I would go a very long way to eat sweetbreads… Nice and crisp on the outside, soft in the middle. By itself, the sweetbread does not taste much, so it all depends how it is cooked. I like cooking mine, when I can get them, with a touch of fresh ginger to bring out the flavour. But if you are squeamish about offal, it is not for you.
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Interested to hear about Au Fil Des Saisons. It’s in a part of town where we used to stay. Actually trying to remember if perhaps we went there 4 or 5 years ago.
Au fils de Saison was wonderful. The chef is a little eccentric which made it interesting. Other diners were clearly known to him. The food was excellent though we never got offered dessert. We had great appetizers a ravioli and a salmon fennel salad. The plates were a chicken breast and a shrimp risotto. After having some really fussy food we just loved it. Our favorite meal in Paris.
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Beautiful
Looks delicious. Pretty sure we ate there 5 or 6 years ago. Hopefully will be back soon!
Ok, so I’m pretty bad about remembering to take photos before I start eating, and often fail to recall exactly what the menu described. I will try to give a reasonable report of the places we tried and include some photos.
Our first evening in Lyon we had reservations at La Table de Ambre. I don’t recall what the amuse was, but it was tasty. My daughter enjoyed the dorado tartar with Granny Smith apples, I was less crazy about the duck…just very chewy and extremely rare to me. For my entree I had veal filet mignon and I must admit it was one of the best plates of food I’ve ever had. Cooked perfectly with a tasty and not salty jus, asparagus cooked perfectly, Parmesan potatoes….I just LOVED this dish. My daughter’s fish was good too, but I was over the moon with this veal, I don’t remember much about her dinner. I don’t recall the dessert either, I think it was a sour cream sorbet with some meringue type crunchies.
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We went to Geneva and had a very touristy fondue/rosti/raclete lunch (at Auberge de Saviese) but it was yummy. We took a boat ride on the lake (it is spectacular) then hit the 7 chocolatiers that can be sampled via the Choco-Pass. We didn’t buy the Choco-pass, just stopped at each place and bought a lot more than that pass would’ve cost!.
Canonica and duRhone were the friendliest, I probably most enjoyed Favarger but c’mon, they were all fantastic!
Funnily enough, we bought some bread, cheese and a salmon spread at the little grocery store at the Geneva station and that food was great too!
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I’m nowhere near a first-timer, but thank you so much for that link.
It can’t be overstated.
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Amarante is quite unique and some people completely miss it, which is nothing to be sorry about since it’s such a small place. Some have issues with the decor — this point I fail to understand. It is by no means uglier or drearier than those of many other bistrots in Paris. It is lacking ornamentation — so what? So many times I’ve pushed useless flower vases or flower pots, even cacti, off dining tables in restaurants because they were eating up precious space and preventing me to see my companion across the table. So I’m really grateful to Amarante for its simplicity.
Aside from simplicity, no-nonsense and untrendiness (which I love), the secret at Amarante mostly lies in the chef’s culinary touch. He is one of the last remaining « vertical » chefs in Paris, i.e. chefs who focus on ingredient quality and how not to betray that, and on that culinary profoundness which is the real trademark of cuisine bourgeoise. That mysterious thing that leads you to realize that you hadn’t really tasted gigot d’agneau, or lamb’s brains, or crispy pig’s foot galette before, and this is pure gold to me. In a time when most brilliant and media-cherished young chefs merely assemble pieces of food and leaves on plates, I do appreciate what the chef does — applying his traditional savoir-faire to cooking perfect ingredients to the perfect point, roasting like no one does anymore, highlighting the delicate old French art of offal. No frills, no bells and whistles — the anti-Top Chef —, so thank God for that and everything else he does.
No wonder that this place is one of the last remaining « chefs’ restaurants », where professional chefs go when they want to treat themselves.
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This is a beautiful pied de cochon. As long as you to go Le Pied de Cochon for pied de cochon and not much else, you’ll be fine.
So happy to see your opinion @Carmenere, @SteveR! Amarante is one of my favorite Paris restaurants, and I couldn’t have exactly explained why. Though the simplicity of the plates, yes, I think that is definitely a great way to describe it. And the earlier post from @pilgrim about that waiter also made me smile! I am usually solo at Amarante, and that waiter takes such excellent care of me. I remember one rainy January night when I really wanted the duck for my main course, but they were serving it with beets, which I don’t care for (at least not as a pile of beets on my plate). I screwed up the courage to tell the “quintessential Parisian…ramrod straight…stiff as a wooden spoon” waiter, “Je n’aime pas les betteraves.” Held my breath lest he tell me to choose another dish, or worse. But he just smiled and said, “Carrotes?” What a relief! None of that fussiness you sometimes get in Parisian restaurants. And to @pilgrim’s point, those carrots that just looked like any sort of carrot on my plate were amazing, memorable, and I understood why the choice when I eschewed the beets with my duck, a little sweetness went perfectly. The waiter also brings me glasses of amazing wine to eat with my dinner, since I am not drinking a whole bottle on my own. He even picks red wines that don’t get me up in the middle of the night!
Finally, I have to put in a word for the chocolate mousse at Amarante. I’m not really a pudding or mousse fan, and maybe I would have described the one at Amarante as more of a Pot de crème? Anyway, it is also revelatory. With a glass of Banyuls (don’t find this everywhere, and if you’ve never eaten chocolate dessert with Banyuls, you have a treat coming), it is beyond all. Certainly sustaining on a rainy night in January in Paris. Also, Amarante is open Friday through Tuesday including all the days most other restaurants are closed (thinking part of the reason is so those chefs have someplace to eat)!
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Thanks for the reply, Ninkat. I don’t know when you were there for the last time, but a few things have changed. The ‘quintessential’ waiter has gone, now there’s a very nice young man, just as helpful and quite knowledgeable about wines. As for the mousse au chocolat, well, it is no longer made for the time being, but it has been replaced by a fondant. I much prefer the mousse, but at least both desserts are made with the same chocolate (Claudio Corallo’s excellent São Tomé chocolate) and the taste is the same.
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Hm, you made me look back! I think I was there the very end of August '21. I’m almost certain the same waiter was still there then. I tried to go when I was there in January, but unfortunately, I was there New Year’s week then, and they were closed (who can blame them)!
Am going to be back in early September and likely to go then, as it is a favorite, and I will look forward to the fondant! I might like that even better than the mousse!
I know this is co-opting the topic, but I will again be back in late Dec. over New Year’s and wondering if this crowd has recommendations for that time of year, New Year’s Eve even…I did post this question elsewhere, but I think it was insanely early to do so, and maybe now merely neurotic!
Merci!
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Any chance you know where “our boy” is now?
No, but I’ll be sure to ask next time I go there (not going outside now, it’s too hot, but Monday the weather should be nicer).
