I’ve never actually started a thread in Epicurean Exploits until today. There are a number of reasons for this.
- I’m not really as “berserkerish” when it comes to food when compared to wine
- Most restaurants I’d want to write about here have been thouroughly documented here before
- I’ve yet to find a “hidden gem” that would make sense to report here
Obviously the above reasons are no longer valid as I finally have something of merit to discuss. In Albany, Western Australia there’s a restaurant called Gourmandise & Co. Put simply, it’s amazing. I’ve never had meal out here that impressed me so thoroughly to where i felt it necessary to write up. Gourmandise & Co changed that for me.
Gourmandise & Co is owned and operated by Xavier Poupel and his wife Janette Judge-Poupel. Xavier was born in Normandy is a Escoffier trained Chef. Here’s a short rundown of some of his past work.
He has worked in the kitchens of world renowned establishments including Chateau Richelieu in New York as Chef de Cuisine, Le Privilege on St Martin in the Caribbean as Executive Chef, and the Marco Polo Hotel in Singapore as Consultant Chef de Cuisine at La Brasserie. Xavier has cooked aboard the private yachts of Princess Caroline of Monaco and the King of Saudi Arabia; for Prince Charles in the desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan; and worked as Private Chef for their majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan and the Sultan of Brunei; finally, he held the position of Director of Kitchen in the Sedona Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma). In Australia, Xavier was Executive Chef at Prunier’s in Sydney and also at the Parmelia Hilton in Perth, among others.
from - Xavier Poupel Chef Profile | AGFG
Life has been quite busy recently and it was nearly two months ago now when my family took a few days down in Albany. I had a short list of two restaurants I wanted to try; Gourmandise and Liberte. Despite Liberte’s rampant cred with the youth Gourmandise is still listed as #1 for Restaurants in Albany on TripAdvosor. (https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-g261671-d6909645-Reviews-Gourmandise_Co-Albany_Western_Australia.html)
The first time we went to Gourmandise it was just past 2pm. We approached Janette and asked if lunch was still available. After an initial back and forth we were able to secure a few plates. The food in Gourmandise is absolutely amazing. The French rusticity of each dish was positively surperb. I actually felt like I was eating in rural France, not Albany, WA. There’s an honesty to these dishes that is hard to come by here in Australia. The quality of the ingredients were top knotch but it was the effort and care that was shown to construct each dish that really made the food stand out. Each plate had so much work put into it that you could be forgiven for not wanting to eat for fear of ruining the presentation.
I’ve taken the liberty of sharing a few photos I took either the second or third time we visited. Initially I didn’t expect us to eat at the same place for lunch thre days in a row but I along with my entire family had absolutely no qualms with daily visits. Daily visits alos afforded us the luxury of being able to purchase baked goods for later in the day.
Those lemon tarts pictured above were, like everything else, were crazy good. We had purchased one for my folks and they didn’t want the entire thing. So my wife cut it in thirds and left the middle sliver for her and I. She had already eaten hers when I finally got around to grabbing my piece. My wife immediately commented “I’m curious to hear what you think of it.” When she said that I assumed she’d found Xavier’s Achilles heel and that it wasn’t that good. I couldn’t have been more wrong, it was honesty the best lemon tart I’ve ever eaten. The lemony tartness and acidity was nearly too much; I’ve never had a tart that flavorful. But just when you think the lemony flavor and acid are too much the sugary sweetness comes through and smooths out the palate.
I doubt I’ll write up many more restaurants here in future but I just couldn’t help myself with Gourmandise & Co. It’s just that good. If you’re ever out here in Western Australia you’d be a fool if you didn’t try this place. And that’s with Albany being 4 1/2 hours outside of Perth.