It is a sign that somebody in the kitchen cares about the qualities of ingredients. Another special of roast pork with apricot sauce was succulent pork with well-balanced fruity sauce. It came with rice pilaf and string beans.
Just the kind of dish home sick travelers wishes to have and quite a few tables were occupied by them.

This is not eat and go restaurant and pace is leisurely. Rabbit terrin may not be many people’s idea of starter. “ What? Bunny rabbit?” said one of my guests,but game terrin is standard feature in French menu. Terrin refers to a mold or container in which ingredients are cooked or layered. In this case rabbit is mixed with some other meat usually with pork and marinated with brandy and herbs and baked and cooled.

It was moist and came with plum puree. Goat cheese is another standard, Le saint-ex’s versions comes with mixture of roasted pepper and oven dried tomatoes garnished with sliced zucchini with light dressing. Potion was generous but flavor of goat cheese was somewhat lost.

Assorted set of cold cut or cheese and tartin are just the kind of dishes one can nibble while shipping beer or wine. Tartin which is more like canap? in Le saint-ex’s version came with roasted pepper layered with tapenade-mixture of black olive paste and anchovies, chicken liver pate and meat terrin.

As in most of the kitchen, there are few potholes here and there and uses of spices are one of them. Plump mussels served in piping hot broth in a big bowl with crisp French fry is one of the delight in France and Belgium. Le saint-ex’s version came with curry sauce. It was slightly salty (I am lover of salt) and French fry, which came cold and shriveled, could not be saved by accompanying spiced salt. Polynesian salad, which sounds exotic, is marinated crab salad in limejuice and coconut milk with accompaniment of thinly sliced red pepper, carrot and zucchini. Unfortunately, seasoning is muddled and clear flavor did not come through.

All French wine list covers Medoc, Graves, Pauillac of Bordeaux, Beaujolais, Chablis of Burgundy, Cotes du Rhone in the Rhone valley and Sancerre in the Loire valley. All wines are well chosen and reasonably priced.Today the Cotes du Rhone with light to medium body with their distinctively rich and spicy flavors are some of the best value for money and I am glad that Le saint-ex carries them.

Desserts are one of the great contributions of French cuisine and Le saint-ex proudly displays inside restaurant. They are light and homely. Silky vanilla cream, which is baked custard, is full of real vanilla bean (yes, not an imitation liquid) and comes with a rather thick tuile (cookie). Thin lemon tart had just the light amount of acidity. Usually, Pears are poached in red wine with spices such as cinnamon, clove and star anise and Le saint-ex’s versions are with little apple balls. Floating island, which is vanilla sauce (cr?me anglaise) with poached egg white, must have been delicious. They were sold out before even we tried.

Casually dressed service staff goes there business with quite assurance and knowledge of menu, but my guests- all Korean ladies who are sophisticated and well educated travelers- felt a tinge of arrogance in one of the waitresses-these nuances were too subtle for my Korean to catch. It is a shame if a double standard exists in dealing between foreign guests and native Koreans.

With so many Interior oriented restaurants with high way robbery price in Seoul, Le saint-ex is a genuine bistro with fair price one does not mind visiting with friends again.