Restaurant report: Folliez

It has been a very long time since I wrote a restaurant report. Which should not come as a surprise, since we have almost stopped trying new Michelin starred restaurant since our little Matteo was born. It is simply not suited to go with a little boy .... and the little boy needs sleep. But yesterday it was an exception. Elke arranged a babysitter and booked a table at Folliez to celebrate my 36th birthday.

So, what is Folliez? It has got on star from Michelin for a few years already. Difficult to book a table ... always busy. In Mechelen it has a good reputation. Michelin speaks very well about its wines and food. So, why not?

Let's simply state the conclusion now ... this has been the worst starred restaurant I have ever been and one of the worst ever. And for wines the worst ever! In the past we have been ripped off a couple of times (Gouden Harynk in Brugge and Il San Pietro in Positano). But Folliez reached new levels .... ripped off, cheap food badly cooked with poor ingredients and the worst wines I have ever been served. Only good thing is the service .... but I cannot eat that.

Now some more details to share the reasons of my opinion. Let's start from the fact that we received two amuse. One was chopped smoked fish (could have been anything) with two thick sliced of potato and some tasteless foam. The second .... was basically a little bit of corn (seemingly from a can) and a slice of boiled ham. Now, at this point I already wanted to leave.

But it gets worse .... the first starter was basically chopped tomato skins (of no taste whatsoever) with a tiny piece of fried langoustine and some other tasteless stuff around. The second in same style. Lot of tasteless colourful stuff ... and two tiny pieces of fish. Overcooked fish with some fried buttered bred on top. Tasted of butter. I personally send back half of the first starter and, as I was hungry, ate the second.

Main dish .... and this gets interesting. Main dish was a slice of potato cake, two slices of duck with a light tasteless sauce. Some herb on top. Half an onion, boiled, a drop of tasteless turnip puree, etc etc. I sent it back even ... since the duck was still bleeding. I have never seen such a badly cooked duck if not when I did it myself the first time. Unbelievable.

The dessert .... tiny balls of various melon fruit .... well, so much for a dessert from a bill of 200 euros (and Elke drunk water only). Ridiculous is probably the best definition of it.

And finally the wines .... first of all, they like to serve wines at wrong temperatures. Warm whites and cold reds. The first was an italian Pinot Grigio tasting of butter and bitter almonds. The second was an Italian Grillo tasting of bitter almond water. The third was a red douro tasting of red water with some vanilla in it. First time I refused refilling and actually I left the wines in my glass.

Well ... by now I guess you know my opinion about it .... if you like Kandinsky, yes the painter, maybe you will enjoying looking at the dishes. And paying for that. But please .... do not eat these paintings on a plate and do not go if you care about food and wines. Horrible!!!


Read The Full Article:
http://www.thefoodtraveller.com/blog/2009/07/restaurant-report-folliez.html

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