Remember that cafeteria that I waxed on and on about? It’s been a couple of months since the service went live and the cafeteria’s been full with a steady stream of clientele who have helped the catering team get things down pat. I haven’t gone for a couple of reasons, the least of which was that I was already booked for the two times they made something I wanted to try.

However, in the spirit of the post-New Year’s fitness resolutions most people make, they served a nice light meal earlier this week and I was actually around to try it. That meal? “Cassoulet toulousain” (yeah, that’s nice and light).

The meal itself is definitely going for a Wilfred Laurier (taxes included) for a choice of either a hot meal or a cold one. Okay. $5. I would generally worry given the Rule of 4, but as the Amazing Products Company is subsidizing by a dollar-for-dollar match, there’s not so much to worry about. My Laurier got me:

one bowl of potage de broccoli et pois sucrés, a piece of opéra cake, and a plate of cassoulet composed of cannellini beans, sausage and duck drumsticks, and accompanied with beets, broccoli, and arugula

I did splurge and picked up a can of ginger ale (a whole extra dollar) that I promptly dropped and have been afraid to open. It’s still sitting in front of me.

Impressions

My first cafeteria meal was surprisingly good and the total $6 price tag makes it a competitive buy compared to the Clown’s Happy Meal (and a superior steal compared to any of the adult-oriented trios).

I really liked the potage as it was served piping hot and had good fresh flavor and was still toothsome. The opéra was okay – not the greatest cake in the world but not horrible either and it’s meant as a sweet bite to finish off the meal. Given the choice and my preference for savory, I would have swapped it for a second bowl of soup.

And the main dish. Well, if I judge it as a cassoulet, it wasn’t great: the individual components didn’t taste bad at all though there was a *lot* of carrot in it, the cannellini beans were texturally uneven and very tomato-ey, and the drumstick was a tough and chewy piece of steam-roasted (not confit) duck.

Biggest flaw? Didn’t harmonize but that’s partially due to the way that it had to be prepared for transport and for reheat and portion control during service. And one isn’t going to get real confit at this price because it’s too labor and time intensive to fit within the cost constraint.

So it doesn’t compare well as a cassoulet to one of the nicest cassoulets I’ve ever had, but it was still one of the better company lunches I’ve sat down to and I certainly can’t complain about the price.

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