In the heart of Luxembourg City, in the Le Place d’Armes hotel (part of the Relais & Châteaux association of luxury hotels and restaurants), the gastronomic restaurant La Cristallerie is beginning a new chapter with the arrival of chef Milan Brée at the head of its kitchens. Brée works in collaboration with executive chef Dominik Ambros, pastry chef Damien Grandclaude and restaurant manager Mathieu Brébion.
The chef, who hails from the Nantes region, offers refined French cuisine underpinned by exceptional produce. Guests can choose from three signature menus that are all unique journeys: Reflet (three courses, €79), Éclat (five courses, €109) and Cristal (seven courses, €159).
Before taking up his position at La Cristallerie, Brée worked in Michelin-starred kitchens in his native region. He came to Luxembourg in 2017, where he worked at La Villa de Camille et Julien as sous-chef, then took a break in Reims. He has now returned to Luxembourg and taken charge of the kitchens at La Cristallerie, a gourmet restaurant that completes the restaurant offering at Hôtel Le Place d’Armes along with Plëss and Café de Paris.
“The collaboration with Milan is very complementary,” says Ambros, who oversees all the establishment’s kitchens. “I may be more technical, but Milan certainly brings the creative touch. He works with dishes that have a French base, but are embellished with a host of international influences.”
The menu will be renewed every eight weeks and is only verbally revealed to diners when the dishes are announced. The idea is to take you on a gastronomic journey, a culinary experience designed as an invitation to discovery. In fact, the menus are presented to customers in a sealed envelope, as if it is an invitation to which they should respond.
A journey in seven stages
During our test meal, we had the privilege of discovering the seven-course Cristal menu. The amuse-bouches (featuring pistachio, courgette, beetroot, chorizo, orange and Espelette pepper) arrived first, followed by an appetiser inspired by the Brittany region, with a combination of peas (present in both foamy and crunchy textures), samphire and nori seaweed. A dish of asparagus was next, served with a sparkling wine sabayon and garnished with parsley concentrate and candied egg yolk. The chef then chose to serve langoustine topped with caviar with a mosaic of avocado and celery, followed by a magnificent piece of turbot with a heart of foie gras accompanied by a declination of mushrooms and artichokes in a miso broth.
For the meat, it was a piece of Simmental beef from the Bello butchery matured for two months, accompanied a pressed juice of of aubergine, potato and oxalis caviar and a reduction of cooking juices. The local touch is present in the cheese course, with a beautiful reappropriation of kachkéis worked into a foam and spiced up with black truffle. The first dessert was a poached strawberry dome with meringue, spruce and fir powder sorbet, followed by a wonderful honey-inspired dish featuring poached pears, brioche and a creamy mousse presented in honeycomb shapes.
Whilst the menu might look imposing on paper, when you leave the table you don’t find yourself weighed down. The portions and preparations are perfectly adapted to make the most of this long-haul voyage. It’s a culinary trip that we sincerely recommend.
Open starting 24 April. La Cristallerie, 18 Place d’Armes, Luxembourg. Open Wednesday to Saturday for dinner.
This article was originally published in .