Le Perron, Geneva, Switzerland

Interesting place mat

Our first evening in Geneva certainly was a windy one! We'd checked in to the hotel, eventually, after the obligatory phone call to the bank to say that yes it was us attempting to use the card abroad, and in fact we have told you this already. Anyway, we wrapped up warm and headed out to see what culinary delights were on offer in the city.
All the guidebooks and things we had read pointed us to the old town, so after a rather blustery crossing of the river we headed up the cobbled streets. We spotted Le Perron in an attractive square, it had plenty of tables outside under a tree canopy, and a rather interesting menu, mainly featuring game. The Wild Boar in particular caught our eye. (Or is it eyes when there's two of you?)
We thought not to eat at the first place we saw, but since this was a Sunday night, we didn't really have much luck elsewhere. Obviously, this being a major European city, there were plenty of places to eat, but it is rather more difficult when things have to be gluten free, therefore quick pizza, pasta, chinese, etc is out of the question.
Anyway, we circled round the cathedral and came back to Le Perron.

Upon entry, we asked "Parlez-vous anglais?" We can understand basic menu items in French, but this was to make the gluten free questions easier. And the answer we got was "Certainly do" in what turned out to be a Harrogate accent. We were shown to our table and were told that the Game dishes were recommended at the moment.

We ordered the starter of the mushroom salad and the pumpkin soup.

What sounded like a plain mushroom starter actually was lovely. A mixture of warm mushrooms with crisp leaves some unknown, but flavoursome shoots, and a balsamic dressing.

The pumpkin soup was not as good as Barbara's version, but came with a garnish of cheese, croutons and cream. Compared to Barbara's this was more "restauranty", creamy and nice, but nothing too notable about it.

For our main course I ordered the Venison, a first for me, which came with what was called traditional accompaniments. And the waiter made sure that there was no flour in the sauce therefore everything was fine. Tim ordered the Stag, after enquiring as to if there was any mountain deer - a guidebook recommendation. The Stag was described as coming with chestnuts and figs.

The main courses looked identical!

Although the venison was noticeably more tender than the stag. Both were served with what may have been quince or apple, fig, chestnuts, pureed something, which if it was potato, had a secret ingredient, a red current jelly and a lovely deep rich sauce. I take it all of the above are actually traditional accompaniments.

Tim's dish came with a side of something which resembled little pieces of pancake. We were told what it was, but unfortunately can't remember, but apparently it was a traditional Swiss dish. It was batter-based and probably cooked in a frying pan or similar in very small amounts, then seasoned with salt. Ed, Barbara, do you know what we mean?

I thought the venison dish was fantastic. Obviously since this was the first time I have eaten venison I have nothing to compare it to, but similar to the Chateaubriand at the Panorama, you could almost cut it with a spoon. After eating this dish and the Chateaubriand I have now decided to order steak rare if it is at a decent restaurant, so it must have been good!

For desert we ordered the Creme Brulee, as my rule is; if Creme Brulee is on the menu, it has to be eaten. And the special of the day being an apple tart.




Both deserts were good, but I thought the Creme Brulee was nothing special. Similar to others I'd eaten. Not really sure what I was expecting though!

We thought the meal at Le Perron was very very good, although on the pricey side. But it did seem that if you didn't eat pasta or pizza then things were expensive.