7.1 Le MiniPalais, Grand Palais (SE crnr), ave Winston Churchill in the 8th, 01.42.56.42.42, open 7/7 is now under the houlette of Eric Frechon; when last I ate here, it was overseen by Gilles Choukroun and I ate with my charming cohost at another (TBF) website.
At that time (Sept 07) I said it was a "3.5" and "stunningly beautiful; edgy inside and luxurious columned terrace outside......[but that we had] mixed results. The bread and amuse gueule (a cold brandade) were terrific. Her first, a melon gazpacho, intensely flavored with a clever brandy-snifter stopper of melon ice and a little tartine of OK coppa, was terrific; my mixture of celery remoulade, foie gras shavings and pop corn was a bit too much, and the celery over-salted to boot. Then she had another entrée, a so-called spring roll of a bunch of raw haricots verts wrapped tightly with microtome-sliced smoked salmon and then thin-rice paper and sliced into 5-6 little wheels – a beautiful presentation with little taste; and I had the tartare of beef (which came MBC, mango-basil-coriander, as did the RFC’s at the Café Very in June) with real fine, real frites and a good salad. With a nice Marcillac, no desserts but two coffees, our bill was 79 €, which may not sound pricey but which both of us agreed did not meet our price/quality standards. Go? For the setting yes, but it slips back to l’Angl’Opera-type stuff even more than the Café Very, which if you like, you should go."
Well, it's a whole new ballgame under Eric Frechon. I'd been going out to the 19th to La Verriere→Le Restaurant d'Eric Frechon→Eric Frechon since 1995 after my food-sniffer Paga discoved it in this godforsaken place (that Colette loved because of the next-door Buttes Chaumont) and whether it was 190 or later 290 FF, for four courses, it was great grub. I did not bedrudge him going back to the Bristol in 1999 nor getting star after star until he had three ten years later - he deserved them and the 300 E pp freight, but all four of us stopped going.
Thus, when I read he was taking over direction of the MiniPalais I was thrilled. I went with my buddy, the architectural historian/restorer of lost causes/writer/photographer/singer/general philosopher/commentator on life/etc. and my heart sank when I saw blinking yellow lights, plywood and all the bulldozers and forklifts surrounding it. What had I gotten us into?
But no, inside it was gorgeous, stunning, beautiful and I breathed freely. Before ordering they served an amuse bouche of a mini-brioche but my friend thought was more "a hybrid living somewhere between pâte au choux and popovers, i.e. no yeast," that was very very tasty. Then I decided to have the formula (28 E for two dishes) and he two entrees with dessert (32 E); not bad eh for three-star grub?
He then had a tempura of gambas and I a friture of merlan with a lovely tartare sauce and (herbed) chips, that were the only disappointing things this meal.
He wound up (and generously shared with me) with one of the best desserts of the year; what was called a sabayon (semi-freddo/mousse/ice sort of) with chocolate and beurre sale caramel - heaven.
The bill, with a bottle of wine, no bottled water, decent bread and two coffees that came with minibeignets, was 92.00 E. Beat that!
As we were finishing they brought by this weirdly wonderful dessert we had to ask about - it was called a "crazy pot", I hope the cat from Restovisio.com who was video-ing everything got a shot of it, cuz it was a sight to see.
Go? Colette arrives in 18 days and this will be one of our first stops.
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