2024 European Food Crawl - Paris…..Dinner at Akabeko

THECHARLES · May 11, 2024, 5:38pm

Yippee!! I can eat again!!

After 4 full days of a rebelled stomach causing pain, suffering and starvation. My appetite is finally back and my fragile digestive system is also holding up. During the aforementioned food-poisoning period, my main staple was vintage 2024 Electrolyte water which I consumed more of than the rest of my entire life combined!!

Deprived and forced to forsake meals at Les Enfant du Marche ( inside Marche des Enfant Rouge ), Clamato and L’Arpege due to my condition. I was grateful that we could stay with this reservation. A non-star French-Japanese fusion restaurant with an impressive 5.0/5.0, 250+ Google reviews.

The restaurant has an interesting set-up, with the kitchen on the ground floor and a quaint, cozy and artfully decorated dining room on a second level above it, linked by a steep narrow staircase.

Service was impeccable!..super-friendly, professional and helpful………IMO, can easily rub shoulders with some multi Michelin stars establishments!

With a modus-operandi that follows the Japanese ‘ trust-the-chef ‘, Omakase approach, our meal was an 8 course affair.

Offerings include:

Marinated barely cooked Scottish Salmon with daikon, dashi and Ikura
Normandy Scallops Ceviche with Japanese influence. ( reminded me of some Peruvian versions I had )
Salad of In-season White Asparagus
Seared Perigord Foie Gras with Teriyaki glaze, crispy beets on Shari rice
French Turbot with seafood mousse roll, cream sauce
Grilled Charolais Beef, red wine reduction
Duo desserts of sorbet and homemade ice-cream and home-baked Tarte Tatin.
Petit Fours

The inspired creation, though not overly innovative, was lovingly prepared, visually pleasing, balanced, delicate and delicious. However, the dominating ‘tangy component‘ found in the first three appetizer courses, IMO could be toned down a bit?! Overall, the criteria for the ‘total package’ of fine food, wine, service, table setting, atmosphere and value was easily met. A personal farewell greeting by the chef owner Nanaumi himself was a nice ‘Japanese hospitality‘ touch!

A potential Michelin 1* addition for the next issue as predicted by many reviewers……we shall see?!

Overall, an enjoyable and welcoming ‘Asian influenced‘ dining experience after a whole week of excessive, sometimes heavy, Spanish food.

andygottlieb42 · May 12, 2024, 5:08pm

We went to Akabeko last week, partly because my wife loves these kind of places, largely because it was just up the street from the apartment we were staying in.

Will write something longer later, but since it was a holiday we had the 5 course menu rather than the 3 course lunch I’d been planning, and after the fact was glad of the “forced choice”.
I wanted all along not to love it, but much as Charles say above, everything was damn good, and while it’s not quite at the level of “must return first chance I get”, we will definitely return and I do recommend it to anyone interested in these kind of French-by-a-Japanese-chef places.
It’s not equal to Alliance, but I daresay it was better than any other similar place we’ve dined the last few years, with more small innovations / Japanese twists than the typical one.

calam1ty · May 12, 2024, 9:06pm

Ugh, Charles
What a drag to be sick during a foodie trip. Glad you’re feeling better. Enjoying your posts so keep 'em coming

andygottlieb42 · May 9, 2025, 2:56pm

We returned to Akabeko for lunch the other day, as it happens exactly 1 year later.

We again had the 5 course menu.

The amuse was an interesting French play on the flavors of a spicy salmon roll (though with daurade), sans rice.

The white asparagus starter with mango was good, but not special.

The tempura-ed langoustine starter, on the other hand, was excellent.

The fish course was quite typical of these French-by-a-Japanese-chef places - meaning very good, but not astounding - with the thinly sliced monkfish making it a little less typical, and I enjoyed the textural contrast.

The veal main was fantastic, done in a wonderful French-Japanese fusion, tonkatsu style with housemade tonkatsu sauce that was less sweet, less thick and more refined than the ones you’ll get with your pork or chicken tonkatsu at a specialized restaurant.

The strawberry based dessert was very nice, but just that.

I enjoyed the wine pairings, and my wife loved loved the financier with miso mignardise, served along with a mochi “brownie”…

Overall, the service - while friendly and perfectly good for this level of restaurant - doesn’t compare to Alliance. And I prefer the amuse and mignardise at the latter. But the appetizers and mains at Akabeko more often surpass, and two of them were so good this time we plan to return again next year as well.

onzieme · May 9, 2025, 6:41pm

Thanks for the report. Setting Alliance as the comparison is a very high bar.

jmc167 · May 10, 2025, 3:25pm

Yes indeed - thanks for a great report @andygottlieb42 - much appreciated.

sfcarole · May 12, 2025, 3:11pm

Yes, thanks for this interesting report. That veal does indeed look superb. Does everyone sit at the bar shown in Charles photo, or are there tables too?

andygottlieb42 · May 12, 2025, 3:13pm

No, mostly it is tables. Both times we have sat at tables upstairs on the 1st floor.

Some of the light fixtures on the first floor are low hanging. Last year one or two were positioned where it was too easy to bang one’s head when you stood up. This year they fixed that with the positioning of the tables.

beam · May 28, 2025, 12:15pm

Tables upstairs look kind of close to one another on the photos I have seen. Are they really tight or is this just photography distortion?

andygottlieb42 · May 31, 2025, 6:55am

I think it must be a function of the photos. We didn’t find them tight at all. Although we did move the table for my wife to sit down / get up.

andygottlieb42 · June 7, 2025, 2:55pm

Well, our sample size is not as large as yours, of course.

But these “French by a Japanese chef” places are the one type of restaurant in Paris where we have enough experience - since they tend to be my wife’s favorite - that I feel at least somewhat confident in my claims.

They had all become so similar that we had pretty much stopped going to any but Alliance.

But based on our two meals at Akabeko, and our now 3 in the last two years at Alliance, I’m comfortable saying that the starters and mains are at least as good at the former, and we liked several a little better, and found them more intriguing/different.

But to repeat, the service alone thanks to Shawn is so wonderful at Alliance that there is no comparison on that dimension, the room at lunch is more enjoyable, and the amuses and mignardises are also superior at Alliance. I plead nolo contendere on the desserts.

And so we still prefer Alliance overall. But Akabeko is for now firmly in the mix.

jmc167 · June 7, 2025, 4:16pm

Wow - high praise indeed sir, added to the list!