Here is my recently completed Paris eating trip in November
- L Assistte - We always include a traditional bistro in our trip to Paris. We choose L’Assistte based on the. board recommendation. Our experience is so-so, we ordered escargot, papaderelle and casserole. We found the food serve at L’Amis Louis was better in terms of taste and quality of ingredient, although the latter was a lot more expensive, but we didn’t find L’ Assistte was cheap either.
- Septime-- Not sure the hype of this restaurant, the restaurant was packed with mixed of tourist and local, food was ok with some nordic influence ,we have better nordic food in the denmark and sweden the tempura appetizer was soggy, nothing really stand out to us. As well, didn’t understand why the lightning was so dark even for lunch service. It was a complete waste of our time t o get up 4am in canada eastern time to secure the reservation online.
- Geosmine-- We initially had decided on Jean-Aimee but after checking their menu online which is heavy on Japanese theme, and recent poor review on google ,w e decided to pass and give Geosmine a try. We glad we made the right choice, as the food was solid , much better than Septime. We had the 8 course tasting menu. Not all dish work for us , but I could see it will likely get one star in a year or two. Only complaint was the service was too slow . It took 3 hr to finish our meal despite we start at 730pm.
4… L’Ambroisie – 3rd visit. Our favourite 3 star paris restaurant and remain the case . It probably be our last time to visit L’Ambroisise since Chef Bernard Pacaud had sold his restaurant , and will fully retire by next summer as told by the restaurant manager. Fortunately he was in the kitchen when we were there. His food is so simple and classic , and I haven’t found a better version of his signature chocolate tart elsewhere. The veal is also a divine. Yes , the price is steep but at least he delivered the result. We will always cherish our time at L’Ambroisie. - Blanc-- the new restaurant by the previous chef Shinchi Sato from Passage 53. We did not dine at his previous restaurant, so couldn’t compare what is new or different , but it was miles better than Septime as both chef were L’Astrance alumni. The restaurant was design by Japanese famous designer which is minimalistic but impactful. It remind me of a Japanese restaurant in tokyo (Chiune) for which the Chef at Chiune ( Satoshi) and Chef Blanc ( Shinichi) are buddy. The meal is vastly different from the Japanese french we had tried in Paris, such as Montee, Page, ES, Atuski. It was more of Italian, Spanish, Japanese and French fusion done in an harmonious way and the food was indeed excellent. They have two menu with the same amount of course, 14 in ttotal, ( small portion) but we did feel full at the end , with the more expensive menu come with more expensive ingredient such as caviar and white truffle. I can see the chef ambition in gunning for the 3 star. The highlight of the meal is the focaccia bread ( 50% wheat and 50% potato), artichoke 3 way, barley risoto with abalone, mont blanc with tiramisu
- We also tried 3 cafe on this trip-- Fringe Coffee ( for best balance new wave coffee), Dreaming Man ( for Japanese touch on Nordic Coffee) and Terre de Cafe ( for best selection of single origin coffee including geisha)
I also posted my trip report in Spain ( Basque and Andalusia) before our trip to Paris. Now we are onto the Nordic, mainly for the reopening of Daniel Berling Krog 2.0 —Vyn, which was stunning and exciting.
