A discret restaurant with a greyish shop front, situated in the Bastille area, a quiet backstreet with few traffic. Restaurant H, a unique name, is the restaurant of Hubert Duchenne. Like many talented chefs these days, Duchenne has worked under famous chefs like François Piège and been the second of Akrame Benallal for several years. Awarded a star in 2017, after the initial opening a year before.
I arrived at the restaurant at 12h35. I’ve in fact reserved but cancelled due to some complicated circumstances, but since I was in the area, I just popped in to ask if they were still available in the time slot I have booked. They gladly accommodated if I could finish my meal before 13h30, which I accepted. There were only tasting menus at le H, you choses the number of courses. I chose Menu Passage, a 3-course meal.
The service was swift, a collection of amuse gueule was instantly presented after I placed my order.
Dried potato chips with a condiment of betterave, truite eggs tuile, smoked herring crisp.
Entrée - Filet of yellow pollack with a nutty butter emulsion, flower seeds. A hint of citrus on the top of the filet was refreshing. The whole dish was well balanced and fish was cooked perfectly.
Plat - Duck with Jerusalem artichoke roasted and purée, with a sauce from a reduction of veal juice. My favourite of the meal. Usually, I’m not seduced by savoury dishes with a high sweet note. But the sauce was tasty and the duck tender and well cooked. Note that they had proposed a an additional of truffle for 15€. One criticism, when I tried to slice the meat, the plate “jumped”, an aesthetic dish but the form was not suitable for meat slicing I must say.
Dessert - Banana ice cream with bananas and chocolate mousse
Violet petals gives a slight scene. I found the chocolate mousse slightly too warm, it started to “melt” faster than the ice cream.
Mignardise
On the whole, the meal was well executed, presentation was lovely. Service was efficient. Many of clients of the restaurant seem to know the maitre, I heard new years’s greeting (even we were the end of the month) and hand shakes. All were in couples (local and tourists) except a table of Asian tourists. I didn’t see offices workers coming to eat in this place.
55€ for the meal of 1 person, the meal was 35€, a glass of cote de Rhône, Domain de Crève Cœur, Sablet 2017 (12 €) + a bottle of water.
Except minor errors like the warm chocolate mousse, the meal was tasty. The portions were a bit small, fine for me, as I was not very hungry, but for big eater, they sure need to eat more bread. The salle was small and with modern decoration. I saw the place was getting full at 13h, don’t forget to book beforehand, reservation available online.
Restaurant H
13, rue Jean Beausire
75004 Paris
Tel : +33 1 43 48 80 96
