7.25 Jouvence, 172 bis, rue du Faubourg St-Antoine in the 12th, 01.56.58.04.73, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Faidherbe-Chaligny) features the exciting cooking of a young chef, Romain Thibault, ex-Pintxo, ex-Antre Amis plus the wine expertise and warm reception of the couple in the front room, which you can see has walls of nicely-priced wines for sale or drinkage. The menu is substantial, from the market (Aligre) and the bread is house made and warm.
As a first I chose accras, those beignets of morue, of which American cod cakes are a sad imitation. When I asked for the wine list, the jolly master of the wines said "I'm it." And while I'm not one for wine pairings, he delivered me three glasses of wine which complemented my three courses perfectly. This first was fruity and strong enough to handle the spicy interior of the cod balls.
My main course was a soup in which were cooked mussels and coques and maybe a baby scallop or two with Noirmoutier potatoes (too many for my appetite); and with it I had another white, which also complemented the seafood perfectly.
I finished with a choco-choco-caramel with mint/ginger concoction; again perfectly complimented by a red wine named Hébé - appropriately I commented for a restaurant named youth.
My bill with no bottled water but a fine coffee, was 59.50, which if ordered a bottle of wine for a couple, would look more like 111.00 E a couple. dB = 72.8
Go? Chef Romain Thibault has a deft hand with superb ingredients, a wonderful staff and the sort of place that I predict will become an instant hit once everyone is back from vacation.
Recent Comments