Chicken Fricassee with saffron rice

I was taken out for dinner last night to Brasserie Gerard which is about 100 yards from my front door, by my sister and her husband who had come over from their home in Luxemburg for a visit.

We chose the set menu which had three options as starter, 3 as main and 2 as pud.

I omitted to take a photo of the starter which were Greenlip mussels with a breadcrumb topping….4 of them which were absolutely wonderful. Large mussels and nice crunchy topping. A real easy starter to make at home.

We then diverged on the main. My sister and hubby chose a fish dish….cod in a tomato sauce with roast potatoes. It was so inutterably bad I was quite embarassed, as I have never had a bad meal at Chez Gerard in my life. But it was revolting…overcooked and bland, with a tiny portion.

I on the other hand had the chicken fricassee which came with a serving of saffron flavoured rice. Talk about chalk and cheese….it was utterly historic. Quite superb. A nice creamy sauce, with small pieces of chicken and mushrooms which were just so…not overcooked, not under. The rice may have been saffron flavoured as opposed to having real saffron in it, but it did what it said on the tin and was also excellent.

How a restaurant can produce 2 meals of such totally different quality it quite beyond me, but here is the fricassee which I can thoroughly recommend should you be in the area !

We didnt have a pudding…..