A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

I had been sitting on a gift card from the Mandarin for quite a while and decided that I was never going to make it to the spa, as much as I would have liked to. So I decided to take my gal pals out to lunch at Bar Boulud. The Boston location is the sister restaurant to the New York and London locations of Chef Daniel Boulud’s French bistro and wine bar. The bread basket it lovely and we order some gougeres ($6) to start. The choux pastry with gruyere are impossibly light and savory at the same time.

I had the macaroni and cheese with pancetta and bread crumbs ($27). Delicious in every way – the cheese sauce was perfect and the pancetta had the perfect crispiness to add texture to the dish. Served in a cast iron skillet, this is the perfect comfort food for a cold winter afternoon.

Other table selections included the mackeral ($18), the salad chou chou ($12), the onion soup ($10), the bon bon ($10), the tiramisu ($10), and the gateau basque. The onion soup looks amazing doesn’t it? Another great dish for a cold day. The gateau basque (bottom left) was a favorite of the table with its pastry cream, flaky crust and brandied cherries. I usually don’t like my desserts deconstructed, but the tiramisu was delicious and not too strong.

Service was excellent, what you would expect from a restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental. Overall excellent experience and a great place to power lunch or spend the day with friends.

Bar Boulud

in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 766 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

www.barboulud.com/boston

Tags: dinner, french, lunch, restaurant