John Talbott's Paris

Day 2 – More “foreign food” in Frisco: Campton Place + Sociale.

 

Campton Place, in the hotel of the same name on Stockton, has had a series of name chefs and been one of Colette’s and my favorites since Bradley Ogden was there.  So when the American Psychiatric Association decided to hold its Past President luncheon there, we went with anticipation and enthusiasm. 

The wine we quaffed while waiting for the meal to commence was really quite good; the red screw-top Banfi Cabernet memorable for what I assume was their low end offering.

The starter of a squash soup with Moroccan Spices was simply delicious and the salad of fresh greens quite good, although Colette thought the walnut balsamic dressing was “lacking in interest and flavor, in brief - a mess.”  The breads were terrific.

We had a choice of three mains.  I took the very bland but most moist chicken braised in a somewhat spicy, unreduced tomato broth, with Tamatar ki murg chutney and plain white rice apart.  The chutney was superb but not enough to slather the bland chicken with; I wound up eating the chicken with the chutney and dumping the broth in the rice to liven it up; then stuff had taste.

The local halibut was dry on the surface and the portion was too large for Colette's liking.  It was served with a pretty squash colored sauce that was advertised to have a lemon essence but which Colette could not taste; she was unhappy.

At this point I had to skip dessert due to my Symposium starting time but Colette had the “good” fruit clafoutis, ice cream and mysteriously never served praline.

Price: no idea.

 

 

Sociale, 3665 Sacramento, 415-921-3200.  Dinner was a birthday celebration for Colette at an intime restaurant recommended by an old/new San Francisco food devotee.  She told us the terrace would be great with good weather but it’s horribly cold after a horribly hot few days, so we ate inside.

 

I decided to “test” the kitchen by ordering the most unusual sounding dishes on the menu; thus I started with fried olives stuffed with Fontina that were like none other I’ve ever had.  I’m not sure I’d order them again but they surely were good and different.

Then Colette had braised duck on pappardelle that was the hit of the mains; delicious, succulent, terrific.

I had a slightly less successful but still pretty good venison Bolognese (I am still searching for the equal of Luigi Buitoni’s at the Locanda della Rocca in Paciano, which is probably an unfair comparison).

With no dessert or coffee or bottled water – it’s recycling-crazed California after all – but a bottle of Barbera, our total with tax, tip and here’s a new one - $1.25 per diner “healthy San Francisco” “service charge" to cover staff health care insurance – was $103.05.

Reviews of Reviews: The Week of May 11th, 2009

Tuesday in Le Fooding, Julie Gerbert reviewed Le 51, 51, rue de Bercy in the 12th, 01.58.51.10.91, open 10 AM – 11 PM (closed Tuesdays) for “snacks” such as gazpacho, Caesar salad, picnic baskets and 9 € pitchers of Gamay. Snack menus are 8,40-12,40 € and restaurant menus in the evening 16-23 €.

Tuesday as well, ANP ‘s Jerome Berger gave 3/5 dots to Frenchie, coordinates given before, where he commented on the petit pois soup, quenelles of ricotta and pannacotta with red fruit.

Wednesday, in l'Express, Pierrick Jegu picked as his Parisian place for less than 30 E: Le Passage, 18, passage de la Bonne-Graine, in the 11th, 01-47-00-73-30, closed Saturdaty lunch and Sundays, costing about 30 E for asparagus salad, risotto with etrilles juice; the wine was good but the dessert less so. The remainder of the reviews were of restos in Nice and Cannes – coinciding with the Festival.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope gave no hearts but the photo and blurb to the Costes new operation, the Café Germain, 25-27, rue de Buci in the 6th, 01 43 26 02 93, open 7/7, costing 35-45 € for crab, shrimp in bouillon, fish & chips and a banana split [sic] as well as 2/4 hearts to the Grand Mericourt, 22, rue de la Folie-Méricourt in the 11th, 01 43 38 94 04, open lunch from Tuesday to Friday and dinner Monday to Saturday, lunch menu = 17-20 , a la carte 45-60 € but only one heart to the Breton Cap Breton, 43, rue Le Peletier in the 9th, 01 40 16 16 07, closed weekends, lunch menu = 13, dinner 15-20 €, serving galettes and crepes, Le Templier, 25 bis, rue de l’Armorique in the 15th, 01.43.22.36.83, closed weekends and Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesday dinners, costing 25-30 € for herring, andouillette and duck breast and the Bistrot de l’Avenue, 16 ave de Villiers in the 17th, 01.47.63.25.61, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, with formulas at 30, 32 and 35 € with items such as petit pois soup, macaroni with aged ham, and iced nougat.

Wednesday, in Figaroscope, Colette Monsat, Alexandra Michot and Sylvain Vérut discussed apero places, as follows :
Big children
Ferdi
Intimite terrace
Cafe Drouant
In a garden
Cafe Reale
Cocktail bar
Murano Urban Resort
Spanish
Les Voisins
Neo-caviste
Lavinia
Basque-like
Afaria
Bonbon
La Paiva
And also Le 15Cent15, Bellota-Bellota
Passed plates
Andy Warloo, Park Hyatt Vendome, l’absinthe
Bars with hors-d’œuvres
L'Avant-Comptoir de Camdeborde

Wednesday, Francois Simon, in his “Hache Menu,” reviewed Thierry Burlot’s second place Zebra, where he spent 141 € for aperos plus.

Wednesday as well, Richard Hesse in Paris Update reviewed the cocktail-ping pong-resto Derriere, which served good product, reasonably-priced wine and good dishes.

Friday, François-Régis Gaudry in l’Express, reviewed Le Park 45 in Cannes.

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp wrote about L’Obé, Wa-Ri and Ducasse and John Talbott wrote an essay entitled “Why do some restaurants so shoot themselves in the foot?”

Sunday, Elaine Sciolino in the Travel Section of the NYT wrote an article on Roman France that mentioned the following restaurants in St Remy, Nimes (2) and Arles (2), Le Restaurant de la Reine Jeanne, Aux Plaisirs des Halles, Le Petit Bofinger, La Chassagnette + Le Galoubet.

When "The Incredible Lightness of Being" is pure vapor.

Disclosure: I realize that certain palates are shaped by cultural influences (the Kiwis’ intolerance for spiciness in Indian food, for example), some by experience (oysters, Campari and coffee spring to mind) and yet others by age (note that old folk tend to add more pepper, Tabasco and soy to their food, is so allowed).  That said, though, there are fascinating differences in the ways different folks experience the same meals. 

One of my most loyal eating partners in Paris and I only come close to blows over the refined versus gutsy nature of certain restaurants and dishes.  Whereas he’s of the school that thinks that current French cuisine is stuck-in-the-old-boys’-muck and it’s only from Roses/Rosas, Chicago and Kyoto that it can be saved, I think going back to basics (ie Jadis) is much more interesting. 

When I read the words “heavenly, ethereal, light, refined, or essence” I know I will find the place gutless, tasteless and spineless.  I want to touch, smell, taste and savor food not have it escape off my tongue into the ether. 

Let’s take three meals I had recently. 

One, at Shan Gout, a new Chinese place in the 12th, was the tastiest, gutsiest and best Chinese meal I’ve had in memory.  Now, I’m immediately biased because he uses the Jadis formula for success: find old recipes, cook them using modern products and equipment and don’t screw around with concepts.
The next was yam’Tcha, described by one critic as “Asian-inspired” where everything was “delicious, light and almost ethereal” but, but, but still tasty.   

The first course was cold asparagus (that had been cooked and marinated, I suspect, in a very dilute rice wine); the sauteed foie gras had the incredible lightness of being and the mackerel was most unfishy. Pushing the envelope of lightness but not yet outre. 

As opposed to Issé, on the other hand, supposedly serving Japanese nouvelle cuisine that was so refined that it was nigh tasteless.   Except for the ”spaghetti” of agar-agar that had some taste and shaved Japanese radishes (daikon), that had some bite, the rest was like kissing your sister. 

Now, my recollection of the introduction of nouvelle French cuisine here involved local fresh ingredients and clever rather that heavy sauces, but no where in the manifesto do I recall, refining taste out of existence. 

While in this essay I’m dealing with foreign cuisines, I could write it about French ones as well. 

While Passage 53’s chef is Japanese he serves Hugo Desnoyer’s meat and Alexandre Cammas of Le Fooding calls his food “half-terroir” and while the Reminet team is reputed to have passed through Polynesia, Madagascar, the Antilles and St Martin, the food is very, very tasty and French. 

No, I think my fondness for gutsy, full-flavored, old-time oomph vs light and ethereal will have to stand as a given to me, my readers and friends.  Ever had a hundred fifty year old cognac?  It is sort of cognac, the alcohol is there, the scent is almost there, but the soul is missing.  I need soul.

Places mentioned above are:
Jadis
208, rue de la Croix-Nivert, 15th, (Metro: Felix Faure)
T: 01.45.57.73.20
Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays
Menu-carte 32 €

Shan Gout
22, rue Hector Malo, 12th (Metro: Gare de Lyon)
T: 01.43.40.62.14
Closed Mondays
A la carte about 30 €.
 
yam'Tcha [sic]
4, rue Sauval in the 1st, (Metro: Les Halles, Sentier)
T: 01 40 26 08 07
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
Lunch menu at 30 €, tasting menu 65 and dinner 45 €. 

Issé
45, rue de Richelieu, 2nd, (Metro: Pyramides)
T: 01.42.96.26.60
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Lunch bento 35 €, dinner degustation 55 €, a la carte 25-40 €. 

Passage 53
53 Passage des Panorama, 2nd, (Metro: Grands Boulevards)
T: 01 42 33 04 35
Closed Sundays
A la carte 38-44 €.

Le Reminet
3, rue des Grands-Degres, 5th (Metro : St Michel, Maubert-Mutualite)
T : 01.44.07.04.24
Open 7/7
Lunch menu 14 €, dinner a la carte 40-60 €.

San Francisco - Day 1 - Asian heaven at Katana-Ya and the Slanted Door

 

Colette and i had to be in San Francisco for several days and decided on a mix of new and old places.

 

Katana-Ya, 430 Geary Street, 415-771-1280, is open 7/7, hence Sunday lunch, so it seemed a natural.  It's the third such, I believe, in the Bay area and not only is small but charges incredibly small prices for incredibly generous portions.

Colette ordered two (6 piece) rolls that would have been $19 and the waitress, pointing at a column on the menu, said did you see you can order these 6-piece rolls for only $10?  So she quickly agreed.

I had already seen that I could have a full order of soba noodles etc which were $7.50, but add Tonkatsu on rice with salad for only a total of $11.  No brainer.

Both of us were happy with what we had; it is not haute cuisine, but I can see where the internet buzz comes from; with two draft Sapporo's, tax and tip our bill was only $39.95.

 

The Slanted Door, which if I'm counting correctly, we've eaten at in three different venues in over a decade, is now at 1 Ferry Building, 415-861-8032 and is also open 7/7.  It's a bit tricky to find and once there the sound is deafening as there is no insulation or padding in this dock building seating 150 persons.

Four of us treated the meal as a moderate tasting experience, essaying the shrimp, pork and mint spring rolls with peanut sauce, barbecued Willis Ranch pork spareribs  with honey-hoisin sauce, caramelized shrimp and a rack of lamb.  The only real disappointment was/were the caramelized shrimp.

With rice, 2 cocktails and 2 bottles of Bourgeuil, tax and tip it amounted to $105.06 a couple.

Ordering defensively at Girondine and Pere Lapin: an archival* essay.

I don’t know about you but because I eat in a lot of new, largely un-reviewed or not multiply-reviewed places and get an immediate impression whether a place is one more of a thousand exactly like it or truly one of a kind, I’ve developed a strategy I call defensive ordering, akin to defensive driving.  What do I mean?

Let’s take two meals I had last week.  The first one was at a place – Girondine, the Bistro of Gargantua (I kid thee not) - that looked all the world like 1,000 others nearby in the Deepest 13^th, that quarter so well-served by restos and so poorly served by Metros.  It was located on a boulevard, a red awning covered the terrace, it had a nice-looking internal room and welcoming staff. 

OK good enough: but was it one of a thousand or one of a kind? The cheapo (18.90 €) menu-carte had all cold/salady things, the mains looked banal and the desserts standard fare.  So go with the carte but order defensively (e.g., things they can’t screw up.)  That way I think I scored (but will never know of course.) 

I had a “croute” of morilles that were so woody tasting and smelling they must have been on the forest floor just a few hours ago. 

Then the confit of duck (which along with magret, is almost impossible to destroy) which wasn’t bad but did not break the sound barrier – but the diced, fried in goose fat and garlic, potatoes were divinity themselves and the moelleux of chocolate the best I’ve ever had (my gold standards being Chez Catherine’s and that at the Bistrot Cote Mer, neither of which I can compare today because CC is out of my bistrot price range and the BCM was sadly sold and ruined.  (Note to those who might be tempted to go to Girondine; it is called the Bistro of Gargantua for a good reason, thus order minimally.) 

Next day, totally different venue – the hautes of the Seine, in serene Suresnes, a place called Pere Lapin, I suppose because if he called it Pierre , he’d get sued.  Here, in contrast to the doctors and lawyers and families in Girondine, the clients were all terribly well tanned, nouveau riche women and somewhat pale shirts. 

Here the ardoise looked great, as opposed to other places where one suspects they’re throwing yesterday’s stuff or the supplier’s oversupply at you.  And here, I took “le menu:” why not find out what the guy can do with inexpensive but good product?  A lot it turns out. 

A velouté of lentils (what could be simpler?) had teeny tiny slices of bacon with extremely tasty teeny tiny croutons (and I hate standard croutons) and mascarpone and was masterful; the bland swordfish blocks (well admit it, when did you last have tasty swordfish that wasn’t over the hill?) were rescued, indeed beatified, by a tart sauce of grapefruit and orange bits atop a pissaladiere; and the roasted figs were stuffed with incredibly finely chopped almonds and accompanied by an ice of verveine – super. 

Go back?; on a nice day when the arteries need the hill climb and God is in Her heaven, you bet. 

My late August finds:

Pere Lapin

10, rue de Calvaire in Suresnes (92^nd (T2 Suresnes)

T : 01.45.06.72.89

Closed Mon & Tues

Lunch menus 20 and 25 €, a la carte about 40 €

Girondine

48 bvd Arago, 13^th (Glaciere)

T : 01.43.31.64.17

Closed Sunday night only

Menu-cartes 18.90 and 30 €, a la carte 36-40 €

 

*Originally published in September 2006

Karl & Erick in the 17th: Another mixed experience: An archival* review

4.5 Karl & Erick, 20, rue de Tocqueville in the 17th, 01.42.27.03.71, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays, 2 dish lunch menu = 22 €, is the not totally successful transplantation of the Jumeaux team from the 11th to the 17th.

The new décor is stunning and pleasant; bright red upholstery, dark wood chairs and tables, lovely wall mirrors. The amuse gueule was a chilled tomato soup that was made from the real thing; the melon soup with Bayonne ham was superb – cold soups are clearly one of Karl’s strengths.

Colette had a very good artichoke heart with eggplant caviar and Paga had chunky salmon – both were delicious.

Then, however, things turned downhill; while Paga’s magret of duck was delightfully undercooked inside and crisp on the outside, my seiche with chrorizo was bland and the Noirmoutier potatoes (one of my favorite things in the world) unremarkable.

The ladies had a split opinion on the cod with tapenade; one opining that it was OK, the other unhhh not so great - me, I thought the tapenade made it edible.

The dessert (four miniatures: a cherry/pistachio/crème fraiche glass, a dense chocolate mousse, pain d’epice with a raspberry sorbet and a cup of crème brulee) was very good.

The bill = a wonderful 74 € for two. 

Should one go, should we return? If you were two of us, yes, two of us, no.

*Originally published in July '07

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones really gives you your money's worth. 

It's a cooking essay, a guide to old school Chinese recipes (like Shan Gout in Paris prepares), a mystery, a romance and a reference book on Chinese-American cultural differences from an American woman who ran a business and lived in China for 18 years.

A friend recommended it to me while we were eating at Frenchie and I went right over to WH Smith and couldn't set it down.  It's really fun reading and you learn a lot.

How can some restaurants so shoot themselves in the foot?

Are they lazy, irresponsible or sick? 

I’m in a quandary about a place that opened to significant fanfare and where I’ve made reservations to eat at three times, only one of which was resulted in a meal, and a good one at that. 

The first time I called, knowing that they didn’t open for lunch until 13h00, I arranged to meet a friend at 1 PM exactly to enter. Arrival a few minutes before 1; no sign of life, completely shuttered. I waited, looked in the window, tried to ascertain where the side or back entrance was, hoped the gleam from the back meant the chef was prepping; zip, zero, nada. 

My dining pal showed up and I had a back-up, Fidelité, just a bus ride away, which was unfortunately more miserable for he than me.

Second visit: a month later; reserved for the PM before I was due to take off for the USA. No guest this time, so I had many back-ups but there was no problem and indeed it was a great and moderately calm evening until a bunch of rich Russian oligarchs and their teased/bleached-hair dates/ladies/whatever, showed up. My l’os a moelle and veal with a cilantro sauce were great.
So I thought I’d got it knocked.

Then, by George, I reserved for Colette and myself, again in daylight, and again the place was deserted. 

Now, this is not the first time I’ve been confronted by restaurants taking a reservation and not honoring it; once on the West Side of Manhattan it was a bomb threat, once on the East Side - a husband/wife screaming match in the kitchen, once by a chef/staff dispute in Philadelphia (City of Brotherly Love), once by a power outage and once by flooding (Paris). 

There are places that will not honor my custom because I’ve violated some unspoken/unwritten rule (the Table d’Adrien in Paris for example) or I’ve panned so badly they send and get friends to send me hate mail. And I certainly understand when someone in the family dies and they leave a polite note on the shutters explaining why they are “exceptionnellement” closed. 

But like the airlines, who find it impossible to tell you why a plane is delayed for minutes or hours or sometimes a day, a resto that takes your reservation and has your telephone number, should let you know some disaster has struck.

It’s no secret where I had one great and two empty meals: 

Mon Oncle
3, rue Durantin in the 18th
(Metro: Abbesses)
T: 01 42 51 21 48
Supposedly closed only Saturday noon and Sunday night and Monday
Lunch formula 22, a la carte 20-30 €

Reviews of reviews: The Week of May 4th, 2009

Sunday April 26th in a special section in the NYT Travel Section, Steven Erlanger suggested where to eat on $250 a day (Fauchon + Coude a Coude, 46, rue St. Honore in the 1st, 01.40.28.15.64) and on $1,000 a day (Les Carre des Feuillants + Le Bistrot Paul Bert).

Tuesday, in Le Fooding, Frédérick-E. Grasser-Hermé reviewed the pizzeria Reginette, in the 8th.

Tuesday as well, ANP ‘s Philippe Toinard gave 2/5 dots to L’Atelier Mazarine, coordinates given before, where he was less than enchanted by the food.

Tuesday, on their website Le Figaro published an interview by Lucille Escourrou with Adeline Grattard of yam’Tcha.

Wednesday, Emmanuel Rubin in Figaroscope gave 2/4 hearts to the Italian Mercato in the 2nd; one heart each to the pizzeria Le Reginette in the 8th and the Pates Vivantes Asian noodle offshoot, Paradis des Pates in the 9th and two busted hearts to the Middle-eastern Mangareva in St Cloud and Russian/Mediterranean Domic in the 7th.

In the Figaroscope’s Dossier, Colette Monsat wrote about lemon tartelettes; her ranking of the top ten was:
Carl Marletti
Jacques Genin
Pierre Herme
Secce
Carette
Bread & Roses
Angeline
Laduree
Paul
Laurent Duchene.

Francois Simon, in his “Hache Menu,” reviewed the tea salon/dessert place Jacques Genin,

Wednesday as well, Richard Hesse in Paris Update reviewed the unsung Je Thé…me, 4, rue d’Alleray in the 15th, 01 48 42 48 30, where he had a perfect meal of duck foie gras, marinated anchovies on lentils, roast cod with bacon and its risotto, veal kidney and sweetbreads served with spring vegetables, a triple serving of superb cheeses and a tiramisu; all with wines.

Saturday, Francois Simon in the Figaro in his “Croque-notes” discussed l’Auberge de Condé in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre.

Saturday/Sunday, in Bonjour Paris, Margaret Kemp wrote about Les Paillottes, Cafe Branly & Le Reminet and John Talbott wrote an essay entitled “Well, a[nother] precedent is being broken - ethnic food.”

Well, a[nother] precedent is being broken – ethnic food.

Remember a third of the way through “Casablanca” when a woman asks Carl:
“Will you ask Rick to have a drink with us?” and Carl says:
“Madame, he never drinks with the customers, Never. I have never seen him.”
Then Rick Blaine sits down to drink with Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo and Capt. Renault says “Well, a precedent is being broken”?

Well, that’s the way I felt recently eating at ethnic restaurants in Paris.

For years I’ve had this conceit that I only ate at French French restaurants, eschewing fusion, World and ethnic food because (1) I could do better in their countries or even SF or NY, (2) Life was too short here in Paris to indulge in foreign cuisine and (3) Like all conceits, it was a badge of honor.

Of course I broke my self-imposed rule all the time, dining at Mori Venice Bar, Stella Maris and Xang Lao Lane II; but having excuses for all three; Mori had the best French blanquette in the city, Stella was really French food by a Japanese chef and Xang was about all that was open for Sunday lunch.

However, this month, I broke my rule big time.

Looking at my sheet of foolscap where I’d noted all the places I wanted to eat, I noted only a few that really called to me. And the top ones were either pure ethnic or so ethnically tinged as to be most non-French.

On the spectrum from most non-French to most French, I’d have to say that my local dive Titalina, a Cape Verde/Portuguese place serving only a couple of daily specials now and box wine, is one of the purest. Certainly not a destination, if it weren’t meters from my apartment I wouldn’t have gone, though, it served genuinely indigenous food.

And then there was Shan Gout, whose sign outside was described by Alain Fusion as saying “special Chinese Restaurant,” which he thought was unnecessary, well, sorry Alain, and while my Mandarin is a bit rusty, it is very, very special. This is the Chinese version of Jadis - old recipes, cooked with modern ingredients, using modern culinary tools (fry pans not woks) and fresh products (so much so, the chef dashed out to pick up the fish about 12h45.) I’ve never had Chinese food of this quality in Hong Kong or from Chinese chefs in Sai Gon in the 60’s, China in the ‘70’s, San Francisco and New York since the ‘50’s and Paris more recently.

Issé on the other hand, is supposed to be a refined and nouvelle cuisined exemplar of Japanese food. In fact it was so refined and nouvelle that it was nigh tasteless. If this is the future, like Robert Fulford, I think it doesn’t work. In some ways nouvelling a cuisine means refining it to its essence and while the molecular boys may succeed much of the time, you can refine too much.

On the other end was yam’Tcha, which when I tried to pin my friends/colleagues/critics down about what sort of food was served, finally came up with Asian-influenced. For instance, the amuse bouche was a salad that could well have been served on a tatami in a Kyoto ryokan; but the foie gras and asparagus was definitely totally French except for the marinade for the asparagus. Tea, rather than wine was “paired” with the courses but the cheese course of mixed mascarpone and gorgonzola had passed through neither Hong Kong nor the Alps.

Or take Passage 53, where the chef, named M. Sato, is said to have worked at both Aida and l’Astrance which apparently resulted in a little of both rubbing off on him, so that Alexandre Cammas of Le Fooding called the result “half-terroir, half-Japanesy” food. The raw fish was as fine as one could get anywhere in Japan and the meat from Hugo Desnoyer as fine as this butcher to the chefs can do.

And then there was the revived Reminet, which used to be a purely French but was described by Emmanuel Rubin as passing from bistro to tourist food after it was taken over (A Nous Paris says) by a “globe-trotting” team who have passed through Polynesia, Madagascar, the Antilles and St Martin. As far as I’m concerned, their travels or travails have not rubbed off one iota on them, which is OK, because it’s pretty good French chow as is.

Places that broke precedent were:
Titalina
73, rue Duhesme in the 18th (Metro: Jules Joffrin)
T: 01.42.59.33.47
Closed Mondays
A la carte 20 €.

Shan Gout
22, rue Hector Malo, 12th (Metro: Gare de Lyon)
T: 01.43.40.62.14
Closed Mondays
A la carte about 30 €.

Issé
45, rue de Richelieu, 2nd, (Metro: Pyramides)
T: 01.42.96.26.60
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Lunch bento 35 €, dinner degustation 55 €, a la carte 25-40 €.

yam'Tcha [sic]
4, rue Sauval in the 1st, (Metro: Les Halles, Sentier)
T: 01 40 26 08 07
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
Lunch menu at 30 €, tasting menu 65 and dinner 45 €.

Passage 53
53 Passage des Panorama, 2nd, (Metro: Grands Boulevards)
T: 01 42 33 04 35
Closed Sundays
A la carte 38-44 €.

Le Reminet
3, rue des Grands-Degres, 5th (Metro : St Michel, Maubert-Mutualite)
T : 01.44.07.04.24
Open 7/7
Lunch menu 14 €, dinner a la carte 40-60 €.