Paris Trip Report - Oct 2023

[PN]

The wife and I are back after a wonderful trip to Paris. We had a wonderful ‘fancy’ lunch at Le Clarence and a romantic night at Petrelle. And some pretty great meals at other spots too. Thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions and helped me finalize my itinerary on this thread.

But before we get to the good stuff, let’s start with a dud, shall we?

Des Terres

We ate here primarily because of FOMO and got kinda punished for it. You see, I had assumed we could just stroll in here late on a weeknight and get a spot, but were rather stunned when — after making the subway ride all the way to the 20th and then walking along an empty residential neighbourhood at about 9pm — we walked into a packed restaurant that didn’t have a single spot for two.

So while we were there, and not wanting to miss out on the food this obviously ultra popular place had to offer — we booked a table for another night.

After another round of subway and walking, here’s what we had on that subsequent trip to the restaurant.

We started with a vegetarian pithivier, filled with autumn veggies. This came with a parsnip puree and a fresh green salad dressed with some cheese and hazelnuts.

This was arguably the best dish of the meal. The pastry was crisp and light, the filling was tasty, paired well with the parsnip purée, and the salad was impeccable.

I thought it would be heavy, but we wiped the plate clean in no time.

Next we had two main dishes — a beer braised beef and a roasted sea bass fillet.

The braised beef’s outside had been crisped before plating, which contributed to a nice contrast in texture with the softer meat inside.

But other than that, we thought the dish was just fine. The salad that came with it was generic. The cooked down braising sauce didn’t blow my mind, and the two purées that came with it didn’t quite meld with the rest of the dish.

The same for the fish. It was perhaps a touch overcooked, the red/brown sauce felt a bit heavy, and the only thing that felt fresh and crisp was the radicchio under the filet.

Again, it was fine, but not very good.

And finally dessert — this was not good or even fine, but pretty awful. It was a rice pudding with miso caramel. The pudding was gluggy and lacked the lusciousness that’s necessary. The caramel was generic and we couldn’t taste any miso in it. There were some rice crackers on top for presumably a crunchy texture but they weren’t too crisp. There were a few sugared berries that were swimming around aimlessly. The one good thing was the fruit sauce that added some freshness to the otherwise very disappointing dessert.

Look, this place is clearly beloved by locals (think we were the only tourists there) and has a wonderful vibe with reasonably priced food and wine. Service was friendly too, though (reasonably) more engaged with French speakers. If I were living in the neighbourhood, I’d probably have it on my rotation.

But would I make the trek once again as a tourist? Nah. There are so many other better places. More on those soon in this thread!

[PN]

So you know how I was left stranded on that first trip to Des Terres? It was past 9pm, we were starving and we were in the 20th not knowing what to do. So I just checked Chocho’s website expecting to be disappointed, but did find a spot for 2 at 9:30! So after a quick subway ride to the 10th, we ended up having dinner there. Kinda ironic — given the Des Terres disappointment a couple of days in the future — because Chocho ended up being arguably the best food we ate during the trip.

First, a note on the ambiance. We sat at the kitchen counter (there are only 4 seats there) and am VERY GLAD we asked for it. The decor of the place is a bit generic, verging on tacky and besides, many of the seats in the main dining are didn’t have a backrest.

Sitting at the kitchen counter, our back was to the rest of the restaurant. We much enjoyed watching the main chef and two other cheffes in action. Service was very friendly and welcoming. Even though they were absolutely slammed (the restaurant was packed by 10pm on a weeknight; I did hear A LOT of American voices), the chefs took the time to engage with us.

We went a la carte, and think it was the wiser (and cheaper) move. Even after ordering almost the entire menu, the final bill was lower than if we had gone for the set menu. We didn’t see a single off-menu dish being served to anyone ordering the set menu.

We started with oyster brûléed in a lemony creamy sauce, which was, rather improbably, rich yet light, creamy yet refreshing.

Next was the braised leeks, topped with yellow fruit mousse and a rich citrusy sabayon. That was topped off with a basil oil. There was also some crunch in the middle from some sort of crumble.

Look, I don’t know about precision and purity here, but everything here just exploded in our mouths in a burst of flavours and textures. Am not sure I tasted any of the elements individually but by god, they all worked together like something from heaven. Superb.

Then there was the gratinated eggplant that came with two types of sweet sour chutneys — red and green. This tasted almost like an Indian dish (in a good way!).

And the hits kept coming.

There was a sweet potato gnocchi that was beautifully light and pillowy, served with a sweet buttery sauce and on a bed of punchy soppressata. The herb oil again made a welcome appearance. There was some fruit (mango?) on top too. Just great.

If you can believe it, the dish of the night wasn’t any of the above. It was the picanha beef that came next. The chef was grilling the chunk of beef on a binchotan grill through the night. He then slices it thin, puts them on top of fried Jerusalem artichokes, and then pours over not one, but two sauces on it — one is a brown steak sauce that was almost fruity and floral, and the second is some sort of sesame caramel. This was a knock your socks off decadent dish. Bravo.

But then, a disappointment!

The dish is essentially a sauce served with thick-cut chips (made from something other than potatoes). The chips were nice, but the sauce was a dud. It was meant to have fennel and a bunch of other stuff, but it was all overwhelmed by too much fish sauce. We use fish sauce in our own cooking quite a bit and are very familiar with it, but it can tend to overpower everything else and also make a dish very salty if used too generously. That is what happened with this sauce.

No fear, we were back to deliciousness very soon, helped by a glass of cognac.

The dessert was a beast — there was first some sort of crumble, on top of it was some chocolate ganache, on top of which was some sesame biscuit, and then some coffee ice cream, and then a chocolate wafer, topped off with some black sesame cream sauce. Absolutely delicious and, surprisingly, not too heavy!

We were delirious and high by the time we stepped out into the late night. What a fantastic meal.

[ninkat]

Thanks for this great report (and pictures). Chocho has lurked on my list for a while (thanks to @sfcarole and others), but will definitely take it off the back burner now and make the trek!

[PN]

One thing: I think they change their menu pretty often, so you may be in for a completely new set of dishes when you go. But based on what we had, I am confident it’ll be great. In fact, I look forward to trying some new dishes at Chocho when I am in Paris next.

I should also clarify the bit about ambience: it’s actually the decor that I disliked. I loved the ambience at the counter, and once the restaurant filled up, the whole place had a fantastic buzzy energy.

[sfcarole (Carole)]

@PN - Thanks for a great report. We chose similar dishes at ChoCho earlier this month. The gnocchi, the eggplant gratinée, the incredible picanha beef, the sauce dish and a great, but different, dessert. I’ve heard that Tom Chisholm changes the sauce dish almost daily, but when we had it the brown swirl was a veal jus. I’d be reluctant to try it again after your report. Last year we also sat at the counter and loved it. This year we were at a small table which was okay, but the counter was much more fun.

[PN]

Apologies to everyone here for not following up — didn’t get around to posting here due to several reasons: Big change in career/job, some family trips back home to Asia etc.

Anyway, the wife and I are back in Paris again, and I will write a separate trip report for July 2024, but wanted to just close out my November trip report because I still think it could be useful to people.

To recap, ChoCho was a hit. Des Terres was a dud.

What of the fancy lunch that I wanted? We went to Le Clarence, and it was lovely. The service was formal but still quite friendly, the room was beautiful, and the food was refined and gorgeous. We took the lunch in three sequences, and that meant at least 14-15 dishes including the amouse bouche. The brioche is dangerously addictive. Dessert was a touch meh (they had recently lost their pastry chef). You’re not going to get explosive flavors and combinations like at ChoCho here. But it’s also not why you come to Le Clarence. You come for the experience and the delicate dishes, the dish cooked just so, you know what I mean.
We took the white truffle supplement, but they didn’t charge us for it! When we asked, they said “it’s our gift”. And they were very generous with the truffle.
Would I come back? Yes, but only for another special occasion.
Here are some pics:

[PN]

Geosmine — Dinner.

The food was very good. Unusual and bold ingredient and flavor combinations, but it all worked and came off as refined and almost cerebral. And that perhaps was ultimately the problem. We appreciated it more than enjoyed it. We ended up liking ChoCho more.
I think there were other factors at play: The vibe was kinda dull. The restaurant wasn’t quite full, but this was before it got its Michelin star so the situation might be different now. Service was also sorta stiff and forced. We sat at the kitchen counter and love interacting with the staff, but no one really engaged with us. They all seemed a bit scared of the chef, who couldn’t communicate in English (not a fault, obviously) so couldn’t speak to us. The somm, who could speak English and was very friendly for the first 10 minutes, quickly became solely focused on a table of 5 French gentleman. Our wine recommendations were left to a clearly uncomfortable and untrained junior waitress, who did her best.
Anyway, I don’t think we are going to be back in a hurry. But as I said, the food was very good, and you might have a different overall experience than we did.
Some pics:

[PN]

Le Servan — Lunch

This was basically perfect. The place was packed, the vibe was electric, the service was friendly, the chef was chatty, and the food was explosively good.
I was very pleased to discover that here, when the chef indicated something is spicy, it really is spicy. No compromises.
We had the oysters, which came with an amazing mignonette, a perfectly cooked swordfish that came with just extraordinarily flavorful potatoes and a super spice mustard/chilli pickle sauce (we asked for a second helping), raviolis in a heavenly saffron/chilli sauce, scallops with hash brown potatoes and spices, and an apple-almond tart with cream.
A GREAT lunch.
The only reason I am not back here during my current trip is that I forgot to check for a reservation early and all tables were full when I checked a week out.
Oh, and yes, both glasses of wine we had were of the cloudy variety marked by barnyard funk. This wasn’t a huge issue for us, but can be for others.
Some pics:

[PN]

Final meal of the trip — dinner at Petrelle.

The ambiance here is unbeatable. If you want to have dinner at a casual yet romantic, cozy, candlelit, Parisian restaurant, I don’t think you could do better than dining here.

But I honestly don’t remember a single dish I ate here. I recall everything being absolutely fine, but none of the dishes completely knocking us out.

We didn’t come back during our current trip, but may one day be back.

[PN]

And that covers it. I promise to post a July 2024 trip report soon!

Thank you, everyone.

[Deuxchevaux (Jake D)]

Thanks for these follow up responses. Sounds like your experience at Le Clarence was similar to ours at dinner, with a similar “three sequence” format — elegant, professional, generous, and most memorably, truly friendly — and wow, that addictive brioche (they gave us a couple to take home). But for us it’s something to do only every other year or so.

Petrelle, which you also describe well, is, on the other hand, something we would do quite frequently.