Espace Hmmmmmmmmmm

Last Wednesday lunch time I went along to Mmmmh on Place Stéphanie for the course "Speedcooking Italiana". My daughter had greatly enjoyed an evening class there and had given me a series of courses as a birthday present.

I was surprised to find that there was one other "pupil", a male EC official .

The chef, or possibly assistant chef and her assistant guided me to a mountain of small potatoes which I was told to clean. When this was done I was given a slotted spoon and told to put the potatoes in a tall pan of boiling water. Continuing the steep learning curve I was guided back to the sink to wash the roquette. The highpoint of this phase of the project was a very cute salad drier. Dizzy with achievement I staggered to the chopping board to assist my fellow pupil in chopping the garlic. Having rapidly risen to this challenge I was moved to slicing meat.

Around about this time the Chef arrived. Apparently he is too celebrated to speak when spoken to.

Whilst he was readying himself to wok the fruits of our labours we managed to accomplish the final learning phase by spreading the roquette on the plate with a few cubes of tomato (the work of my accomplice). And we should not forget the fleurs du sel which we were also allowed to sprinkle.

During the wokking up of the meat by the Chef, two more chefs arrive for lunch, which the students carried to the table. These latest arrivals had also dispensed with social niceties , but after all they were chez eux?

You can do little wrong with beef and salad so indeed it did taste good, but I was too angry to appreciate it by this stage. In order not to disgrace myself, I decided to leave before coffee and was charged 3 euros for a half glass of white wine with which I had tried to soothe my temper.

To summarize: if you know (only) how to lay a baked bean on a piece of toast do not be tempted by this course. However, and to be scrupulously fair (why?) my fellow pupil seemed to find much of it very exciting..even eating the skins of the new potatoes apparently... and the evening classes do actually appear to provide both instruction and entertainment.

But for me the lunch-time course was more hmmmm? than mmmmh!

J