Haeberlin: Safe and Superb

Paul Haeberlin’s cuisine is a safe one, reflecting his strict principles, and yet enlivened with the bursts of imagination which distinguish this otherwise relaxed man. Many of his dishes are based on the simpler materials which you can find, rather ordinarily done, in any respectable French restaurant, but in his hands they are elevated to a status which they rarely acquire elsewhere.

Several dishes would have been greeted as old friends by Escoffier, such as la fameuse truffe sous la cendre and the noisettes de chevreuil aux champignons des bois. Some, like the blanc de turbot au champagne rosé, are basically plain, but coloured by his own originality.