Trois Gourmands (Also known as the 4 hour lunch!)

Living away from your home country has so many ups and downs.  On the down side, so many people are coming and going and it seems that every other week we are farewelling friends that we have made along our journey.  On the up side, we get to do it in style!

Enter Trois Gourmands.  This wonderful French restaurant is located out in District 2.  We have been meaning to go there for so long but have never quite made it.  Well, we won't be letting THAT happen again.

Our group opted for the "pretty much eat yourself silly" menu which consists of 3 entrees and a main AND desert AND cheese for about $45.

Our palette cleanser was an interesting one.  Truffle ice-cream!  Mixed reviews but I quite liked it.

This was followed by another small dish which at a guess was egg dusted with truffles.

Alas, this entree was not mine but how good does the ceviche look?

Now this one was mine...all mine!!!!  It was a foie gras pate on the right and a deep fried spring roll filled with foie gras on the left.  It just melted in your mouth.  Really lovely.  Very rich, but VERY tasty!

Tuna done two ways.  Beautiful fresh ingredients.

This was one of my favourites. Tortellini stuffed with lobster swimming in a light buttery sauce.

This one was not mine but from memory it was duck.  Fabulous colours!

A French restaurant would not be a French restaurant without the obligatory escargot.  Loving the dish.

Oh maybe this one was my favourite.  Scallops on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes again with that amazing sauce.  And the mains have not even arrived yet!

Judging by what was left on this plate by the end, the lamb shanks too were a winner.

This was my main dish which was slow cooked beef cheeks with foie gras.  Oh my.  It just fell apart at my touch and the sauce was amazing.  Again, it was very rich and I could only manage half (I'm sure stuffing myself silly with entree's had nothing to do with it), plus I needed to leave room for desert.

Duck breast in orange sauce.

Coc Au Vin.  Note in the back ground, not only were we eating ourselves silly there was plenty of wonderful wine to be had.  And guess what?  You can bring your own!

I am a sucker for cheese and the chef here makes his own.  They vary in texture depending on their age.  We figure these ones were somewhere in the middle.  Seriously good.

This appeared to be one of the younger ones.  It almost had like a goats cheese texture with rosemary and pepper on top.

And here are the aged ones.  Again with the rosemary and beautiful oil.  Oh...so much cheese!

But I could not let the team down and manned up for my desert.  Creme Brûlée is a staple dish that I tend to judge a restaurant on.  This one was a winner.  The top cracked open with a bang and a gorgeous light inside did not last long.

I forgot what this one was!

Chocolate fondant.  Oh my.  Nuff said.

All of that in a lovely setting.  I suppose you could even have a dip in the pool to work it off.  As it was, I think I would have sunk like a stone.

So, that is how you do a four hour lunch.  It went by in a flash filled with fantastic food, wonderful wine and great company.  You have to laugh and realise you really are an expat when YOU receive gifts from the people who are leaving!  As they say...you can't take it with you.  Yes, even the 7 packs of wheetbix you stocked up on after the "Great Wheetbix Drought of '11".  So I wish my dear friends the best of luck with their move to Hanoi.  Make sure you come down and visit soon....I know a great place for a four hour lunch!