Nestled on the quayside of River Odet in the historic city of Quimper in Brittany, Sao restaurant is the brainchild of talented young chef Kevin Gourret.
A chubby olive tree stands guard outside while inside floor-to-ceiling windows allow natural light to bathe the intimate interior comprising nine tables and emphasise the chic natural wood design with black trimmings, best summed up as understated elegance.
In this inviting contemporary setting complete with soft lighting and padded armchairs, Kevin, formerly with Le Goyen restaurant in the nearby town of Audierne, serves up creative recipes inspired by ingredients as diverse as langoustine, local fish, seaweed, buckwheat, buttermilk, vanilla, chestnut and yuzu, with Asian elements such as ponzu, gomasio, sesame and ginger also playing their role, particularly in his desserts.
With glasses of Umanu Gris de Cinsault, a crisp Corsican rose wine, in hand, my companion meandered through the menu, its enticing contents including barbecued beef, smoked broccoli, shellfish and andouille sausage making our anticipation even stronger.
Our seasonal tasting menu involved a buckwheat theme, the predominant mineral-rich, fiber-filled grain growing in Brittany. Among the dishes were smoked crumbles of feta atop a purée of asparagus resting inside edible black charcoal bowls, all set in a box of buckwheat, as well as buckwheat pillows stuffed with rillette of dorade, pollock and herring presented on top of elegant hour-glasses.
Other highlights included twin cones anchored in buckwheat filled with cauliflower cream and trout eggs and fillets of smoked trout in a sauce of seaweed, smoked cream sprinkled with trout eggs.
An asparagus dish was dressed in a most creative manner, partially clothed wild garlic cream, black garlic and yellow of egg confit. Succulent.
A delicate fillet of pollock from Guilvinec Guilvinec in the Finistère region, arrived table-side amidst islands of beetroot foam, spinach purée and smoked kiwi, with juicy cockles hiding under fresh green leaves.
Seaweed was entwined in one of our two desserts, in a blended base of citrus cream above which perched a scoop of lemon ice-cream and burned meringue, served majestically on a block of dappled marble.
Our second dessert featured a combo of corn cream, toasted corn, ice-cream with sweet, anise-like tarragon, sponge cake, grapefruit, pistachio and leaves of borage.
In terms of diverse taste and creative presentation, chef Kevin Gourret deserves strong praise.
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