Restaurateurs and chefs love showing off their talents, and one of the ways in which they can best do this is by offering a menu de degustation, literally, a "tasting menu" in which a meal can consist of as many as ten or twelve different courses. Such menus, which are a challenge to any serious chef, also offer an exquisite advantage to diners, for they give an opportunity, in a single meal, to sample a broad range of the dishes offered by the restaurant. Best of all from the diner's point of view, even though such meals are invariably expensive, they involve far less of a cash outlay than if they had to return to the same restaurant three, four or even five times to sample the same range of dishes.

Contrary to popular belief, the roots of the degustation menu do not go back to the Middle-Ages. Even though it was then considered appropriate to serve 12, 16 or even 20 courses at a single meal. Unlike true degustation meals, those Medieval dinners were unplanned and unsophisticated and, because they relied on terribly heavy sauces, would be considered basically inedible by any sophisticated diner today. There is a good chance that the very first versions of what we now know as the degustation menu, were those offered between 1880 and 1910 by the great chef George- Auguste Escoffier. Escoffier, whose restaurants were in the Ritz Hotels of Paris and London, was the chef whose self-appointed task was to satisfy the appetites of the most royal and the most wealthy members of European society. Escoffier loved nothing better than impressing his guests. He saw no reason why they could not start their meal at six in the evening, work their way through as many as fifteen full courses and finally leave his restaurant at three in the morning.

On one occasion in 1908, for example, Escoffier prepared a special tasting menu at the London Ritz for twelve guests, including among them the future King George V. After opening the meal with melon halves filled with Beluga caviar, he went on to serve two soups, the first a clear turtle soup and the second a cold veloute of chicken soup. The next course was of roast chickens that had been stuffed with wild rice and truffles, and this was followed by a course of Welsh lamb that was served with fresh peas. A lemon- ginger sorbet was served and this was followed in turn by trout that had been filled with fresh herbs before grilling, duckling breasts in port wine aspic and quails with grapes. After another sorbet, this time of pink grapefruits, the waiters served artichoke hearts in a delicate mustard sauce and a lettuce salad that had been sprinkled over with a mint and honey flavored vinaigrette sauce. In addition to peaches that had been poached in vanilla sauce, the dessert tray also included petits fours and a selection of fruits.

That Escoffier was a culinary genius, perhaps the greatest of our century, is beyond question, and perhaps without his having being consciously aware of it, this meal set the pattern for the modern degustation menu. If there was a fault to such meals it was only that every course was a full one - two large bowls of soup for, half a chicken, two whole roast quails, and half a kilo of lamb for each diner. One suspects that by the time they had finished their chicken, most people had already become anesthetized and could not even dream of the eight courses yet to come. It would also prove inconvenient for most people to take up to nine hours for a single meal. Fortunately for both chefs and diners, Escoffier's rules have been modified, and even though a degustation meal may still consist of as many courses, each course is far lighter and far more refreshing than in Escoffier's time. Nor do most degustation meals last more than three hours, a time span most people willing give to a great meal.

As there is validity to the adage that states that a chef is in charge of the pleasure of his clients from the moment they enter his restaurant, there is even more validity to this in the case of the tasting menu. When ordering from the regular a la carte menu, clients have all sorts of options from which to choose. They can build their meal from whatever combination of dishes they choose and, rightly or wrongly, can let either their caprice of their logic determine the order of courses. In the case of the degustation menu, however, clients place themselves far more fully into the hands of the chef and more or less waive such privileges, thus leaving the responsibility for nearly all decision making to the chef, for it is he who determines what dishes are to be served and in what order. Several years before his death, Alain Chapel observed that "a degustation menu is, in a sense, the most personal offspring of a chef ... it is his creation, he is the one giving birth to it, and he is the one responsible for elevating the meal to whatever its maximum potential may be".

The degustation menu offers another major advantage to both restaurateur and client, for by sampling so many of the chef's talents, clients will invariably return on another occasion in order to dine on those dishes they most enjoyed during their degustation.

These special meals are rapidly gaining popularity among the general public and there are indications that more and more restaurants are considering offering them. In order to avoid the excesses of either the Middle-Ages or Escoffier and to guarantee that such meals will not overwhelm either the senses or the stomach, such meals have to be planned with infinite care and there are certain nine general and several specific guidelines that should be followed.

General Guidelines

- The sequence of courses in a degustation menu should be such that earlier dishes do not overpower those that follow them.

On one occasion when visiting Lyon, I remember when chef Jean- Paul Lascome of the renowned "Leon de Lyon" served a course of veal tongue in a Madeira wine sauce that was followed by another of boiled lobster that was served with a sauce based on a reduction of green asparagus. The veal had been superb but because the heavy sauce had coated the palate, the far gentler flavor of the lobster had become lost completely. Later in the meal, when the chef somehow became aware of what had happened, he was so embarrassed that he appeared at our table swearing that he would never forgive himself for his faux-pas and inviting us to return on any other night of our choice to dine compliments of the house.

- Courses should compliment and flatter each other.

When Yonathan Roshfeld, then the sous-chef at Tel Aviv's "Tapuach Zehav" prepared a degustation menu for myself and visiting California winemaker Robert Mondavi, our third course consisted of two separate portions. The first of these was a locus carpaccio, paper thin slices of fresh raw fish that had been wrapped around cooked but well chilled calamari rings and shrimp. The mullet fillets that made up the second half of the portion, were served warm with an essence of green herbs. Both dishes were enormous success in their own right. They were made even better however because the textures of the two dishes were so well suited one to the other that the palate at all times felt simultaneously refreshed and stimulated. Even more than this, the green herb essence highlighted and brought clearly into focus each of the individual flavors, converting the offering from one that might have been merely excellent to one that became absolutely unforgettable. I also remember the pleasure on Roshfeld's face as he stood in a corner, unobtrusively observing us as we feasted on his creation.

- No matter how daring a chef wants to be, none of the courses served should shock the diners, because that will invariably destroy their ability to enjoy whatever else is served.

Several years ago, while dining at the very prestigious but not always very good "Windows on the World" in New York City, the chef decided to "impress" us by serving Spanish style snails as one of the first courses in his menu de degustation. The brandied, herbed tomato sauce in which the snails were served was exquisite and the dish delighted me in every way. My companions were not as pleased for even though they had all dined on the French version of this dish on many earlier occasions, they were unaware that the Spanish cook snails only until they are tender, and not until they are dead. With the realization that the snails they were eating were still alive, my companions were so shocked (one of them actually threw up) that there was no possibility of them continuing the meal.

- Every course should be generous enough in size that diners do do not feel frustrated, but no course should be so heavy or filling that it does not leave appetite for those to follow.

Normally, if a waiter brings me a first or second course with merely four shrimps on the plate, I rebel, wondering why I am spending so much money for so little food and simultaneously planning on where I can find a good slice of pizza before I return home. When those same two shrimp are served as part of a degustation menu, as they were recently when I dined at An- ton Mosimann's restaurant in England, however, my eyes and stomach are were both delighted, especially because the shrimp had been butterflied and arranged attractively on a puree of garlic flavored peas.

- The size of every dish offered should be related to its "heaviness". That is to say, heavier more filling dishes should always be served in smaller quantities than those that are light and refreshing.

Barcelona's "Jaume de Provenca" has been one of my favorite restaurants since I first dined there in 1978. On my last visit, chef Jaume Barges served us a thirteen course degustation menu. The crab raviolis in clam sauce were so light that it did not seem unusual to find six of them on each of our plates. Wisely, however, the lobster romesco, which is a far heavier and more filling dish, was served in an appropriately tiny portions, perhaps two generous tablespoons per person. To make this particularly small portion especially appealing to the eye, the chef had wisely placed it in the center of an oversized white plate and had set it on a bed of basil leaves.

- No dish should be so dominated by its herbs or spices that it will hide or impose upon the flavors of whatever dishes are to follow it.

Even when I was a very young man, first starting to write about food and wine, I knew that the greatest palate of all belonged to Curnonsky, who even then was known as the "Prince of Gourmets". One one occasion Curnonsky invited four young food writers to join him at Paris' "Laperousse" restaurant. Curnonsky had telephoned a full day in advance to consult with the chef on the degustation meal we would have.

As we dined, it was apparent that Curnonsky had been delighted with each of the first six courses. As the waiter approached with our seventh course, however, the usually talkative Curnonsky became completely silent and for his face turned almost bright red in color. With no ceremony at all, he pulled the serving plate from the waiter's hands, picked it up to his nose, inhaled deeply and, with not an instant's hesitation, then smashed the plate on the floor and ordered all of us to rise and immediately leave the restaurant. Curnonsky was far too furious to explain his rage, but several days later when I met him by chance at the Cafe de Flore, he explained: "The lamb had been seasoned not only with pepper, as I had requested, but with rosemary. I knew of course that our next course was to be of partridge, and, as even the most moronic of chefs knows, the rosemary that would have lingered on our palates would have completely destroyed the delicate flavor of the partridge meat".

When I asked him if he had not over-reacted just a bit he answered that "when it comes to the palate of Curnonsky, there are no over-reactions".

- Every dish offered should be so good that guests marvel over its virtuosity.

On another occasion, at which I was unfortunately not present, Curnonsky dined on the degustation menu of the great chef Fernand Point. According to the memoirs of Robert Courtine, who was Curnonsky's dinner companion, "as the meal progressed Curnonsky ate with gusto and spoke about everything under the sun except for the meal we were eating. He spoke about the execution of a convicted murder that had taken place several days earlier at the Palais de Justice; he held forth on the inherent anti-intellectualism of television; he told me of his reactions to Simone de Beauvoire's latest book ... he even told me about his most recent visit to his dentist".

Only when the meal had been completed did Curnonsky request that the chef come to the table. Even the great Point (who was the teacher of Paul Bocuse, Jean Troisgros and Alain Chapel) was surprised when Curnonsky rose, planted six wet kisses on his face, and then preceded to tell him precisely how magnificent each of the courses had been. Twenty years later Courtine wrote that "even though the meal itself had taken a mere three hours, Curnonsky's dissertation lasted not a minute less than four and a half hours. By the time we finally left the restaurant at nearly four in the morning, Point and I were both thoroughly exhausted. Curnonsky was correct in one thing, however - I will never forget the flavor, texture or aroma of any of those superb courses, each of which had been a masterpiece in its own right".

- Despite the number of courses served, at the end of the meal no guest should feel they have eaten too much.

Over the years I have dined on hundreds of mediocre meals some of which consisted of only one or two courses, many of which have left me feeling far too full. Over the same number of years, I have dined on the degustation menus of forty or fifty of the best chefs of France, Italy and the United States. Some of those meals contained as may as sixteen courses. None contained less than eight. At none of those meals did I ever have the feeling that I had eaten "too much".

- The sequence of wines, the selection of which should be guided either by the chef or the sommelier (if there is one), at degustation should be selected with as much care as the courses themselves.

As French poet Charles Baudelaire reminded us: "There has never been a better marriage made in heaven than that between food and wine". During most meals, the usual rules of white wines before red, light wines before heavy and young before old are adequate guides. During a degustation, however, even more care must be taken. In fact, each of the rules that apply to the construction of the meal should also apply to the selection of wines. Whether the meal features two, three or four wines, each should be selected to that in addition to complementing each other they should also complement each of the dishes being served.

Different Styles For Different Chefs

When it comes to specific details of degustation menus, different chefs react in different ways. Chef Alain Ducasse at his "Louis XV" restaurant at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, feels confident enough to build a meal of thirteen courses, "each course dependent on the last for its texture, flavor and heaviness". Chef Marc Veyrat of Veyrier-du-Lac, 6 km. from Annecy, on the other hand, feels that instead of an uninterrupted series of courses there should be "a cycle of dishes, each cycle being complete in itself but, at the same time, having a kissing relationship with both the cycle that came before and the cycle that will come afterwards". The following menus, on which I dined during November of 1995, demonstrate the difference in styles between the offerings of the two chefs, both of whom are considered among the most important of Europe. Also following are two degustations menus I sampled in Tel Aviv.

Tasting with Ducasse November 12, 1995

Cold Scallops with Truffles
Raviois of Pecorino Cheese
Provencal vegetables with a ragout of truffles
Cappuccino of Foie Gras Clams in a sauce made from beef marrow
Shrimp with Girolle Mushrooms
Blueberry Granita
Locus fillets in a reduction of tomatoes and parlsey
Veal sweetbreads with truffled artichokes,
Pressed Duckling Baked in a Brioche
Roast Pigeon with Lobster
Lamb with coriander
Creme Brulee in Pastry Tartlets
Petits Fours

Tasting with Veyrat November 16, 1995

Coquilles St. Jacques with Wild Fennel
Consomme of Almonds and Wild Flowers
Veal Kidneys with Oregano Sauce
Granita of Ginger-Flavored Grapefruit

Lake Perch in an infusion of herbs
Cappuccino of Tomato Essence
Warm Truffle Salad
Millefeuille of ris de veau
Rosemary Sorbet

Potato Soup with Lean Bacon
Veal Kidneys with Oregano
Creme Brulee made from Goats' Milk
Pear Tarte

With Israel Aharoni at "Tapuach Zehav", Tel Aviv June, 1997

Canapes of Pate de Foie Gras, Herbed Shrimp,
Terrine of Goose Liver and Vegetable Pate

Hot and Cold Nova Scotia Lobster Meat in Lobster Sauce

Locus Carpaccio Wrapped Around Chilled Calamari Rings
Warm Red Mullet Filets on an essence of Green Herbs

Zucchini Flowers filled with Finely Chopped Morille Mushrooms
Chilled Goose Liver Pate with Lentils alongside a Port Wine Sauce

Capucino of Foie Gras

Sorbet of Pink Grapefruit

Medallions of lamb with Demi-Glace Sauce
Caramelized Spring onions, Forest mushrooms

Miniature Cream Puffs with Chocolate Cream
Chilled Strawberries and Pink Grapefruit Sections in a hot lightly caramelized vanilla sauce

Coffee and Armagnac

With Chaim Cohen at "Keren", Tel Aviv

Canapes of Eggplant Filled with Goat's Cheese on a reduction of Red Peppers

Crab Shells Filled with Grilled Seafood
Mushroom and Crab Cappuccino

Tartar of Farida with olive oil, dried tomatoes and the juice of fresh tomatoes
Garnish of Crisp Baby Asparagus

Vegetable Terrine of Fennel Artichoke Hearts, and Swiss Chard with a sauce based on Chive oil and a blend of mushroom essence and balsamic vinegar

Foie Gras with Vanilla Sauce

Granita of Tea

Giant Shrimps Grilled in their Shells
Shrimps with Sesame Seeds
Fried Fillets of Red Mullets with a "broken sauce" of beet juice vinegar and oil

Sorbet of Grapefruit and Basil Flowers

Lamb Chop garnished with Polenta
Carpaccio of beef filet served with a confit of garlic

Miniature Apple Pie
Caramelized Bananas with Vanilla Ice Cream

Coffee and Cognac

The Viability of the Degustation Menu

The most critical factors for degustation menus to be truly successful and not merely trendy parodies on themselves (as they often are at expensive but mass-market restaurants, especially in the United States) are the talents and creative abilities of the chef. These are not adequate in and of themselves, however, for in addition to these however, no chef can prepare a truly good degustation menu without a competent staff, a kitchen that is well enough designed that it can cope simultaneously with the demands of the regular a la carte menu and the tasting menu being offered. In this, only chefs with exceptional organizational abilities can control both their staff and their kitchens in order to assure the required quality of the dishes being prepared.

Because a degustation menu puts a strain on the kitchen staff, some restaurants avoid them completely and very few are foolhardy enough to offer them on a daily basis. Chefs who decide to offer such menus generally do either once a week or twice a month. Some also allow clients to order a degustation menu in advance, generally requiring between two and three days notice. No chef will deny the difficulty of these menus, but those who do offer them feel that in addition to giving them a chance to demonstrate their talents, such menus are also "good for business". That is to say, the announcement of such a menu encourages people to return more often than they usually would. They also give restaurant critics a reason for returning to review and write about their restaurants sooner than they might have otherwise have.

The best chefs in the United States concur with their French - colleagues and do not "overdo" the degustation menu. In the last five or six years, however, many American restaurants have started to use degustation menus as their major attraction. Most serious chefs and nearly all serious food writers agree that this is a fad that appeals primarily to snobbish and frequently not particularly knowledgeable diners. Such abuse of the degustation menu may be good for business but in the long run it harms the reputation of both the chef and the restaurant.

Within Israel, the degustation menu is a fairly new phenomenon. The first to offer such a menu were probably Chenny Farber and Leon Alkalai at the now defunct "Zelig", and then at "Gargantua" when it was still located in Jaffa. The other restaurants now offering such menus on a regular basis are "Keren" and "Tapuach Zehav". "Gargantua", which has only recently shifted its venue to the industrial area of Herzliya Pituach will soon rejoin the still small group. In each of these places, the degustation menu costs about 20 - 25% more than the average meal, and, as a consumer and critic, I judge this to be fair.

As not all good restaurants in France have such offerings, neither should they become everyday fare anywhere else. If wisdom, rather than faddism prevails, such menus should be offered only by chefs and restaurateurs who are among the nation's most talented and creative. At this writing, that probably includes between ten and fifteen restaurants, because if such offerings become too popular they will become "common", and that in turn will devalue them in the public eye. In addition to the appearance of such menus in privately owned restaurants, I would also hope that several of the nation's hotels allow their chefs the freedom to create such menus. This would give the few truly talented chefs now working at the hotels the chance to go beyond the limitations ordinarily imposed on them and allow them to show off talents that are too often buried in the traditional hotel framework. Such a move would also make the public aware that at least several hotels offer the potential for exceptionally fine dining.

Tasting At Jean-Marie Amat, in Bordeaux

Until twelve years ago, great dining was simply not available in Bordeaux. Jean-Marie Amat is the man who returned the joy of dining to the region. His restaurant, the "Saint James" is perched on a green hilltop overlooking the city of Bordeaux and some of the best and most famous wine fields in the world. His beautiful restaurant, housed in a large villa built of white stones, sits in a garden on the hill. The atmosphere is one of singing birds, fresh air, peace and quiet, all less than 15 miles of the heart of Bordeaux. So in demand are his talents that no one except the owners of the most famous wine growing estates in the world and the richest landowners in Bordeaux have a chance of getting a table without a reservation.

Our degustation menu opened with a several appetizers, each of which was quite unique. There were, for example oysters wrapped in spinach leaves that were served with Beluga caviar that had been sprinkled over with a delicate vinaigrette sauce; a sublime foie gras en gelee; fillets of sole that had been poached in red wine and allowed to come to room temperature before being served with piping hot escargots all in a richly flavored reduction of fresh tomatoes, and exquisite green raviolis with spinach and green peppers.

These were followed a large plate in the center of which was a small cup of duck bouillion that contained crisply fried noodles and near the edges of the plate, two small fillets of fresh water bass that had been lightly fried in a rosemary scented oil. After this came a breathtakingly fresh duck foie gras and then a magnificent sampling of Pauillac lamb with garlic cloves and rosemary that had been baked until the meat was nearly falling of the bone. The dish had wisely been garnished with nothing more than per- fectly sauteed baby potatoes and carrots in a mild honey and mustard sauce.

Everything had been served such an intelligent progression that even now we were waiting to see what would come next. What arrived delighted us, for on half of a large plate was a portion of a sublime saddle of rabbit that had been seasoned lightly with thyme, and on the other half a grilled spiced pigeon that had a captivating Chinese feel to it. After several exceptionally good goats' milk cheeses we went on to two unforgettable desserts, the first an apricot mousse pie and the second the most superb coconut creme brulee that I have ever sampled.

Along with five other journalists, I had been the guest of Chateau Margaux for dinner so it seemed perfectly logical that after opening our meal with the Brut Champagne of Ayala, we continued first with a 1988 Margaux, then with a 1982 and then with a 1953. With our dessert we had a magnificent Sauternes wine, the Chateau Yquem of 1945. The dinner bill came to FF 850 (about $150) per person. Considering that we had dined in one of the most charming of restaurants and with one of the great chefs of France, I considered this superb value for money.

Fortunately for my hosts the wines, which included samplings from some of the very best vintages of the last 50 years had come from their own cellar and were not included in the bill. I estimate that the bill for the wines would have added another FF 28,000 (about $7,500) to the bill.

AMAT: Place Camille-Hostein, Bouliac (9 km. SE of Bordeaux via Route D10). Do not even dream of going here without an advance reservation. Telephone 56 20 92 58.

© Daniel Rogov