Ok, so when I read in December 2016 that Cyril Lignac, whom I’ve hated since “ Oui chef” had opened n Asiatic-inclined bar next door to his primo place Les Chardenoux I called to reserve. I thought I had reserved at the Bar but when I showed up - “Non, non, Monsieur” “you have no reservation, it must be next door” So I go next door and indeed, that’s where it was and where I ate a surprisingly normal but not exciting meal, despite my prejudices about the Chef. But eating at the Bar has been nagging me in the head ever since. This week I read a review by the reliable jdd critic, Aurelie Chaigneau, that glowingly gave it a 8/10, whoa, that got my attention.
6.9 Le Bar des Pres, 25, rue du Dragon in the 6th, open 7/7, 01.43.25.87.67 (Metro: ummm, no, but bus #95) is a really cool place with a terrific staff but one look at the carte tells you this is a cocktail and sushi place, hardly just Asiatically-influenced. My two pals had just come back from a trip to Japan and said “Whoops, were not quite ready to have more Japanese food.” Unfortunately, I had already ordered some wine (white, which was followed by a red, this being a “Jack Spratt” couple, you know, “one eats no fat, the other no lean”. So we couldn’t easily escape to my fallback place Le Dragon. Ok, suck it up and make the best of it.
All the dishes, except the sushi and sashimi were not small, but medium sized plates “to be shared,” so we had the poulpe (hated by one as tough, rubbery), a galette with the thinnest layered crab imaginable and slices of terrific ripe avocado, yellow tail tuna (that’s what it said in French), spicy tuna maki and then three mouchi balls, followed by one dessert - which is now lost to history.
Our bill, I dunno. One of my friends insisted, indeed demanded that he pick it up. His companion shrugged at me when I remonstrated, as if to say “it’s not my call.” The db level came out at 71.8.
Go back? Ahhhh. Hum, ok. The bait and switch in my title refers to our order of the red wine. They were out of what we ordered, “would we like the Beaujolais at only x more €? “ “No we would not.“ When everyone in the civilized and Western world, Russia and China has a three in one printer, the technology which costs 100€ at Darty, has been lost on Cyril Lignac.
Oy, as we say in the 18th. Maybe PDG, inside joke, Pretty Damn Good not CEO.
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