Le Bien, Le Mal

Where: Gamine

When: May 20, 2010

Who: [starting clockwise] HappyHaplo, theuglystick, JmKingsbury, Methodmik, F171615, SuperliciousSherylism, UCDLax5, kram, NYCRachelli, tifflam1799, Dimpulse78, reegsta

What: Francais Food

How Much: $23-$35 [no dessert, included a glass of Rose]

After much deliberation of when to have her foodie, Rach finally settled on this date. I still don’t know if it was her original pick, or if it was meant to be for someone else. Before we rarely ventured into the Marina for dinner, but after the last experience, it was a welcome change. Maybe except for Mike, who might still be looking for a parking spot haha. So our reservation was upstairs in a private room meant for probably 8 diners, but since we all apparently don’t mind intimacy, 12 of us squeezed onto the table. We're in the middle of discussing everyone’s diets, so we naturally ordered some rich appetizers: the baked cambozola, which is a fancy fromage, and the French fries [isn’t that redundant? I was totally expecting to see les frites on the menu] with aioli. Bad joke time: What did the challenger say to the flamboyantly dressed Bruce? Aioli! [reads "Ayo Lee!" harhar]. But yeah, both apps were delish and we looked forward to receiving our entrees.

Reading off our receipt, you would’ve thought there were only like 3 dishes to choose from. 4 people ordered the Tilapia, including 2 pinays, which prompted the following comment from Mike – “damn you really are Filipino!” Oh yeah Jeff did too, but he’s white anyway. Ugly and Method got the special, which was a lamb stew brined for 2 days or something, or what I just call leftovers. Tiff apparently has been eyeing the spaghetti carbonara with prosciutto, which I was fortunate enough to taste. It wasn’t too rich, but then again I only had a bite. And I couldn’t wait for her to write her review because I’m tryna step up my taste bud game. I haven’t even talked about the Pork Chop, which is what me and Trish ordered. It was tender and grilled well, and I don’t know how else to describe it haha. The mustard sauce was a perfect complement, as it wasn’t overly [*insert term for mustardy*]. And if you just hide the veggies underneath the slab of meat, they'll be sure to get eaten.

Even though Gamine literally translates into childish, there’s nothing immature about this bistrot. So what if I had to look that up.  But if you can’t tell already, I did take trois annies of French. I would totally comeback just to try their burgers, as our server was raving about them, sans ketchup though.  Oh yeah as an added bonus, they didn't include a fixed gratuity despite our party size. Lastly, "Le Bien, Le Mal" has no significance regarding the restaurant, but it's the only French hip-hop song I know.  Oui Oui.
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