LPM Abu Dhabi “La Vie en Rose” Brunch Review
Before I visited LPM I was under the impression that it was a french restaurant… but no, no my friends, do not make that mistake. LPM are curators of Niçoise cuisine. Admittedly my knowledge of the word Niçoise went as far as the tuna salad, but it actually denotes food that is characteristic of Nice.
Nice is rich in culinary history, and is known for its mixing of flavours from Provence, Italy, and the Mediterranean. When first seated at the table, you’ll notice two tomatoes and one lemon placed on the crisp white table cloth, this is perhaps the first ode to Niçoise cuisine, after all tomatoes and lemons grow in abundance in the aforementioned places. Besides the tomatoes and lemon providing a quirky decorative touch to the table, they’re not there for your visual pleasure - you’re supposed to eat them. Cutting up the tomato was a great way to informalise the experience - it’s a beautiful restaurant with plush interior, sprawling glass windows, and a magnificent marble bar - so it could be easily intimidating. But, adding a squeeze of lemon, a twist of salt/pepper, and a generous drizzling of olive oil onto some of the homemade bread, was a really delicious, inventive, and relaxed way to start a meal.
Often when I think of the word “brunch” I am a little hesitant. It has connotations of lots of food with little emphasis on the food and quality. LPM, however, checked off both boxes. We were first brought the cold starters; salmon carpaccio scattered with wild mushrooms and caviar, a creamy avocado dip with artisan olive crackers, creamy buratta and tomato toast and a buttery beef tartare. All the cold starters were absolutely delicious, but the beef tartare and buratta toast were firm favourites for me. For the beef tartare think pickled sirloin beef topped with shoestring potatoes, micro-greens and the yellow-ist of yellow egg yolks to top it all off. I chose to accompany my cold-starters with one of LPM’s signature cocktails, a wonderful creation of sorbet and champagne that was the perfect accompaniment for cold starters.
Moving onto the warm starters I ordered a glass of the house-red; a simple but delicious wine from Provence. White wine might have been a more suitable choice as most of the warm starters are seafood but I am a strong believer in drinking what you feel, and not always what is deemed correct. Warm starters included crispy squids garnished with green chillies and a powdering of paprika, snails in a garlic butter, warm prawns bathed in olive oil and scrambled eggs. Choosing between the snails and prawns is impossible, but if there’s one take home from these dishes its beauty in simplicity; something very characteristic of Niçoise cuisine. A few ingredients; lemon, garlic, olive oil, parsley, made up most of these dishes, and wow, were they beautiful.
If you haven’t guessed already, its best to come to this experience with an empty stomach. Following on from beauty in simplicity, I went on to order the Pasta Arrabbiata for main course. I often use this dish to decide how good a restaurant is, because so often I am disappointed in the execution of simple dishes. I was not disappointed; fresh tomatoes, crushed chillies and basil were infused to create a perfect Arrabbiata which I will be rushing back for. I must mention that I tried my husband’s sea bream fillet with pistou and peppers. Again, I was surprised with the quality of the food and the use of simple ingredients like garlic, basil and olive oil to create a beautiful dish. The accompaniment of gratin dauphinois was also absolutely beautiful and a real winner.
Like Arrabbiata, a great judge of a restaurant is its chocolate fondant, or as LPM calls it warm chocolate mousse. I loved their take on this classic dessert; served in a bowl with a scoop of malt ice cream on top. It goes without saying that it was baked to perfection, rich and decadent with just the right amount of sweetness.
I might have entered LPM thinking Niçoise is a salad, but I can assure you I left with an appetite for this cuisine. I knew from the beginning that you couldn’t go too far wrong with a fusion of French, Italian and Mediterranean ingredients, but I did not expect them to go so far right. The emphasis on light, fresh and good quality ingredients was apparent in the food, and the passion, creativity and simplicity were paramount. I can’t explain how wonderful it is to find somewhere that leaves you wanting more. I don’t mean I wanted more; I mean the food, the ambiance and the service leaves you wanting to return and always wanting to eat more and more.