Sola par Hiroki in the 5th remains a charming, largely as-yet undiscovered gem. Today Colette and I ate there with old/new friends who just got back from two weeks in Morocco and were hankering for fine Parisian cooking; well, Hiroki offers that.
After the last time's almost-faux-pas, when I attempted to attack the "baby marshmallow" with a knife and fork I was saavy enough today, to use the cleansing towel for its intended purpose.
The starter/amuse was a soup of fennel, grapefruit and lemon oil which, if we hadn't been told, I would have guessed to be a cream of leeks with agrume flavoring.
Then came minced salmon with beets, burrata and a foie gras "omelet" with shiso (perilla, wild coleus, etc.,) followed by a foie gras "omelet" (I swear) on top of white, barely cooked, or perhaps blanched and cooled asparagus, honey, parmesan and pousses de miel.
Then for mains, the ladies had pieces of merlan, radishes, potatoes, baby scallions, on a bed of garlic and covered with an emulsion of emulsion, and the men had slices of beautiful entrecote with Japanese mushrooms, other veggies and potatoes with a wasabi sauce. Great both!
Desserts were a platter of a dark chocolate creme, vanilla ice cream, caramelized nuts, meringue and almond tuiles as well as nuages (yes, clouds) of soya.
With two bottles of wine, no bottled water and four coffees, our bill was 115 E a couple.
Anything else John? As a matter of fact yes; there were so many ingredients, many of them unknown to us, we needed not only the waitguy's wonderful descriptions but the help of the gracious chef at one point.
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