Dakota D.
Yelp
I'd be hard pressed to give this place more than 4 stars. This being said, I would comeback here again. In fact, I will come back here on Wednesday night for dinner.
Stumbled across this restaurant after Patricia Wells recommended that we (all) eat here for dinner. Since this place is located behind the Hilton Opera hotel in Paris, My partner and I decided to take the 2 minute trek over to see what the fuss was all about. We arrived at the Metro station where the restaurant is an were immediately greeted by a friendly hostess who promptly sat us down away from the bar and to our seats. My partner sat down and admired his view of the general splendor of the restaurant; the decor, the busy staff, and and troves of french people coming in for a warm meal. I had a view of some plates on the wall and an empty water jug nestled in a cubby hole.
We started with the octopus appetizer (Poulpe et haricots...) which was 5 star. You can see my picture of this dish. Worth every center. the octopus was PERFECTLY cooked, and I loved the fresh herbs and texture of the entire dish.
We also had a bottle of wine between the two of us. The cost of this bottle was maybe 37euro which means about 45 US dollars. Not bad. The wine however was great! Not sweet at all, and lightly buttery with clean, crisp notes on the finish. Look at my photo I took if you want to see what we ordered.
The first dish was ok. Though, my partner would never admit that it was sub par; but I would. He ordered the seared scallops in some kind of pesto risotto sauce. The scallops were PERFECTLY cooked. I cannot remember the last time I ate scallops so good. The dish itself has a bright, yet creamy sauce that tied together the buttery scallops and sharp parmesean shaves. I gave this dish 4 star as I thought it could have used more seasoning such as salt, citrus, heat? something. All in all, good dish and yummy.
My dish was the fish dish. Monday night blue plate special if you will.
quenelles de Brochet en Narnua sauce.
A few things: (que the music). The fish was pike. I love pike. However, growing up jewish I know what pike fish is, and I know that whenever I have made pike fish, I have make it into gifilte fish and enjoyed it.
As you can see in my photos of my dish, the 2 fish cannells were presented as 2 floating islands in my Narnua sauce. The sauce was just EXCELLENT gravy and I sopped my plate clean with my baguette. The fish was light, clean, and very true flavor integrity wise, however the dish left me wanting more. ...More food; preferably in the form of meat or something more like food that isn't so ....fluffy.
All in all the food, dinner and staff were great, but I am giving this establishment a 4 start. I will try this place again Wednesday, and see what this place does to my review. I will be sure to stk with my instincts and shy away from fish, and get some meat. Also, starting off my dinner with CHampagne will help open my culinary senses.