not edible.

Third course:

Beetroot served with an espuma emulsion with curry and black currant.

Beetroot at Maison Pic in Valence, France

Sea urchin, a dish inspired from Galicia in Spain. The sea urchin was seasoned with Kurumame that is a Japanese black soybean and Nikka whisky, and is accompanied with an apple jelly and topped with crispy milk.

This was paired with a glass of Muri, a non-alcoholic sparkling beverage.

Fourth course:

Berlingots, one of the signature dishes of the Chef, pasta made with matcha tea (hence the green color), served with smoked mascarpone and goat cheese, on top of a consommé made with ginger, watercress and bergamot. On the side is a bao or steamed bread to dip in the consommé.

The pasta was paired with a Japanese tea that was prepared table side.

Fifth course:

Salsify from Tourraine (a Province in France), cooked on a plancha and then deglazed with a white beer, topped with a black sesame, cocoa and yuzu sabayon. For the non-vegetarian meals, they added some pieces of pork belly.

Salsify at Maison Pic in Valence, France

The salsify was paired with some Kombucha that is produced in France.

Sixth course:

Saint-Pierre or John Dory fish that has been marinated with chestnut and soy, cooked on a plancha and then BBQ, accompanied by an onion compote, grapes and a sauce made with Oolong tea from Taiwan, rum and chestnut.

The vegetarian dish was a cepe mushroom that has been cooked with blackberry leaves and black currant. It came with a consommé made with mushrooms, bergamot and juniper.

Cepe mushroom at Maison Pic in Valence, France

This time, the pairing was a Tuo cha tea.

Seventh course:

This was the course where we could pick between venison and sweetbread. I went for the latter as this is not something that you often see on a menu. It was brought to our table before being cooked so they could describe the process to create his dish. The sweetbread is marinated with various ingredients, one of them being meadowsweet, before being dipped three to four times in beeswax, creating a shell that emprisons the flavors and give a slight crispiness. It is then being cooked after resting for 48h. This is an interesting dish, reminiscent of school menus where sweetbread was often served in various forms, beignet being a popular one. It was served with a corn and mezcal tart.

For the vegetarian option, it was an artichoke glazed with mezcal, with tonka bean powder and mint.

Artichokes at Maison Pic in Valence, France

The artichokes came with Lapsang souchong and matcha tea and for the pairing, it was a slow drip coffee that reminded me of a Tokyo drip I had few times in a restaurant in Hoboken.

Eighth course:

This was a cheese course: a Saint-Marcelin infused with sweet clover and Tonka beans, sitting on a white beer ice cream.

Saint-MArcelin cheese at Maison Pic in Valence, France

Nineth course - Pre-dessert:

I love the concept of pre-dessert that every restaurant should have, although when you get there, you are already way beyond the moment you started to get full…This was a pear dessert, served with black sesame and shiso ice cream.

I admit that for this one, I do not recall what the pairing was…

Tenth course - Dessert!

Similar to the entree, you could pick your dessert. I went for the mille-feuilles blanc or monochrome that is one of their first signature desserts, that is made with vanilla from Madagascar and Jasmin, decorated on the sides with milk clouds infused with voatsiperifery pepper also from Madagascar.

Monochrome or Mille-feuilles blanc at Maison Pic in Valence, France

Jodi went for the chocolate honeycomb that had chocolate ganache, as well as honey from Corsica.

Honeycomb dessert at Maison Pic in Valence, France

They also brought additional sweets like the walnuts, some being real, others being made with chocolate, as well as a tart with panacotta made with pollen and beeswax.

Overall this was a great experience: the atmosphere, although chic, was not stuffy and the staff made us feel welcome. The food was amazing and truly delivered on its promises, looking beautiful and with interesting flavors from all over the world, showcasing the creativity of the Chef who just has to open a restaurant in New York, so we can experience more often such artistry.

Enjoy (I really did)!

Maison Pic - 285 Av. Victor Hugo, 26000 Valence, France

I Just Want To Eat!