[Paris 10e] Restaurant Eels

[naf]

Eels is a neo-bistrot situated in the east of Paris. Chef Adrien Ferrand had worked with William Ledeuil (Ze Kitchen Gallery, Kitchen Ter(re), KGB), so expect different influences in the cooking. We went last Friday for lunch, the reservation was done on their website, we originally reserved for 1:30 pm but arrived 20 minutes late. I saw that at nearly 2pm, you could just walk in and find some empty tables.

There were 2 lunch formulaires, entry + main or main + dessert for 25€, or entry + main + dessert for 29€. Normally I would have opted for the 3 courses meal, but I wasn’t very hungry with the extreme heat (35ºC), so I only took a 2-course meal, mr N took a 3-course meal…

Anguille fumée, réglisse, vierge pomme - noisette - smoked eel, liquorice, apple and hazelnut, this dish is terrific, obviously it was the signature dish as the restaurant was called the same name, long time I didn’t ate a dish to splendid. The smoke was extremely light, but worked very well with the acidity of apple. The crunchiness and the mousse, a good mix of of different textures. I will just return for this dish.

Ris de Veau croustillants, yaourt grec au cumin, condiment coriandre & tandoori - Crispy sweet bread with greek yoghurt, cumin, coriander and tandoori - I had a bite of this, the oriental flavours worked well although the promise of crispiness was not there. I have to admit that the sweet bread we had 2 days later at le Desnoyez (see review here) was better cooked.

Crevettes sauvages, oseille, condiment agrumes, bisque épicée - wild shrimps, sorrel, citrus condiment, spicy bisque. It was rare that both of us ordered the same main dish. Better than expected, the wild shrimps were really tasty and well cooked, the soup reminded a twist of Thai soup but without a total copy.

Tartelette feuilletée à l’abricot, crémeux amande, condiment pistache - Apricot flaky tart with creamy almond and pistachio condiment. Very good according to mr N. I had a spoonful, was good.

Mr N had a cider and I had a gin tonic, they had 4 choices of gin the Japanese Ki No Bi, and Monkey 52 and two others I forgot. I chose the Japanese gin, refreshing with a slight citrus taste (Yuzu).

On the whole, we were both happy with the meal (long time we didn’t have this feeling with French cooking). On the whole the service was efficient. There was a slight error on the order, they didn’t took my order of entry, it was strange when husband’s entrée arrived without mine. Talking to the head waiter, quickly solved the problem with apologies.

Go and don’t forget you need to order the signature eel dish.

Restaurant eels
27 Rue d’Hauteville
75010 Paris
Reservation by phone 01 42 28 80 20
or online
https://www.restaurant-eels.com

[bcc]

Looks good, but Le Desnoyez looks better.

[naf]

We had a hard time deciding which restaurant we liked better. Both had a killer signature entry - Egg for Le Desnoyez. But the shrimps were really tasty (I mean good fresh wild shrimps). At the end of the day, I prefer slightly Eels to Desnoyez, because of the surprise element and the comfort. The lamb of LD was all right, but it was more “normal”, something that I could do at home. Recently I was quite indulged in pastry shops desserts (see here), restaurant desserts interested me a bit less now, so both restaurants were okay.

[bcc]

Interesting. However, my wife is deadly afraid of snakes, and this extends to eels. She is a biologist, and has worked for years with fruit flies. but snakes – no. If we went there, I would, of course, be able to order the eel dish, but it would not be her first choice for a restaurant.

[naf]

LOL, depend you think it is a snake or a fish. Crabs and shrimps are closed to spider or insect too.

[bcc]

In Sardinia recently we came across some shed snake skin at an archaelogical site. She immediately ran away. I, of course, ate anguillas when we were in Madrid. I cannot recall if she tasted them.

[naf]

There is a more frightening “snake” fish called “lamproie”, sea lamprey(?) a dish called lamproie à la Bordelaise. In the preparation, they skin the fish alive and dripped the blood. This one made me a bit uneasy…

from Wikipedia

https://www.papillesetpupilles.fr/2014/02/lamproie-a-la-bordelaise.html/

[bcc]

I don’t believe we would be able to order that!

[naf]

In Bordeaux you can find that dish, but not in Paris.

There is also the baby eels called “pibale”, also a south-west delight. You can see them sometimes in Paris. (Chez Michel or L’ami Jean for example)

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)]

How was the liquorice with the eel, naf?

I’ve had liquorice in both sweet and savoury dishes and still can’t make my mind up whether I like it or not.

[naf]

How was the liquorice with the eel, naf?

The eels were very lightly smoked, with sauce vierge (extremely light and airy) including green apple and shallot in pieces, the the hazelnuts kicked in to add roundness, a very slight hint of spicy sweetness brought by liquorice, and finally with oxalis adding freshness to the dish. You don’t feel one element over dominating the other, everything in harmony and equilibrium.

I think most of the dishes with liquorice especially in dessert I had was quite dominate in character. This was the first time I saw it used so subtle.

Here is the recipe of the restaurant (in French) if you are interested to know the ingredients of the dish:

Recette 415 : Anguille fumée, beurre noisette, réglisse / Eels

[Harters (John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)]

Merci, naf. Je peux lire le français. Un petit peu.

[naf]

Très bien !

In the video, you can see the step where they added the liquorice condiment, unfortunately they didn’t really say how they made that. It is excellant as dish, beyond words can describe. If you have the patience, this is surely a dish that impresses guests at a dinner party given if you can find good smoked eels.