The Goût de France dinner at the Kigali Marriott hotel, on Wednesday night, took food lovers on a gastronomic journey into French culinary delights.

International chef Elis Bond from France was flown in specifically for the evening of exquisite food and wines at the hotel’s Soko Restaurant.

Happening on the closing night of the just-concluded African Continental Free Trade Area Summit in Kigali, the event drew a good crowd of locals and foreign dignitaries, who were keen on a unique dining experience before returning home.

Chef Elis Bond came with a limited menu that consisted of starters, main course, and dessert. For starters, diners had a choice of foie gras (goose liver), and the chef’s specialty, snails.

The main course too was a limited edition affair, consisting of fish and chicken. For fish, the chef went in for sole fish, marinated in orange, lemon, garlic and ginger for 24 hours. This was paired with sauce prepared using white wine.

Meanwhile the chicken, marinated in red wine for 24 hours, came with additional servings of mushroom.

For dessert there was sautéed crepe –French style pancakes served with Cognac dipping sauce.

To his credit, chef Elis Bond was at hand to help diners navigate through his limited edition menu.

Bond has been a chef for the last eight years, but it was his first assignment in Rwanda.

The chef intimated that he is working on a project to start a restaurant in Kigali specialising in French and Afro cuisine.

In October last year, the Kigali Marriott Hotel organised a similar dining experience - the Turkish Food Festival. That time, the hotel flew in two experienced Turkish chefs from the Instanbul Marriott Sisli hotel.

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