For my 30th birthday my friend and her boyfriend treated my wife and I to Marché Moderne in South Cost Plaza. I’ve seen this restaurant on Yelp before, but I never ran across it in person until I ate there. Located on the 3rd floor of South Coast Plaze in the Nordstrom wing, very few people will ever come across this restaurant on accident. It also doesn’t help that if you look up the address on Yelp the directions will lead you to parking lot where Maggiano’s is located. Nonetheless I was pleasantly surprised at the meal we had and I enjoyed the overall ambiance. Marché Moderne is a hybrid french restaurant pulling together traditional and modern flavors as well as atmosphere.
To start off our meal we had a dozen oysters, but I am sad to say I wasn’t able to take pictures because they disappeared faster than I expected. By the time my phone came out half of them were already devoured. Luckily I was able to take a few pictures of the rest of our meal, above you can see a picture of my wife’s main entree which was seared scallops. Although the scallops had a nice sear on them and they were well seasoned, I think it was a mistake ordering seared scallops immediately after eating raw oysters. My reasoning behind this is because no matter how soft the scallops are, after eating raw oysters your mouth is automatically going to think the scallops are not soft enough. I would still recommend the scallops, just not ordered in combination with raw oysters.
For my main entree I had the Lamb Rack which was amazing both in taste and in presentation. It was a first for me to receive a Rack of Lamb where the center chop was served separate from the bone, but I actually enjoyed eating it this way. The lamb chops are served over a bed of French feta cheese pomme aligot (cheese mixed with mashed potatoes) which was silky and divine. It was paired with a balsamic and garlic fried brussel sprouts which I could eat by the pound. I highly recommend this dish to any lamb lovers out there.
For dessert my wife typically leans towards anything Chocolate, so I wasn’t surprised when she asked if we could get the Warm Valrhona Chocolate & Truffle Cake. Now normally I am not a huge fan of chocolate, but this chocolate cake was a great way to end our meal. The cake itself is light and fluffy with a rich chocolate ganache center, like your traditional lava cake. But since it is served nice and warm paired with a mango gelato and fresh hand whipped cream. Surprisingly the mango gelato is what made this dish, most of the time mango ice creams taste artificial but this one tasted like a cold perfectly ripe mango.
Derrick Chan
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