[Paris] Dining in Kitchen Ter(re), William Ledeuil

One of the most unique restaurants in Paris. Asian ingredients used by renowned Chef Chef William Ledeuil. An excerpt from my review:

One word, WOW. Chef Ledeuil is a true culinary artist. Chapeau to the Chef. He broke the French mold and took chances to influence the French’s otherwise strict, classical and rigid palette to explore other flavors of the world, but not losing French technique and/or sensibility. I remember just 10-years ago when even a hint of spice was looked down upon by the French. But with the influx of Chefs from around the world opening restaurants in Paris with foods and spices from their native countries, to classically French trained chefs traveling the world to broaden their food knowledge, what a great culinary evolution taking place in Paris, and what a great time to be in Paris.

Chef Ledeuil is known for his broths and sauces and of course his use of Asian flavors. Although the menu was heavy on Asian products there were other influences from e.g., Galicia and also North Africa. The gazpacho was out of this world, the entrées were all delicious and although I’m not a dessert person, I have to say they were good. The staff seemed genuinely happy. In fact, one of his apprentices, our maitre’d, had worked for Chef Ledeuil since he was 17 and he’s now 27. He had nothing but praise for the chef. And, the other staff all seemed extremely happy. It says a lot and showed in their enthusiasm when describing the dishes, and serving them. So, the service was beyond reproach. This is one of the best meals I’ve had in our almost 10-years of living in Paris. Will we come back? ABSOLUTELY. I’m afraid it’s going to get so popular that I may not get in anymore.

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Thanks for your review. A delicious meal indeed!

It is not very common in Paris, I see soft shell crabs, good to know that they are doing this.
I think my favourite dish is Ibérique Pork. The desserts sound very usual: coffee and miso; cappuccino, strawberries, pistachio and wasabi - glad that the combinations work.

I have a love hate relationship with Ze Kitchen Gallery, I went many years ago, with my French husband and a Hong Kong friend. I loved my entry with mixed tomato carpaccio, I remember I found my main course ok. But husband and friend they both ordered a main dish of pork belly which was obviously an influence from Cantonese roast meat, but they both found the dish disappointing, I had tried a bit, and also found the Chinese version superior (it was dried and less appetising). Since we knew Asia food quite well (travelled quite often there), I don’t know if we have a cultural burden on appreciating Ledeuil’s food. Personally, I find his dish with more French influence more successful than the dishes with solely with Asian flavours.

You’re welcome. I’m a bit ambivalent about Asian flavors in certain dishes. I went to a restaurant in the Marais, and they thought Asian flavors was dousing their food with sesame oil. It was HORRIBLE. I btw, am Asian, there is a restaurant in the Marais called Les Enfants Rouges which is a great melding of the two. I find Japanese cooking French much, much more “real”, hard to describe.

I like Japanese French fusion food, actually each Japanese chef is unique, there isn’t a uniform style.

Here are some of the posts in HO on this subject:

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My wife’s comment last night, at Kitchen Ter(re): “Why isn’t there a Nobel Prize for food?”

Absolutely wonderful, from aperitifs (gin & tonic & passion fruit with basil & something else maybe) to starters (citrus-marinated tuna, beef tataki) to mains (mine was mussels & calamari, Jody’s was soubressade & mushrooms) to wine (Chateau de Graune Oppidum 2015) to dessert (cappucino ice cream with candied walnuts atop apples). Impeccable service, apart from forgetting a coffee (but when I mentioned it to the server she was back inside of a minute). $166E for all of the above, which seems eminently reasonable to me.

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Sounds like a lovely meal. Looks like you had an à la carte dinner.

I have read that the pasta dishes were fantastic, did any of your dishes came with that?

An article in Express back in July labeled the food “Itasie” - Italian and Asian. Interesting combination. Do you see any French influence in the cooking?

Yes, both of the mains were pasta dishes. I have to look at Jody’s photos of the menu to describe them more precisely; I’ll try to update within the next day or two.

I can see the “Itasie” label. I do see a French influence, though I can’t pin down exactly how it comes in.

Thanks, that will be great!

Hmmm…okay, here are the descriptions of the plats, and I can’t say it’s much more enlightening to me. Jody had the Casarecce, and I had the Crete de Coq. All I can say is, both were wonderful.

I see and thx. The word in bold is the name of the pasta, the ingredient of dough in the bracket. I wonder why that didn’t get translated.

On our recent trip to Paris we ate here with friends. There were five of us, and we covered the whole menu. Everything was fabulous. One of the group is a professional cook, and he, too, was quite pleased. The service was great and the wine was good. We’ll be back.

What a coincidence, we had lunch just 1.5 week ago.

Lunch Menu

Beef Thai broth, mushrooms, foie gras, quince

Dentelle de Cucugnan, pork sausage from Limousin, chorizo, red curry

Gianduja chocolate, coffee and miso

Cappuccino, Apple-tamarin, caramel ice-cream

I have a glass of Faugères and my eating companion a beer.

The meal was interesting, I would say the cuisine leaned more to Asian flavours, although ingredients are French. I like the entry, a broth quite refreshing (lemongrass, coriander, mushrooms) and a good balance of flavours. (Unlike Thai cuisine, the broth would be much more spicy). I like my chocolate dessert, although I would say I find the chocolate dessert at Polissons even better, chocolate was more complex in taste and the texture more silky. Eating companion thought food was good too, maybe he would preferred more meat in the pasta dish. While the dessert was good, he found the coffee taste wasn’t very pronounce. (He is spoilt by Pierre Hermé’s coffee tart).

The best part was, during the meal, the staff asked us nicely if we could move to another table. The table next to us has originally reserved for 2, but 3 came alone. The restaurant offered us the dessert for free! Really good deal, we paid 68€ for food and drinks. (26€ for 2 courses, 30€ for 3 courses. Water and a warm drink is offered.)

If I have a thing to complain, we found the service slow. We arrived at 1:30pm, we were served our main only at 2:30pm, we were not in a hurry that day, but imagine if people need go back to work!

Reservation is a must. I called a day before for a Friday lunch at 1pm.

Did you have lunch or dinner?

Lunch. Our Parisian friends made the reservation. When they called to reserve, they asked what the difference was between lunch and dinner. The restaurant told them, the only difference is the price.

I think quantity might differ, lunch is on a lighter side in portion size.

You may be right. I was just quoting our friends. But none of us left the lunch table hungry!