Going to Paris, in my world means food, food and more food.
Restaurants all over the place, food markets, cheese, cured
meats, patè`s and dried stuff in casings.
Being on a bit of a budget though, we had to choose one
restaurant to ”semi splurge” in.
I did my research and figured that ”le Chautabriand” is the
place to see what this whole ”bistronomy” wave that has been going on in Paris
the last years has to offer.
Having a childhood friend and his misses in town, we went
together on a prebooking, that i did about two weeks before, and let me just
say that I am glad we did.
When we came in at 8, the restaurant was half empty, but
soon the place filled up, and they even had round 10 people waiting for a
second seating in the bar, on this thursday night.
This tells a bit about how popular this place is.
It is one of the most hyped places, and the kitchen of
Inaki, is casual, playful and seems to be with no certain direction.
No locked concept, and the aim I have heard is to give the
dining experience some more surprising elements, but also give the room for
mistakes, which makes this to me a kind of ”hit and miss” kitchen, in the good
way though.
We were asked if we wanted to know the menu or get
surprised, we chose the surprise.
There is only one menu, and 3 of us went for the wine
pairing menu as well.
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We started with the appetizers/snacks.
First up, Cheese puffs, and ceviche in tomato juice.
Funny thing here is that we got pairings with the snacks as well.
The cheese puffs came with a nice cider, that cut of the
richness of the cheese pretty well, just before it got too much.
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Next up,
Red mullet, pomelo, piment and cikory.
This was a miss for all of us, the pomelo I think was way too
overpowering for the little piece of fish, we did however get a nice champagne
with this, that also went for the next snack.
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A very large mussel, (unfortunately i dont know the name of
it), cooked to perfection, it was slightly chewy in the good way, and the celeriac
infused milk foam that went with it was a simple touch of genius.
Duck broth, with raw mushrooms and passion fruit, were a
miss.
The duck broth was unfortunately lacking in taste, and the
amount of passion fruit was too small to make a difference.
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Raw mackerel, oyster infused fromage blanc, sage sausage,
bitter salads and hazelnuts.
This was again a funky mix of ingredients, and was a lovely
dish.
The kitchen forgot to put nuts on mine, so I asked to get
some, and I’m glad I did, cause they made a world of difference.
Only thing I would have done different here myself, was to
maybe blowtorch the mackerel, because it ended up more as a textural component
than a main product.
A very nice Chardonnay, worked nicely with this light yet
rich dish.
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Bril (baked i think) broccoli variation, fried dill and angelica.
Very nice dish, perfectly baked fish, and the fried dill
(though very old school) worked pretty well in the dish.
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Main course:
Gunie fowl, potatoes and uni.
A very tasteful main course, leg and breast of the fowl
cooked perfectly, roasted bronoise of potatoes and chips, and slightly cooked
uni, in a way when you hear the dish, it sound a bit boring, fowl, but there were
so much taste in all the elements, and the uni worked very surprisingly with
the rest. Note that none of our dishes had sauces, nor did they need it.
Only thing here is that I could have used a bit more uni, to
really make the difference in every bite, 3 small pieces, didn’t do the trick
all the way through.
Pinot noir 2010 was again a very nice match.
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Cheese plate.
4 (very small pieces) of cheese, but a nice selection, especially
the brie the moux was perfect in temperature and aging.
But 12,5 euro was in my mind a bit much for the size of the
plate.
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Mandarin sorbet, yoghurt sifon, zest and rhum raisins..
Not my favorite, fresh and light, but the zest unfortunately
was a bit too bitter for my taste.
Don’t remember the wine for this one, only that it was very
nice with the dish.
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And then the final sweet dish.
Apparently a signature, and a take on a basque dish.
Sugarsoaked, and bruleed egg yolk on some sort of pastry i
didn’t get what was, and semi burnt (i think cause i still had some bitter from
the previous dessert in my mouth) macaroon powder.
This one bite dish was an absolute surprise.
Bursting of sweet fatty egg yolk, and then the caramelised
taste, which the macaroon powder made even stronger, no doubt the best thing
this evening.
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To finish off, pineapple, with different seeds (I tasted
fenned, green anis, and lavender.)
That gave you a cleansing, almost soapy taste in your mouth,
a good way of ending the meal.
Only bad thing here, was that the lefover wine I had in my
glass now tasted a bit more perfumy J
So all in all, a lovely meal, and comparing the price and
quality, and originality, its a very good value for money place.
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