Le Jardin is a new French restaurant that opened at the penthouse of W 5th building. It has a garden theme which transports you back to the streets of Paris. It is owned by French Chef Gils Brault, known for his restaurant in Vietnam. Chef Hasset Go and Chef Jonas Ng are the people who convinced Chef Gils to put up Le Jardin here in the country.
As I stepped inside the restaurant, I can’t help but stand in awe as how pretty the place was. It has a tasteful interior which any girl would instantly gush for. We were greeted by Operations Manager and happily toured us around the place.
We were briefed that we’ll be trying their degustation menu. Chef Jonas mentioned that they didn’t want to call it degustation because their menu and concept is a bit different than the normal degustation menu. One glance at the menu, their prices were a bit hefty, so my expectations of the food is a bit high as well.
A whiff of freshly baked bread welcomed us, signalling us that the food tasting is about to start. Freshly baked brioche and baguette, served with soft butter on the side.
Next to arrive is the Amuse Bouche which is simply scrambled eggs with truffle oil. The truffle oil gave a distinct taste to the eggs, which I immediately topped in the freshly baked bagel slices. Yum! Next thing we know, the bread basket’s already empty.. Ooops..
We were then asked to choose one appetizer. They have a variety of appetizers from tartare, salads, warm ones and cold ones. It was hard to choose because the menu seemed to be more complicated with their French names on it. I simply ordered their bestseller Seared Scallops.
Here are some of the appetizers that my fellow foodies ordered. Foie gras have been given so much love at Le Jardin that they serve it in almost all of the items in their menu.
To go along the appetizer menu, they let us taste on of their favorite and selected white wine. I liked white wine better than red so I enjoyed sipping this wine. It has a sweet taste, that’s all I can say since I’m not good with wines.
If choosing an appetizer was hard, it was equally harder to choose a main dish. I was browsing through the menu, and everything seemed to be mouthwatering. Their variety was wide from different meats, veal, lamb, beef, chicken and pork down to different types of fishes tuna, snapper, etc.. We wanted to try everything so I ordered the Tuna steak to share.
Here some of the other main dishes that my fellow foodies have ordered. All of it are yummy as well. You have to check out that their portion sizes are large, enough to fill up one person fully.
To go along those savory mains, we were served a glass of red wine. I’m not a fan of red wines, but the bottle that was served was sweet.
What was surprising was we were served this palate cleanser, a lemon sherbet with tomato and basil oil. The concept is simple but quite new to me, but as the name suggests, it cleanses our tastebuds from all those savory goodness to prepare for the cheese sampling and desserts.
Le Jardin makes their own cheese, so they proudly served different variety of cheeses they made, ranging from younger cheese with different infusions and mature cheeses. Chef Jonas taught us how to eat them, by sampling the younger ones first to appreciate its taste then the mature cheeses after.
The younger cheeses were good. I liked the one infused with mushrooms. As for the mature ones, I enjoyed the natural cheese better than the infused ones.
Then the most awaited desserts came in. All the desserts were good. I ordered the French apple pie with ice cream on the side, a combination of sweet and tart.
Their dessert menu is limited so we were able to order everything on the menu. Here are some photos of the desserts we had that night. All their desserts are notable and delicious.
Overall, Le Jardin did not disappoint. The place was magnificent. They have a good selection of wines, all food are prepared fresh and at an ample serving size, which is surprising. Don’t let the price tag scare you for you’ll be paying for an overall experience. I wish I could have worn a pretty summer dress to match the whole experience.
What is your favorite French dish?
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Le Jardin Manila
W 5th Building, 5th Ave cor 32nd
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
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