In late 2014 a new French restaurant opened in Maputo (Mozambique) called "Le Figaro". Located on Avenida do Zimbabwe in the heart of the NGO/Embassy district, it feels a bit isolated, especially at night, when the majority of workers go home and the streets empty out a bit, but this may be an advantage as it's the only restaurant in the area. The restaurant is in a semi-detached house which has been renovated to accommodate the open plan dining area below, with a rather cute bar in the back. I first visited the restaurant shortly after it had opened last year and there were quite a few teething problems, which I guess could be explained away by the newness of the restaurant, new staff etc. Hastily printed menus, an incomplete wine list, and uneventful generic food were the highlights of that experience.
So I had high hopes a few months later for our June Maputo Wine Society Dinner that was to be held there. With a simplified menu with 2 choices for starter, main and dessert, the evening promised to be interesting, and as it would be open only to the Wine Society we had the cook's undivided attention. To make this easier we pre-booked our meals. The winelist was organised by Herman, who has taken over from Denise in running the wine society, and rather than being the selection of Le Figaro's french wines, we were going to taste some of South Africa’s best.
As for the Menu:
Starters - Beef Carpaccio or Rilettes de Canard
Main - Boulibasse or Beef Bourgugone
Dessert - Chocolate mousse or Crepe suzette
The menu was fairly simple an considering there were 46 of us this was probably a good thing.
The Rilettes were made of duck meat strips and had a rather unapetising look and feel to them and the taste was nothing to write home about. A thinly sliced salad and gerkins accompanied the starter
The Carpaccio option was much better, thinly sliced though it lacked a little seasoning. It’s ironic that an Italian dish was the best of the starters.
The Boulibasse was massive pieces of overcooked fish with little flavour, swimming in a watery soup.
The Beef Bourgugnone reminded me of what South Africans might have imagined a Spaghetti Bolognese would be like.. chunks of meat with barbecue sauce on a bed of pasta. Ok, I might have exaggerated a bit there. Truthfully the sauce of the beef was edible and tasty but I suspect that not enough wine was used in making the sauce, which requires A LOT. The meat was tough and not cooked for the proper length of time.. It should have been soft and tender. And the fettuccine lurking at the bottom of the plate were simply out of place.
The desert - unfortunately I didn’t taste the Crepe Suzette, which came with a spray of whipped cream. Instead I had the chocolate mousse, a massively sweet affair with a floury texture. The dollop of generic cream on top was ordinary.. Thankfully no cherry on top, and I managed to wash out the taste with a glass of desert wine...
As this is a restaurant review I won’t go into too much detail about the wine we drank that evening, especially since the Society brought it’s own. I didn't have a chance to survey Le Figaro's own wine so I cannot say anything about that.
Onto our wine - I have to say that Herman really excelled in the choices and it was all excellent. From the aperitif Rosé and Setubal Muscadel, to the starter Meerlust Pinot Noir and Eikendal Cabernet-Merlot, the main Springfield Chardonnay for the Boulibasse and Beyerskloof Cabernet for the Bourgugnone, to the Special Late Harvest Nederburg for dessert.. they were all fantastic and made the laughter flow and the conversation bubble along, notwithstanding the rather ordinary food.
Le Figaro is a nicely styled restaurant venue with clean toilets (PLEASE remove the plastic from the chrome saintaryware…) with excellent waiters who managed to navigate the chaos of a wine tasting evening with extreme skill and professionalism. I really have to stress that last bit as it's not always easy to find good staff. As for the restaurant, the cook definately needs to up his or her game especially since Maputans have an extremely discerning palate and high expectations from restaurants. Maputo was once the home of the continent's best restaurant, the Ngumi (now sadly closed) and there are any number of excellent restaurants that serve different style foods with excellent ingredients, imagination and that taste great. Ordinary French food has no place in Maputo.
