Your goose is cooked at Bistro Le Pont (樂朋小館). The restaurant, which opened last month, is an extension of Le Pont (橋邊), a Kaohsiung-based restaurant that specializes in dishes and condiments made from goose meat and goose fat. The new space off Yongkang Street (永康街) captures the spirit of a French bistro, with large picture windows and low lighting. The menu even lists prices in New Taiwan dollars and euros. Bistro Le Pont’s food, however, is made with mostly locally produced ingredients and features a fusion of French, Taiwanese and Chinese flavors.
The French inflection of each dish varies from course to course and comes mainly from the liberal use of sauces made from graisse d’oie (or goose fat) and shallots. The latter was chosen because it frequently appears in Taiwanese dishes and together the two ingredients create a marriage of flavors from both cuisines (Bistro Le Pont sells a full range of Le Pont condiments).
A good example of Bistro Le Pont’s take on French cuisine is the riz au sang d’oie avec echalottes confites (NT$60). The dish consists of goose blood rice cakes, a humble Taiwanese street food staple given a French accent with a large heap of shallots marinated in goose fat. A topping of freshly julienned ginger strips tempers the richness of the fat and adds some welcome heat and crunch.
Many of Bistro Le Pont’s dishes are simple, designed to serve as blank canvases for their signature range of sauces, oils and shallot confits. The riz avec echalottes confites with sauce de Saint Jacques (NT$50), for example, is a bowl of white rice topped with tiny dried shrimp and sauce made from goose and chili oils flavored with chopped dried Hokkaido scallops, dry-cured ham, fried scallions and Chaotian peppers. The cornucopia of ingredients sits on top of the rice, waiting for you to mix it in with your chopsticks, while the oils seep in, coating each grain.
The pousses de soja (NT$60), on the other hand, is a simply a mound of bean sprouts, grown in large, water-filled jars for extra succulence in Qishan (旗山) near Kaohsiung. The dish is less exciting than the items made with Saint Jacques sauce, but serves as a welcome complement to the other dishes with their spices, fried shallots and goose fat.
Bistro Le Pont’s signature dishes are its plates of goose meat, viande d’oie au sel maison (NT$250) and viande d’oie fume maison (NT$280). The latter is smoked and has a heavier taste. Both dishes feature juicy, slightly oily, slices of poultry.
An alternative is the confit d’oie maison (NT$450), made from leg of goose and very robust and complex in flavor. My dining companion and I preferred it to the two previously mentioned goose dishes. The confit is listed under Bistro Le Pont’s specialties and is pricier than most of their other dishes, as is their ratatouille mason (NT$250). But the somewhat watery mix of stewed bell peppers, tomatoes and potatoes was disappointingly limp compared to the restaurant’s other offerings.
The service at Bistro Le Pont is exemplary. On separate visits, the waiters carefully explained the composition of different dishes to us and made suggestions. The restaurant is crowded on weekends thanks to Le Pont’s following among foodies, so be sure to make a reservation if you want to go during peak hours.
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