Bistrot Instinct - This was our second time at this lovely little spot in the upper Marais, just off rue de Bretagne on rue de Picardie. I started with a large homemade ravioli filled with chicken thigh meat confit, in a wonderful broth that brought all the flavors together. R had the œuf parfait in a Jerusalem artichoke emulsion and other savory bits. Such a seemingly straightforward dish was truly exceptional. For mains, we returned to the same dishes we had two years ago, quasi de veau for R and a quinoa combo for me, with an œuf parfait and onions Roscoff. Both were excellent. The quinoa main was probably one of the best grain dishes I’ve ever had. Dessert: we shared profiteroles with coconut ice cream. A good beginning to our two weeks in Paris!
Hémicycle - We had a delightful walk along the quai from the Hotel de Ville to Hémicycle in the 7th. Last year R went off on his own to Hémicycle, so this was my first time there. We purposely chose lunch on a Saturday to avoid the midweek suits crowd. After a warm welcome and seated at a table that gave us a view of the entire restaurant, we perused the menu which showed a choice of a four-course vegetarian menu, a five-course pasta menu (where pasta was not the main player) and a six-course tasting menu. We chose the middle option. They started us with an array of amuses, one of which, a dashi aspic cut into cubes and mixed with various spices, was excellent. The others were mostly forgettable. The first course was a San Marzano tomato stuffed with pea-sized gnocchi, also not very interesting. The second course was spectacular. Beetroot and raspberry, hot ravioli, cold granita, savory and sweet, a bit of spice - all in one wonderful dish. The third course was a gratin of about 4-inch long spaghetti with squid ink and small bits of squid in tomato sauce. This was quite good, but very small. The fourth was crab in a coral sabayon with ditalini and was so-so; and the fifth, the ‘spaghetti’ course, was spiralized sweet potato (to look like spaghetti) that was soaked in raspberry juice and served with a lovage emulsion. Not to my liking, and as a dessert gets a C-minus. So, all told, some very high points, but mostly just okay. As with many Stéphane Manigold restaurants the decor was refined modern. But I found it a little cold and aloof. Service was correct and friendly and I think we were the only Yanks there, as JT used to say. But there were only three or four tables filled, so not very jolly. We were not sure we would go back again.
Petrelle - Last year we had a delightful evening at Petrelle, so we thought we would try it at lunch since many on HO seem to like the relaxed ambiance at that hour. In fact, we often end up preferring lunch for its shorter number of courses and occasional experimental dishes, not to mention the special bargains one can find at midday. But Petrelle didn’t quite fit our expectations. The lunch menu is completely different from the dinner menu. It was more like home cooking: braised pork with beans, sautéed morels with eggplant, gnocchi with shellfish. But we still enjoyed it a great deal. The menu included three entrees, three main plats and two desserts. Eight dishes. And since the four-course menu would include eight dishes for the two of us, the delightful sommelier Luca Danti suggested we share the whole menu, splitting everything. The thoughtful kitchen served the entrée corn soup (enhanced with mild chili peppers and soubressade) and main plat gnocchi in separate bowls. It was a brilliant idea and we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch, even though it wasn’t quite as creative and refined as the dinner menu.
Restaurant 975 - On Monday night every seat at Restaurant 975 was filled. There were no other Americans that we could hear. Average age about 25-35. And even though we were twice their age we felt like we fit right in. The menu at 975 is always creative and priced reasonably. At lunch last year we went with the 3-course option for 23€, but at dinner we prefer to choose from the carte, where entrées range from 16-18€ and mains are 26-30€. I started with a Royale of artichoke covered with all kinds of crunchy veggies and herbs, followed by a filet of rascasse in a sauce Amoricaine and Parmesan risotto. Sensational! R started with perfectly cooked pieces of octopus and gambas with a green curry emulsion on the side. His main plat was a “pastilla de cochon”, which is a shredded pork confit in a light puff pastry (may have been phyllo), with new potatoes, a cauliflower mousseline and a light chorizo sauce. We ended the meal with a deconstructed Pavlova for R and a piece of chèvre for me called Calisson* du Quercy. (*The cheese is shaped like the small calisson cakes from Provence).
Mosuke - Mosuke is located on a quiet neighborhood street in The 14th, off avenue du Maine. Ordinary outside, it is refined contemporary inside, not unlike Omar Dhiab, except with a lot of light. The kitchen at the front is open and you can’t miss six-foot eight Mory Sacko at work with his big smile where he seamlessly combines French, African and Japanese cuisines. At lunch there are two menus, four courses for 80€ and six courses for 135€. In the evening there is a nine-course menu offered for 195€. One unusual aspect of the meal was the number of innovative amuses bouches. I counted at least nine and I got the feeling that the chef simply enjoys making these creative little tidbits. And what can I say about the food that hasn’t already been said? It is astoundingly creative, beautifully fresh, with combinations that are not over-worked, allowing the individual flavors to shine through. One example, which was my favorite, was a pressed sushi with delicious slightly sweet rice topped with a square of Arctic char from lakes in the French Alps, ribbons of salted cucumber and a sprig of hyssop, along with a beurre blanc with salmon roe on the side made with kombucha and some wine. R’s favorite was the Aubrac beef (a breed of cattle from the Massif Central) topped with nuts from the Karité tree of west and central Africa, on top of a sauce mafé - a traditional peanut and tomato based sauce of West Africa, allegedly originating in Mali. The sauce also included fonio, an ancient grain grown in West Africa and other African countries. These two course descriptions only give you a general idea of the depth of Mory Sacko’s cooking, which ranged during our lunch from grilled lobster to a delicious millet pudding. I’ll try to go next year, assuming the menu has changed. [A note about reserving a table, which is reputed to be very difficult. This year the tables for September were slated to become available on August 2, so I had that date calendared. But what time to call? On August 1, I was sitting around and something reminded me of Paris. I thought of Mosuke, then looked at my watch (4:30pm West Coast time) and realized that it was August 2 in Paris, but probably too early to make a reservation. I went on the site and “lo and behold” all the dates in September were available! So maybe tables become available at 12:01am on the day specified. If that is the case then no one in the U.S. has to stay up late to reserve!].
La Scène Thélème - On Wednesday we met friends at La Scène Thélème in the 17th. In a calm, sophisticated interior, Chef Rudy Langlais works alongside sous chef Yoshitaka Takayanagi creating a “cuisine de tradition française avec des inspirations japonaises”, as their website puts it. For lunch they offer a 2, 3, 4 and 7-course menu. We chose 4 courses to sample both fish and meat and were unanimous that every course was delicious and sparkled with freshness. We started with an array of amuses: a canapé of green grapes and fish roe, a carbonized ball with something creamy inside and a gougère-like ball scooped out and filled with Parmesan cream and grated Parm. I loved the entrée of maigre tartare, the fish balanced with herbs and seasoning, covered with a razor thin disk of daikon radish, itself topped with a tangle of fennel and micro greens. The fish course was a beautiful small steak of sériole (amberjack), served with fresh vegetables and a sauce vin blanc. Next came a lovely grilled pigeon breast, with crispy skin and red interior - divine! Finally, we all loved the chef’s signature dessert, a deconstructed Pavlova, with meringue, fromage blanc and citrus (lemon-lime I believe). At the end of the meal we managed to enjoy the mignardises: a lovely lemon meringue tidbit, an intense layered chocolate affair and some strange vials of berry juice! It was a great lunch and if I have any reservation about La Scène Thélème it’s that it was quite sparsely attended, at least at lunch. The four of us at our table brought our own buzz, but if we were alone it would have been a lot quieter.
Neva Cuisine - On Thursday, we headed north to that area near Gare Lazare where all the streets are named after European cities: Amsterdam, Londres, Rome, Madrid, Moscou, etc. Our dinner reservation was for 7:30 and we were the first to arrive. Forty-five minutes later Neva was almost full with a delightful hum, not too loud, with very friendly servers bustling about. As most of you know from onzième’s reviews, this is another restaurant of Beatriz Gonzalez, the chef at Coretta. I was in the mood for something light so I started with the tataki of tuna, followed by grilled calamari with spaghetti, confit tomatoes, capers, Parmesan and a sauce. The latter is a dish we can all easily make at home (assuming you can find calamari) but it really hit the spot and I was very happy with it. The tataki was okay but seemed like it had been made too far ahead. It was accompanied by a celery root remoulade marinated in sumiso, which is miso, vinegar and sugar, which in this dish tasted a little unbalanced. Maybe too much vinegar. R was not eating light so he was able to start with the œuf parfait with coco beans, and move on to the glorious ris de veau they serve at Neva. I had a small portion and it was indeed perfectly crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside. For desserts R had a spectacular chocolate sphere hiding a poached pear and vanilla ice cream to create a deconstructed Poire Belle Helene. The piece de resistance was when hot chocolate was poured over the hard sphere exposing the ice cream underneath the melting chocolate. A good address we would definitely return to.
