Du Plaisir à la Toque

Based on a local friend's recommendation, my boyfriend and I had our first meal in Toulouse here at Du Plaisir à la Toque last night. We were excited to try it, given the recommendation and we were both excited about the idea of French fusion.

We arrived at the restaurant around 8:30PM, and it was reasonably full - we were directed to sit wherever we liked. We were given menus on tiny easels (cute idea), and a wine menu. The dinner menu is essentially a set menu, either you choose to have all 3 courses (appetizer/main/dessert) or 2 courses (appetizer AND main, or main AND dessert). The difference in price was nominal (~3 euro), so we both opted to get the three-course meal in order to sample a variety of dishes.

Wine: we were delighted when we learned that they only serve dry red wines, and so we asked our server to make a recommendation as we were not familiar with any of the wines on the list. The one he chose was delicious, dry, tannic, blackberry and leather - we both enjoyed it.

Appetizers: we ordered the "Panna cotta de petits pois émulsion de crème de roquefort" and the "Asperges vertes et gésiers de canard du Gers à l'ancienne sur polenta grillée, sabayon au citron". Both dishes were tasty, and the presentation was beautiful. My favourite was the panna cotta, the peas were mashed and shaped into a half-avocado and filled with the roquefort whipped cream, served with some crunchy pieces (I think candied nuts), while my boyfriend preferred the duck and asparagus.

Mains: we ordered the "Tournedos de baron d'agneau des Pyrénées
farci à la menthe et Dattes, sauce navarin et pommes boulangères" and the "Magret de canard du Gers au citron confit, courgette au Ras el amouth et pommes de terres grenailles". I think this was the most underwhelming part of the meal; the flavours just weren't really there. The duck was served on julienned zucchini and served with small potatoes and a light smattering of sauce. The sauce itself was delicious, but the zucchini was surprisingly bland and watery, and the duck was very tough; which is strange because it didn't look/taste overcooked, but it was difficult to cut without having the entire table shake! The lamb dish was not a hit for us either; the cut of lamb was very fatty, and the sauce was very, very sweet and all ended up tasting very one-note. The scalloped potatoes on the side were nice.

Dessert: we had the "Ganache au chocolat noir crumble coco, chantilly au poivre de Sichuan" and the "Brioche perdue aux pommes caramélisées spéculoos et crème fraîche". This was definitely our favourite part of the meal! The chocolate ganache was delicious, and the whipped cream with the sprinkle of the Sichuan pepper was perfect - it added depth without adding heat. The dessert was extremely rich and decadent - we were glad we only had half each! We also both really enjoyed the brioche, which was warming and not-so-sweet which we both enjoyed after the ganache.

Ambiance: the ambiance of the restaurant is nice, it was reasonably busy so it was nice to people-watch and have the natural noise, plus the music in the background was the right volume - not too loud, not too quiet.

Service: the service was okay; the server was friendly enough though there was some nervous energy. I wonder if some things were lost in translation. The other feedback would be that the courses were served quite quickly; for us, we would have preferred more space between each meal in order to digest and appreciate, before digging into the next dish for fear of it getting cold.

All in all, Du Plaisir de la Toque is a decent little spot - we enjoyed our evening well enough there, but wouldn't necessarily recommend it.