[Paris, 5e] Alliance

Spare but stylish room. Lunch menu 39€, dinner menus about twice that, also a la carte available (though I don’t think anyone else in the room had anything but the lunch menu). Champagne cart, friendly but very mannered service - rather different from Aspic, Pierre Sang Boyer, or Montée. Young Asian chef (who came out at the end to meet everyone), young staff.

The menu was billed as four courses, but, well, I’ll let you decide how to count. It was the prettiest meal I’d had in ages, and tasted pretty good also.

Brioche with fennel. We were warned not to eat the dried stalks.

Beet curls on buckwheat crackers.

Velouté de celeri, foccacia with tarama of sea urchin.

Scallops, sea lettuce, cauliflower, turmeric foam.

Lamb, parsnip, parsley, hazelnuts.

Palate cleanser: frozen coins of rosemary-infused citrus.

Vanilla mousse.

Chocolate mousse, chocolate crumble, chocolate slabs of three origins (explained to us, but I have not retained it), caramelized hazelnuts.

Petit-fours: tiny financiers, chocolate sablés, tartelettes au chocolat.

Here’s the posted menu.

The rather affected nature of the place puts it second to Montée in my book, but it’s a much more central location (I don’t know of anything comparable in the area) and, again, I have the feeling that this place will take off, so a lunch visit is definitely in order soon.

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Every dish looks lovely! And I love a champagne cart.

Thanks

The menu seems more innovative than Montée, it wants to impress. I think it’s a restaurant aiming at stars.

Which is your favourite dish?

Favourite? The scallops, the lamb, the chocolate mousse.

You are probably right about the stars. There is more money behind Alliance, more personnel involved. But, personally, I don’t much care for the Michelin criteria, and I preferred Montée, understated and quietly brilliant.

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