Guilo Guilo: Exquisite Japanese in the 18th

 

6.0 Guilo Guilo, 8 rue Garreau, in the 18th, 01 42 54 23 92 opened a few months ago to admirable reviews.  Because of my rigid rule about only eating French food in France, broken only when I'm leaving for a period of exotic cuisine, in this case Romanian such, I didn't get around to eating here until today despite the recommendations of the big boys as well of at least two members and one co-host at the eGullet Society of Culinary Arts and Letters.

Colette and I tried reserving by delegation, telephone and finally had to walk over to this place in the midst of Amélie Poulainland to secure a table, only available at 7 PM, "in the back room," apologetically said the star chef.  (As if it were Siberia - Folks, ask for the backroom if you wish to talk to your loved one, ask for the front bar if you wish to watch Eiichi Edakuni at work.)

There are 8 courses in the degustation menu, which from Clotilde's blog's pix, are clearly different each night/week/or whatever.  Our amuse bouches consisted of figs in a sauce and jambon cru with a mango puree.

2nd was a panoply of veggies and fruits: a Japanese (cherry) tomato, eggplant, taro and sashimi strips and 3rd shrimp sushi with marinated vegetables.  4th - a soup with a folded over egg block with andouille in a sauce; 5th salmon pieces with a zippy sauce and cucumber.

6th for us were corn fritters/tempura with two sauces - one soy, the other dots of foie gras in another sauce.  7th was a spread of red tuna which one dipped in egg yolk and then a light soy sauce with pickled cabbage and rice with seaweed strips and sesame seeds.

And we thought finally, was a pumpkin puree/jelly with morsels of coffee jelly and an almond jelly block.  I was humming "This is the end, Beautiful friend, This is the end, My only friend, the end" but the Doors did not appear. 

Indeed, the chef proposed a topper - ennobled with his name (and presumably reputation) of dessert saki, fruit juice(s) and sparkling water - a nice end, but it was not part of the menu so another 17E was added to our bill! 

The bill with 4 draft Asahi beers was 127 euros.

Go again?  Despite the "show," I think in the 18th I'd choose Enishi.

Comments

[Andrew]

We had dinner at Guilo Guilo and we where totally disappointed. I think that the chef Eiichi Edakuni is just trying to pretend to be what is not, a “good Japanese chef”. Amuse bouches where too salty and shrimp sushi with marinated vegetables where not fresh. The tempura with two sauces was not even average taste for this kind of restaurant. We just wasted our money. The Chef cook should go back to Japan and learn about the art of real Japanese cuisine

[johntalbott]

Interesting that even though I ranked Guilo Guilo higher (6) than Enishi (4.6), I'd go back to the latter over the former for Japanese in the 18th.

[Mimi]

Hi - I live in Pari and I've been to Guilo Guilo several times and I can assure you that this chef is amazing. I can also tell you that I am a big food connaisseur, have lived 20 years in Asia (being half chinese half french) - so I really appreciate and recognize good Asian food. You might appreciate French food - but in my opinion, your Asian 'palate' is not developed enough. So please criticize something you know better.