Rather than recap my week in Paris (mostly return visits to restaurants I have written about before, still love, and have nothing new to add), I will write about this one other (besides Reyna) new-to-me spot.
Soces was in a neighborhood I really know nothing about, and will look forward to exploring more, as there were lots of small and bustling restaurants that my cousin and I walked past on our way to and from the Metro. Soces itself fits that description, and we received a warm welcome there and felt well looked after. Terrific bread, btw, something my cousin and I both appreciate!
Probably again, we ordered one dish too many (at least for me), and despite this, my cousin managed dessert, when I could not manage a single bite more; the portions on everything were bigger than we expected. I didn’t take a picture of the wine bottle, sorry, but the person who helped us choose this did another excellent job of helping us choose a white that we thoroughly enjoyed. And my cousin enjoyed their “special” cocktail (of the evening?), a spicy margarita.
We shared a half of a crab to start, messy and with a wonderful mayonnaise…I loved this treat; the crab from Brittany was delicious. Then on to a “raw” cuttlefish in a bouillabaisse kind of soup with rouille on top. Didn’t look like much, but we couldn’t stop eating it, and hadn’t been something my cousin was too sure about. More complex than it looks, and very refreshing and delicious:
Then came squid (lightly breaded and fried) in a garlicky/olive oil/herb sauce that was addictive. This might have been my favorite dish, although again, all of them were creative, unexpected, and very tasty:
I think we had tomato and fig salad next. I didn’t get a picture of this, but it was an unexpectedly delicious combination in a vinaigrette that we didn’t think had mustard in it, but did have something a bit extra (we couldn’t figure out what) that just enhanced the flavors of the two fruits in the salad. Again, delicious.
We had mushrooms next. They were raw, slightly cooked, more cooked, and as flavored aspic with hazelnuts added. I love mushrooms (and hazelnuts), and really appreciated this dish that played with the potential of the flavors. We also enjoyed this dish:
Finally for a “main” dish we ordered the chorizo and it was served with white beans of some kind. I didn’t get a picture of this (nor the little tarte that my cousin had for dessert), but neither of us had tasted chorizo so flavorful, without being over-spicy. Again, complex in flavor, very juicy (as opposed to the kind of dry chorizo I have most often seen) and if I had been hungrier at this point, I could have eaten much more of this! I did not taste the tarte, but my cousin finished every bite of this too.
I will look forward to returning here for sure, and hearing if anyone else goes/has gone, and their experiences!
