Blue Valentine

The neighbourhood where I've lived for the past few years has gotten its fair share of press and has a plethora of restaurants to choose from, but these addresses are surprisingly bereft of interest (with a few and growing exceptions). Canal-side I find myself going back to tried and true favorites: Holybelly for great coffee and Frenchified Anglo breakfasty comfort foods, Philou, for quintessentially great and simple bistro food with eminently quaffable natural wines, The Cork and the Cavan for the occasional pint (they have the best Guinness in Paris, FYI) and selection of local characters at the bar, and now, Blue Valentine.

Blue Valentine is a quirky little place in a quiet street hidden behind the Canal quays with a chef (Terumitsu Saito) who trained at the Mandarin Oriental, Paris among other places, and his all-Nippon brigade turns out dishes that are like textbook studies in French classics, all rigorously seasonal, and although not surprisingly inventive, this table is a great addition to the new wave of tables from Japanese ex-palace/Michelin star establishment workers.

I had a crunchy asparagus dish wrapped in laser thin lardo followed by an astounding slow cooked lamb dish with white beans that staved off the chill in the air yet almost made me long for the winter again. Lunchtime menu is currently Paris' best value at under 20€. Make the trek.

Coretta, Paris

I'm often drawn to unlikely restaurants in out of the way areas, eclectic locations with chefs still trying to prove their mettle, in hastily decorated dining rooms, before the world gastro-press jumps in and with the press of the enter button, make it all but impossible to get it. I like these places pre-buzz. The exciting tables before the excitement.

Coretta is one of these interesting little places. Located on the edge of the trendy Batignolles quarter, overlooking the Martin Luther King parc that would have been the location of the last Olympics game if Paris hadn't failed on their bid, this shiny new duplex is one of the better places to have opened lately in this neck of the woods.

Coretta, named after King's wife, is the brainchild of Beatriz Gomez, who trained at the Michelin starred Grande Cascade before leaving and setting up shop in a forgotten corner of the 8th arrondissement at Neva, which quickly garnered a Michelin star for its delicate, original cooking.

The reasonably priced menu (24 € limited lunch menu or 33/39€ for two or three courses) offers dishes such as homemade foie gras with pommelos, brioche and demi sel codfish with pickled vegetables. Cooking is precise, products well sourced and the wine list predictably natural. Go on a Monday when Beatriz is freed from her duties at Neva and cooks here. And make sure you order the cinnamon bun dessert in advance (we didn't :(   ) , because it takes 45 minutes to cook. And go before the whole blogosphere and Condé Nasties blow it up.

Les Enfants Rouge (another very good Franco/Nippon bistro)

When a member of Paris' expat food blogging royalty invites you to join him for lunch, you just can't say no. Especially when he takes you to a place a friend of a friend heard of that opened a week ago, in a former wine bar gone south, now creative French bistro run by a young Yves Cambdeborde trained Japanese chef and his wife (he the kitchen, her the front of house), and put it all up in the virtually unchanged storefront in a tiny street in the Nord du Marais, and you have a recipe for success.

This soon to be Figaroscoped and Fooding'd 12 table spot, sandwiched somewhere between the trendy rue de Bretagne and the Marché des Enfants Rouges hits all the right notes: 35€ men for dinner or lunch offering 4 choices for each dish. The amuse bouche was a haddock jelly covered shellfish mousse, and main choices included citrus marinaded salmon coupled with oxtail and celery, a delicious salted codfish quenelle, textbook quality ris de veau and Brittany caught cod with buckwheat risotto and shellfish. Bread was (surprise) not Pain des Amis, but from chef Thierry Bréton. All was comforting, technically perfect (one exception, the cod was a bit salty) , friendly and affordable, and served (slowly) with a smile. Book now before it becomes the new French/Nippon bistro flavor of the month. And, for the moment, make sure you bring cash, as their credit card machine isn't installed yet.

Les Enfants Rouge
9 rue de Beauce, 3eme

ENCORE, another delicious Franco-Japanese bistro

Daily 25/30€ blackboard menu

One of the recent culinary trends in Paris has been the influx of small Japanese run bistros doing French cooking. Many of these young upstarts worked their way through top of the food chain culinary establishments and struck out on their own in popular up and coming neighborhoods (9th,10th,11th) with modest tables offering up limited choice tasting menus featuring seasonal produce from cult niche purveyors (Joel Thiebault, Annie Bertin, etc) accompanied by natural unfiltered wines. The chef, Yoshi Morie worked for five years in one of the vanguards of this trend, the Petit Verdot, and has now moved on to his own digs.

Encore, opened this summer was happily one of the few places open at the end of August, so I snagged a table and had one of the best meals of the pre- rentrée: 30€ for three delicious courses: a bright, crunchy mussels and cauliflower starter flavored with a vadouvan emulsion (French/Indian spice mix), and main course of monkfish with mixed cooked and raw vegetables (broccoli, burnt aubergine), all dishes doing a perfect job of creating layers of comforting taste and washed down with well chosen wines from our charming waitress. The dessert was the best I've had this season: a violet and fig compote with a Timut pepper sorbet.

Cauiflower, mussels, French/Indian spice mix emulsion

L'Office

Paris is such a pleasant place to eat recently, and it seems every week some hot new table is opening, in a cool gentrifying neighborhood, with a world faring chef doing inexpensive and exciting food. (Le Galopin, Au Passage are two perfect examples) This is certainly the case with L'Office, in a part of the 9th , a sort of multicultural no mans land between the Gare du Nord train station and Galeries Lafayette, in a quarter that counts a diverse local population (African hairdressers and traditional Jewish commerce galore)  chain noodle restaurants, various bars and brasseries that merit being closed long ago, and L'Office, a non descript storefront offering top notch cooking. The owner, Charles Compagnon, who funnily enough I knew when he was running the very convenient Bar George V, teamed up with Del Posto-trained American chef Kevin O'Donnell and the result is the kind of bistro you wish was just downstairs.

On the 24€ three course menu was a tender piece of falling apart pork belly with a tomato paste and fried egg. C. had a velouté of coco beans topped with a piece of toast on which were placed thinly sliced pieces of lardo di colonnata , followed by sous vide cooked chicken with girolles mushrooms and an airy, foamy celery root purée. The pot au pen was full of delectable veal replacing the beef, with crunchy celery. Dessert was ok cheese and a decent, dense chocolate cake with banana ice cream. Bread was a little regrettable, but I think they ran out of the good stuff we had at the beginning of the meal.

Wines were predictably, natural and organic from a pretty well chosen list, with glasses of Jacky Blot et co. at around 6€.

This place is a real culinary snapshot of what's going on in Paris at the moment. Love it.

L'Office

3 rue Richer, 75009 Paris

+33 1 47 70 67 31 

Au Passage

Best little place I've eaten in a while but haven't had the chance to blog about! Au Passage is a tiny table located on a forgotten side street in the 11th more popular with century old silversmiths than anything else. The place has a rickety, funky feel to it with uneven wooden floors, old leather couches and a restrictive, but excellent 16,50€ lunch menu and evening time tapas with brand name charcuterie, natural wines, burrata and the like. If they were in my 'hood, I'd eat here every day. Thanks to ex-Springers Audrey and James Henry the Australian-chef-who-was-temporary-but-decided-to-stay, this place offers quality above the norm, a great deal, and nice friendly vibe.

Au Passage 

1, bis passage Saint Sébastien 

Philou - perfect neighborhood bistro

I just keep coming back to this place, and would even trek across town for their well turned out cooking. Yesterday's lunch confirmed once again my opinion that Philippe Damas' Philou is one of Paris' most perfect little bistros. Forest mushroom "clafoutis" with gizzards, tasty entrecote and roasted potatoes, turbot with a panoply of mushrooms, and just two snafus: the incredibly long service towards the end of the meal (granted, they were full and it was a new waitress, but she did spend 30 minutes cleaning glasses...) and the Montblanc , certainly not up to the level of the other dishes..but hard to complain when three courses comes to 25€...

Forest mushroom "clafoutis"

Entrecote with roast potatoes

Turbot with mushrooms

Disappointing Montblanc

Philou
12 avenue Richerand, 10th
+33 1 42 38 00 13

Ri.No.

I'll probably catch a lot of flack for going out on a limb and actually not liking this tiny Bastille address that's had all the blaggers and critics in a collective gastronomic circle jerk since opening a few months back.

I'm talking about Rino, a hot (by that I mean no air conditioning) new bistro run by a chef , Giovanni Passerini, who seconded Peter Nilsson at another buzzing bistronomic, Le Gazzetta.

The short menu (with two courses for 18€ and three for 22€) was predictably short, with a starter of an orange tinged barley risotto and calimari, followed by a slowly cooked, and pretty tasty pork loin, served with cabbage and a side of veg. The dessert was fresh strawberries and pistachio (tasted more like peanut butter) sorbet.

The dining room was full of seniors saying things like "Ohh, I think this is nouvelle cuisine", and service (from the one man show waitstaff with vintage Ray Bans and effete Franco-Italian humeur ) was trés slow.

I was really excited to try this place, it was cheap, not so cheerful, and I'm not sure I'd come back.

Maybe for dinner, if the chef takes his culinary gloves off..

Chez Michel - Ze big disappointment

Last minute dinners always get me. In my day job or as gastro consultant for my friends and colleagues, no problem, a perfect table is always found. When I'm trying to find a place for myself for a nice night out, however, always the eternal dilemma, the soul searching begins. I find the perfect idea, I change it, I worry if my friends will like it, I question my desires, my cravings. I think of the previous weeks web and food press, various recommendations, tables I'd like to try and haven't. All this happened to me again last night, when confronted with having to find a place to dine for myself. Where? Passage 53 went to last week and had a marvelous lunch. I wanted something new. Or something I'd never tried. I thought of KGB, but the massive recent press made that impossible. ZKG, the maison mère didn't answer the phone. I thought of Krung Thep, my fave Thai, but felt like French. La Grille, an eminently old school establishment, was fully booked. Villaret, Chéri Bibi, Fidelité, Sardegne a Tavola, Kiku all came to mind. And faded away. We decided on Chez Michel. After all, why not, the proto-bistronomique is every Parisian gastronomes fave for it's 32€ menu and well turned out food.

Last night was different. When entering the restaurant, the usual chaos ensued: waiters rushing around, and being shouted at. Locals mixing with Dutch and English tourists, clutching their recent (but outdated) editions of Time Out and Fodors, having trekked out to this far flung corner of the city for their gourmet graal. The same menu at 32€ for three courses and a blackboard highlighting other more complicated/elegant dishes, with their pricing supplements. Game had , as always, a prominent place on the menu, and the lievre a la royale looked to be the choice for my dining partners and I. But with a 25€ supplement! We soldiered on and ordered. The starter of pate en croute of gibiers and foie gras with it's accompanying herb salad from well executed and good (supplement 5€), followed by the royal hare, which was entirely uninspiring. A smattering of tasteless, odorless shaved black truffles covered the dish, and my friend Philippe had another , unexpected supplement: a plastic film covering his lievre. The server was shown the dish and he said, simply, "Oh that's there to shape the dish on the plate". Even when another large piece of plastic was found on the plate, no reaction, no apology. Chef Thierry Breton didn't even bother stopping by, except to suggest a pricey, though good Domaine Gramenon Pascale. Funnily enough, he wasn't even in the kitchen, which seemed to be manned by Japanese stagiaires..

So word to all you Parisian foodies and cued up gastrotourists: Chez Michel seems to have passed its sell-by date. Move on to new gourmet pastures.


Lievre a la Royale

Lievre a la Royale avec plastique

L'Oscar

Oscar: Simple, good value on the edge of the Triangle d'Or. Tiny, expensive sidestreet in the 16th, just behind the avenue Marceau. 21€, three course lunch menu. Chicken salad with tomatoes, green beans, carrot, beetroot, and Parmesan. Excellent steak tartar (normally if it's not coupé au couteau, I won't touch it).Expertly mixed with ketchup, tabasco, etc etc, served with fresh potatoes. OK fondant au chocolat. . But at this price, it's hard to complain.


L'Oscar
6 rue de Chaillot, 75116 Paris
+33.1.47.20.26.92

Rainy night/ Chez Paul

Nothing like being the only people in that quintissentially old school French bistro Chez Paul at 1am , while the rain falls outside, with people scurrying about, and a nice bottle,fillet of beef with roast potatoes, followed by a tarte tatin and fresh Normandy cream, and lightening and thunder rattling the thin turn of the century windows.

Le Hide

Already lauded with unanimous acclaim by the Parisian food press (and soon by the NYT, Condé Nast and the rest ..), Le Hide, Japanese chef Hide Kobayashi's bistro is probably the best value in Paris. Having trained with some great chefs (Robuchon, Bouchet) , Hide has retained some impressive cooking skills and put them to use in a classic French, three course menu that is a steal at 29€ (especially being located in one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in the city). The starter of fresh leeks with a vinaigrette sauce was delicate and delicious, the faux filet firm and responsive, and the cod cooked to perfection and the desserts (tarte tatin, tiramisu, ile flottante) well turned out. Despite the waitstaff of two, and kitchen staff of one (!), things ran smoothly, making this a definite comeback resto..The dining crowd included neighbours, a Japanese couple, lots of locals and a few English tourists from a hotel next door (coming back for the second night in a row)


Leeks with vinaigrette sauce and a sprinkling of Guérande salt

Faux filet steak (200g, Desnoyer)

Cod with sauce beurre blanc

Tarte tatin with bourbon vanila ice cream

Le Hide
10 rue du Général Lanrezac, 75017 Paris
+33 1 45 74 15 81

Bistro Paul Bert - GOGO review

La Bulle

Les Fines Gueules

Excellent tuna rolled in sesame seeds and accompanied with avocado purée and Joel Thiébault salad

Killer steak tartar


Nice surprise. Wine bar/bistro behind the Banque de France. Most probably the best steak tartar I've ever had. (Desnoyer meat au couteau with pesto, parsley and aged parmesan, and a side salad with Joel Thiébault veggies). Wine list is a little limited and I wish I hadn't seen the guy who worked in the kitchen leave the bathroom without washing his hands, but hey, we're in France..and it's still a great bet for getting drunk on a Sunday afternoon eating raw meat.

Or, as my GOGO review says:

Les Fines Gueules

Steak tartar with grenade potatoes, 17€

Located just off of the place des Victoires, this wine bar/bistro was a pleasant surprise during a recent Sunday lunch. Raved about in the French press when ex-Bistral owner Arnaud Bradol took over last year and gave the small, three-floored eatery a major makeover, their continuing success is due to a simple idea: offer the best produce cooked well. A plate of delicious charcuterie, sliced on a vintage hand-worked machine started us off just right, followed by a starter of juicy tuna, rolled in sesame and served with an avocado purée. The piece de resistance (which pretty much everyone in the restaurant was having) was a superb steak tartar au couteau , made with top grade beef from Desnoyer, mixed with persil and aged parmesan, and served with roasted grenade potatoes. The pear tarte tatin with fresh cream was a delightfully decadent ending to a satisfying meal.

Open daily for lunch and dinner, 43 rue Croix des Petits Champs, 75001, M° Pyramides, 01.42.61.35.41

Le Grand Pan , Paris restaurant , GOGO review

Afaria (or: You'll never see blood sausage the same way again)

After having done a tour of the 15th arondissement's ghetto bistronomique this week (Grand Pan, Le Troquet...), Friday's lunch at AFARIA was a superb surprise. Julien, the chef, surely has a talent far in advance of his 26 years, and many more surprises up his sleeve than the dish Parisians cross town for , the Boudin noir aux pommes, cuit en crout de moutarde. The amuse-bouche a starter of chiperons, deep fried was both light and tender, as might be compared to other's elastic offerings, followed by skewered chunks of pork cooked in espelette pepper. The starter of scallop carpaccio with artichokes and doused in a creamy pumpkin soup an excellent, light winter dish. The Lebanese "boulghour" (crushed wheat) topped with oysters and a side of hummus, remarkable for its freshness and unique texture. The famous aforementionned boudin, followed by a delicious roast maigret de canard grilled in a fig/balsamic vinegar sauce, ending with a gingered fruit salad. Their three course menu is & steal at 26€.

Afaria
15, rue Desnouettes, 15th
Telephone: +33 1 48 56 15 36

D'Chez Eux

Tucked away in a small street behind the Ecole Militaire in the seventh, D'Chez Eux is a hardy stalwart of Paris' traditional bistro culture. Offering a fine, uncomplicated classic French cuisine, with specialties such as home-made charcuterie, cassoulet , cote de boeuf, well-chosen wines, fine cheeses, etc. The starter of huge garlic-butter infused Burgundy snails (served sans shells) was superb, the fresh white asparagus in a white vinagrette gargantuan, and the crispy-skinned roast coquelet with tarragon cream sauce simply perfect. The cheese plate was small but well chosen with St. Nectaire, camembert, roquefort, etc, and the crowning dessert the best chocolate mousse in Paris (sorry no picture..)




Burgundy snails and garlic butter sauce


Seasonally fresh asparagus


Roast chicken with cream tarragon sauce