Ail Des Ours offers excellent gourmet cuisine inspired by nature, with an emphasis on local produce for a creative and successful result.

For this second dinner in Amiens, I chose Ail Des Ours for a simple reason: in the list of good restaurants in Amiens that I had drawn up, it was the only one to have the title of Maitre Restaurateur, a guarantee of homemade cooking and fresh local produce.

Note: as I write these lines, the restaurant is no longer listed on the Association Française des Maitres Restaurateurs website, which would suggest that it has lost the title in the meantime, either because it failed the audit by the certifying body, or because it is just behind with the payment of its membership fee…

You will find at the bottom of the page a summary of the articles about this stay in Amiens.

The concept

Ail des ours is a gourmet restaurant offering creative cuisine “inspired by nature”, featuring seasonal local produce and homemade dishes made exclusively with fresh ingredients.

The setting

The restaurant consists of a modestly sized dining room, decorated simply and warmly, with an open kitchen at the far end.

The menu

No à la carte dishes, but 4 or 6-course menus.

The meal

I arrive on time for my reservation. I’m immediately welcomed and allowed to choose my table.

The waiter comes over to show me the menu and insists on the Maitre Restaurateur title and the importance of home cooking. I confirm that this was the reason I chose this restaurant.

The discussion is very friendly and the waiter sympathetic. I choose the 55 euro menu with two starters, main course, cheese and two desserts, and for once I opt for the wine pairing as it only includes 3 glasses.

For a change, I’ll have a 12-year-old Cardhu as an aperitif and order a bottle of homemade sparkling water.

The appetizers come next. Vegetable tempura, Feathered tart, Bubbling crustacean.

The tempura is good but the breading absorbs some of the taste, the tart with pheasant is fresh and tasty and the shellfish broth very tasty and a little spicy.

Very good overall.

Herbaceous 64° egg.

The egg is perfectly cooked and the combination with the greens is very well done. It would benefit from being a little hotter and spicier.

On the other hand, I don’t see the point of the bread soldier next to it.

Smoked rosette.

I remember turnip, celery, warm raw haddock and seaweed.

It’s very tasty and light, with the haddock adding a pleasant smoky note. On the other hand, it’s neither cold nor hot, but not lukewarm either…I’m not sure what kind of cooking was intended.

Meagre. Cabbages with different textures and temperatures.

The fish is perfectly cooked and the texture is perfect too.

It is accompanied by green cabbage, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts worked in different ways and with different cooking times and temperatures. As interesting as it is good.

Chicon gratin.

A dish made with Maroilles, endives and bacon.

It’s very, very tasty (they had the courage to dare the Maroilles) but with a certain freshness. A real killer!

Onion / Apple / Hazelnut. And a little spelt in rice pudding.

The apple comes in curable form, and you have to mix it all together to get the “perfect bite”. I forgot the photo…

Very good and fresh, very well balanced.

Baba / Blood orange / Verbena.

Very tasty and fresh to finish the meal.

I finish with a mint tea and a glass of mirabelle plum as a digestive.

All in all, an excellent meal with light, creative and tasty dishes.

Final bill 94 euros.

The service

Really very good with a very friendly waiter.

The atmosphere

Lively but not noisy.

Bottom line

A very good meal and a restaurant that delivers on its promises.

Then I can’t help comparing it with Les Orfèvres where I dined the night before.

Two gourmet restaurants, but not the same approach: while both focus on the quality of their products, one presents them in a very “unadulterated” way, while the other works and mixes them more. The result is more traditional on the one hand and more creative on the other.

Both were good and neither has my preference, but the 70 euro difference on the menu (even if one offers an extra dish) seems to me perhaps a little exaggerated.

The articles about this stay in Amiens

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