As a man who will do almost anything to not have to experience the pain of regret, I felt the need to visit Bibou on a Sunday night while they were still serving their Prix Fixe menu. I have heard a lot about this restaurant in the past, but I had never been, I have been to the owners other restuarant in Rittenhouse, Le Cheri, which is excellent but never to their original “masterpiece” Bibou. Bibou Sunday Prix Fixe menu is only $50 (unfortunately this is only until March 31 when they will close down and redo the concept), which along with the fact that it is a BYOB makes it a perfect opportunity for anybody to try some of the highest quality French food on this side of the Atlantic for a comparatively speaking extremely cheap price. I brought two bottles of French red wine to enjoy this occasion with a friend of mine, as I knew, due to the circumstances this would be a once in a life time experience.

After seating the first thing that came out was the French baguette and butter, I could eat this all day. The crusty baguette with an airy soft inside coated with the type of butter you can only get at a high quality French restaurant is just delicious. Next out came the sunchoke and truffle soup with goat cheese mousse and cippolini onions. This soup really was a great start to the night, the texture was velvety on your throat while it had a delicious earthy taste. 

For the next course we split the escargots, fave beans and trumpet royale mushrooms flavored with tarragon and the seared foie gras with poached apples. After trying the escargot, I immediately regretted ordering it, I enjoy the traditional style escargot, but the taste of these snails was just overpowered by the tarragon. On the other hand, the seared foie gras was spectacular it just melted in your mouth like a ball of butter, while the sweet apples served as a great addition to the dish.

Up next came the main course I ordered the seared Idaho trout fillet with ratatouille, grilled scallions, watermelon radishes with some almond milk foam. This dish came together perfectly while the trout was cooked delicately all of the other flavors added to the flavor of the dish without overpowering the taste of the trout. My friend ordered the Long Island duck leg confit that came with cauliflower purée, apple fritter, red wine salsify and natural jus. This dish is not for the faint hearted if you do not like a rich strong flavor, do not order this, if you are the type of person that loves French food, as I do, you will love this dish. The natural jus of the duck confit along with red wine salsify really gives this dish a lovely flavor.

Of course before the desserts we ordered a dish of the fromages, minus the blue cheese  (yes, for some reason this is one cheese I cannot stand). All of the cheeses were exactly as you would expect, if you ever go to a French restaurant I recommend you always order the fromages because it is an important part of the experience. For dessert we split the saffron creme caramel, almond financier and the floating island with almond pralines, goat milk creme anglaise. These were both light dishes to end the night and that is exactly what we needed to end this beautiful dinner.

Bibou is located in the East Passyunk area on 8th street. As I said, it will be closing down for a little at the end of March, so I would highly recommend you visit soon if you want to go to one restaurant in the next few days.

Bibou is a 4.5 Tizzle experience.

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!!!!