Twist by Pierre Gagnaire

Dinner at Twist!

Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas has an amazing restaurant called Twist by Pierre Gagnaire. With his culinary experience as one of the best French chefs and Mandarin's reputation for fine dining, my expectation was high last year when I first tried it. I was quite disappointed when I found the food quite bland and while creative, unbalanced - but we decided to give it a another try this year.

Even if you don't like the food, you should come for the decor itself. It's perched atop of the hotel that overlooks the strip - massive golden walls with romantic lighting throughout the entire space is definitely worth visiting.

Hallway with butterflies and fresh flowers

Entrance to Twist

The ceilings are lined with hanging glass balls

The strip view from tables

Rest of the restaurant, with wine cellar above

The restaurant menu is quite small with a few a la carte dishes with one chef's tasting menu and a vegetarian menu. The wine list is extensive - notice the spectacular wine cellar from the second floor.

Tasting menu:

Amuse bouche, red beets, goat cheese, radish with butter.

Cold foie gras

Sorbet of vegetables and artichoke salad

Stuffed tomato with saffron and calamari - my favorite

Turbot with veggies

Wagyu beef with crunchy veggies and crispy potatoes

Signature desserts - some were creative, but incorporated harsh bitter and salty tastes which stood out too much. We only finished half of it. 

A la carte must get:

Signature salad with beets and hazelnut salad dressing inside a crunchy crust 'cup.'

Venison - so tender and not gamey at all! The sauce was extremely flavorful and mashed sweet potatoes were a nice touch.

Praline dessert with dots of pistachio cream, fruit sauce, and caramel ice cream on the side. Ice cream and the pistachios were good, but the main praline portion was questionable. Still, it was the best out of all other desserts.

Nonetheless, they had an amazing wine list and with the amazing atmosphere and service, we all had a great time. Aside from myself, everyone at the table were from France and all the servers spoke some level of French.

The server even got up on the bar to take the ultimate(?) group photo!

Bonus:
If you have a really good camera or just a hankering for a great selfie, this is the place! The epic golden walls are great backdrops for photos, even in black and white. The lighting can be harsh at night, but I imagine during the day it is much better with the natural lighting.

With love, from Vegas <3