Colmar, France: August 2020. Short review in Lockdown 2020
Last summer we were lucky enough to enjoy a meal in JY’S before it moved from the side of the Lauch river in the picturesque Petite Venice to Parc du Champ de Mars. It was the perfect treat after visiting Domaine Weinbach in the morning and admiring Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece.
Inheriting his family’s culinary tradition and trained by Gérard Boyer and Joël Robuchon, Jean-Yves Schillinger is an inventive chef with a global approach to food. Schillinger’s dishes touch on Alsatian, Mediterranean, Indian and Thai traditions or even molecular gastronomy techniques. If we were simplistic, this could be reduced to mere fusion. But it really is a search for flavour and aromas that fuels his cuisine.
Its lunch menu for 55€ per person is one of the best value meals we have had in our lives. Our highlights were the sardine with peach and tomato, a refreshing combination that we replicated constantly at home during the summer; the intensely flavoured foie gras and the olives and peanut trompe-l’oeil, Ferrán Adrià would have approved.
Tasting Menu:
- Gruyere crisps
- Olives’ trompe-l’oeil
- Celery, pumpkin and watermelon amuse-bouches
- Sardines croustillantes over a peach and heritage green tomato salad
- Parfait de foie gras
- Onglet, beef jus, mushroom and pine nut ravioli
- Halibut, summer vegetables and potato foam
- Faux eggs
- Strawberry crumble
- Mirabelle, savoyards and iced cream
- Mignardises
[This series of short reviews during lockdown comes from the nostalgia for dining out in a normal world. Over time memories fade and unfortunately we won’t be providing our trademark comments on each dish with the same analytical rigour. We would like, nonetheless, to pay homage to the cooking style and philosophy of these restaurants.]