Cobéa is a smallish place that was really busy.  The setting is white clothes and napkins covering the small close tables, lowered lighting, no music, a wall of barred windows overlooking the garden and a small window serving as a pass through area for the kitchen.  The staff kept a frantic pace but seemed to be fairly inefficient in their service in spite of that, however it did leave me feeling rushed and yet I wasn’t.  There was lots of carrying things to and from the kitchen and the pacing quite variable, in addition the explanations of the dishes was poor.  The menu lists the items and you pick 4, 6, or 8 courses with the items already selected for the number of courses you pick.  There was little price difference in the tastings.  We chose the 8 course menu which featured both of the protein options.  Portion control was all right.  They have a one Michelin star rating.

 

An amuse bouche was a cream of white chocolate and parsnip soup with coffee, grapefruit and squash.  It was creamy and filled with good stuff.   Alongside were a fish ink chip, parmesan cheese , plantain chips, none of which were outstanding.

 

Bread was a dense brown variety with a nice crisp crust and served warm.  With it was a mustard butter.

 

Potato gnocchis, Pata-Negra and Parmesan were in a creamy amaretto with black and white truffles.  The gnocchi were nicely browned with creamy filling.  The dish had a tasty variety of textures and good flavors.

 

French Britany Wild Crab and Smoke Milk also contained celery, apple and  was topped with lobster gel.  It was smokey and spicy.  The spiciness was nice but the crab flavor was lost among the mix of stronger flavors.  It was an interesting combination but I wouldn’t call it a winner.

 

French Normandy Scallops were served in a creamy chestnut, banana rum sauce.  There were some bits of crispy chestnuts and chives and leaves on top.  The dish reminded me heavily of the amuse bouche soup.

 

French Britany John Dory Fish and Mussels was topped with cauliflower and lemon on a sauce of John Dory, ginger and coriander.  The mussels were underneath.  Raw cauliflower was on top, cooked underneath and the separate dollop is lemon sauce.  The fish was a tad overcooked and the extra lemon zest on top added too much pungency to the taste.  The mussels were nicely cooked as were both types of cauliflower.  This dish was okay overall.

 

Farm Chicken was served with Jerusalem artichoke, chive, chestnut, trumpet mushrooms, other mushrooms and quince.  The white meat chicken was boneless and juicy, not dry, as it was still slightly pink.  A number of micro greens festooned the plate along with cracked pepper and tapioca powder.  It was a nice variety of textures but for me there were too many things on the plate.  It became a jumble of flavors instead of featuring the finely done chicken.

 

Wild Deer (French hunting) was artfully placed up on one side of the wide brimed bowl.  It was decorated with beet root, black currant and a dark sauce.  It was pretty good as far as the meat but the foamy rose sauce was weird.  It was roasted and nicely done but the meat was still on the mealy side, however I think this is the nature of this type of deer.  At least there were no micro greens but it wouldn’t rate a good.

 

A 24 month aged Comté cheese was thinly sliced and also whipped into a creamy state and served alongside a toasted brioche.  The bread was quite nice as was the sliced cheese.  The creamy part didn’t appeal as much but it was easy to separate.

 

A palate cleanser of lemongrass sorbet  was dotted with lemon zest and nicely refreshing and tasty.

 

Dessert was an apple sorbet with meringue and apple bits.  It was nice.  The other dessert was a 75% Peruvian chocolate with curried pistachios.  Extra treats included a halved passion fruit which was tart but very flavorful.  Two treats were on a dish of edible small balls of white chocolate and caramel flavor.  A raspberry jelly that was okay and sweet.  A praline pastry that was very sweet and filled with caramel.  The little balls were crunchy and good and fun to eat.

 

A parting treat was a cookie of fennel and hazelnut and it turned out to be quite good.