Was hoping to run our current agenda by yall and see if this is too much. I am some flexibility but a couple reservations are set in stone. We are only in france for a week but have packed it pretty tight. I’ve been known to over do it with tasting menus so i appreciate any feed back:
Sunday: nice/Villlefranche/Capferrat
Lots of places are closed sunday
Lunch: tbd
Dinner tbd but? maybe La Merenda or z tapas?
Monday: antebes/cannes
Lunch tbd
Dinner table 22
Tuesday: eze/monocco/menton
Lunch: tbd
Dinner mirazure (must keep for my wifes birthday)
Wed: paris
Lunch: anywhere since we are flying
Dinner: frenchie but may cancel if we go on friday
Thursday paris
Lunch:mokonuts
Dinner: alleno parris
Friday: paris
Lunch: septime (trying to move to dinner, on the waitlist)
Dinner: frenchie (if we dont go wed)
Sat paris
Lunch: walking food tour
Dinner: le clarance
I know frenchie and septime are pretty similar so i may cancel one, but having septime for lunch gives me hope/the (not so brilliant) idea to do both.
Will this be too heavy / will i be in a food coma after day 4? I did abac, tickets, disfrutar and zaranda in 5 days in spain and we were pretty tapped out by the end. Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance.
I always get a little uneasy when I see both Septime and Frenchie on the same itinerary. I know both have very high profiles abroad, far less so in Paris. Septime especially is a bit of a has-been, mostly patronized by tourists, quite good but not as good as dozens of others of places. Look at the recent reports on HungOn for Pantagruel and consider it as a possible option.
However, I see you also have the very good Le Clarence and Alléno Paris on your to-do list. So many long tasting menus in just 4 days could very easily lead to food fatigue and déjà-vu very quickly. It’s just too bad that your stay in Paris is so short but you are in danger of ruining it by superhuman excess. Variety and pacing are keys to enjoying food adventures in France in general and Paris in particular.
There was a French-Italian ‘70s film La Grande Bouffe about “la suicide par gastronomie” and excess. I suggest you watch it before coming to France.
With the exception of Nice and St Tropez (one of the few places where the old “mystique” of the Côte d’Azur still persists and appeals to my shallow and superficial glam side), I’m not a huge fan of the Côte d’Azur because so much of it is too commercialized and over-touristized. My resto preferences reflect that. Since your preferences seem to favour one-note guidebook favourites, I’d include a beach resto as a counterpoint. E.g. Le Cabanon at the plage Buse in Roquebrun-Cap Martin between Menton (very popular with affluent bon-bourgeois retirees) and the very dull Monte-Carlo… a lot of soul (for the Côte d’Azur), excellent French-Italian fish-centric cuisine, lovely setting right on the plage Buse, very interesting clientele, and the chance to run into the spirit of Corbusier who once had his architecture studio here. https://plagedubuse.com/
We ate at Alleno/Ledoyen in the fall of 2019 and found the setting spectacular but the food quite underwhelming and the service very rigid.
I always enjoyed Montee and Pages (Japanese chefs cooking Modern French) and Sola. All are tasting menu, but will be lighter than Alleno.
Since I’m not a fan of 3-star restaurants (just too expensive, reverential ambiance, often less than personable service), I guess I sorta agree about Alléno Paris. The also Alleno-run 1-star Pavyllon at the same address suits me much better.
There’s no-one-size-fits-all restaurant in the world so it’s impossible to say which of the Alléno restos would be the best match for the OP.
The trip went great. Mirazur was great. Everything was delicious except their dessert. Extremely memorable meal.
In paris, alleno was good but to be honest I was disappointed. Septime was a huge disappointment. We ended up cancelling le clarance to go meet up with friends.
One place that was great that i didnt expect was la cuisine de phillipe. 3 courses. Amazing off menu duck and interesting offerings of sweet and savory soufflés.
I have to say, this is really marketing at its best, the hype that Septime in foreign media is incredible. (It’s on the The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.) The press is in love with Bertrand Grébaut. The international Phaidon has recently dedicated an entire book on Septime!
Forgot to mention that during our dinner Mr. Alleno was there and amused himself by walking from table to table speaking with the diners, and taking photos with the diners. He is very photogenic and has a great smile.
The real crime of places so hyped abroad like Septime is that it funnels visitors away from the dozens and dozens (and dozens) of other restos that are better, have a more authentically parisian ambiance, and represent far more enjoyably the excellence of the Paris food scene.
Alleno: service was great. Only the wagyu millefeuille and the crab cauliflour were phenominal. Sliced thin with wagyu and portabella alternating for maybe 50 slices. The crab califlour was more asian than expected in the spices it was prepared with. The sauce boiled in the crab head for that extra umami flavor. Everything else was fairly even toned but nothing else was that standout. From my expectations, I was expecting to be wowed by maybe >50-75% of the dishes and flavors rather than 2 dishes. No dish was inedible or terrible though. I was also expecting to be stuffed but I left fairly hungry and ended up getting a crepe on my walk home too…
Mirazur: Started with the garden tour before dinner. The dining room is amazing and we requested a seat at the window overlooking menton. Beautiful settinf watching the sun set. Food wise, everything was great with respect to the savory. We had the root menu which was served according to the lunar calendar harvest date. Highlights were the iconic salt crusted beats, oyster and cream, and lobster tart. Although it is focused on their fresh produce, they never forget the use of fresh seafood or protein to accompany. A flaw that septime had. Only bad thing was the liccorice dessert. We were not a fan. Service was friendly but had it s hiccups. They forgot to serve us a main and our waiters descriptions were lacking. We had to ask about everything or eves drop on our neighbors waiter. This didnt sour our visit though. When we told them they apologized and fixed it promptly. All in all still one of the best meals we ve had.
Cuisine de phillipe: we had it right after mirazur the day after landing in Paris. I dont think it was tasting menu fatigue because i was starving haha. Also partly, never had a savory souflee before or a honey glazed duck so well done. I suprisingly was hungry all trip long this time unlike spain. But every otherday pacing for a trip tasting menu is the magic pacing.
Still a good trip. Glad i went to all the places we did except septime(yes everyone was right ). Sad we cancelled le clarance. Always the next trip.
In contrast to your experience at Mirazur, the desserts at my meal at Mirazur last September were excellent (or, at least, suited my tastes). When menus change so often, it’s just luck what you get with tasting menus at such places.
). Sad we cancelled le clarance. Always the next trip.
