They have Merguez!?!? I’ll be there…
I’ve been wanting to eat Merguez since a long time… real merguez… pork or mutton… spicy… juicy… chargrilled Merguez just the way it’s supposed to be… then Chicho calls me to tell me that Prune French Bistro in Mar Mkhayel has them on the menu and that we’re invited… Of course I’ll be there…
We arrived pretty easily… It has a simple external sign hanging… typical of French bistro… simple… yet elegant…
The glass door was closed and the restaurant seemed empty… it was dark enough inside to have our doubts… but no… we pushed the door open and entered… we walked in slowly… *silence*… there were two persons busy at the bar… nobody noticed us coming in… we approached them, the girl seemed to be a waitress talking to who appeared to be the manager… they still didn’t noticed us… we stood there for an awkward minute, invisible… until the waitress saw us, but only because we purposely rattled around…
The smile set immediately on her face and she came to us with greetings…
We were seated and presented with the menu, a glass of wine was overdue, and we both ordered one… red… meat was our intention…
After a short discussion, we decided we will have the Soupe à L’oignon & Merguez frites for moi… Chêvre prune en compote and Filet Grillé sauce poivre for Chicho…
- Medium my steak please, precisa Chicho…
A nice basket of bread rolls and baguette slices landed in front of us with a portion of fine demi-sel butter… It kept us busy for a short time… that butter was just perfect…
Ma Soupe à l’oignon was a bit over seasoned, too much salt… but the right flavors were there… enough for me to keep going despite the salt, the croutons and melted cheese complimented well the broth…
The Chêvre prune en compote was nice, fresh and tasty, the Chêvre was very light in flavor though, it’s usually heavier, creamier… however the overall flavor was there… enhanced by the tomatoes and walnuts on top… it was a decent salad that we both enjoyed especially when the bite had the prune inside…
From here onwards, it took about 45 min to get the suite of our order (from the moment we received the soup and salad), which left me perplex… (in French dans le texte) I mean… Chicho had ordered a steak, and I the merguez… that can’t take that long to prepare… then I thought, it might be the merguez… they were frozen and they had to wait a bit to thaw them…
The dishes made their way to our table and we were relieved… I was burning with anticipation to try the merguez…
Chicho’s steak was rare… in some part bloody… not that it’s a bad thing, however he had ordered it medium … he tasted it and liked it as is… for me… it’s normal, I always have my steaks rare… fortunate mistake from the kitchen… Chicho now likes his meat rare… Joie!
Short lived joie I must say… I first felt that 3 merguez in the plate with frites were a bit of a small portion, but “a mauvaise fortune bon Coeur” like the they say… so I started to cut to have my first bite… I was after all waiting for this for a long time: The merguez looked grilled perfectly from the outside… but not from the inside… Malediction! My merguez (at least one of them) was simply: RAW… so the merguez WAS frozen, wasn’t thawed properly and was put on a hot grill. That process cooked and burned the skin from the outside… but barely made the ice melt and kept the meat raw from the inside…
I was really sad, we complained to the manager, who in a very professional way apologized and informed us that they were gonna prepare another portion very quickly… for me that was enough, when the person responsible in a restaurant acknowledge the mistake and address it very politely the way they did… I accept the apology and forget about it…
Ten minutes later, a new plate of merguez arrived, properly cooked this time… However, the taste was just ok… it was made with beef, not mutton or pork and was lacking thus the fat juiciness that I was seeking in a merguez, I was disappointed…
The only thing that really made me forget the incident was the Pain Perdu, et la mes ami(e)s, you need to come to Prune just to taste it… no description will do it justice, it was like a cloud from heaven that rained in our mouth the nectar of the gods… it’s that good and more…
Again the manager approached us to apologies again for the merguez and to make sure we were leaving happy… we were… we really were… that Pain Perdu gave us such a high…
I will come back just for that… but next time… I will have the Moules et Frites… another of my favorites
Gaston Le Deçu, mais content quand même…
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