Pre: "Have you been here before, John?" my friends ask. "Yes and no; I have been here, when Charles Compagnon owned it and I loved the food dished out by Kevin O'Donnell, but they are gone replaced by new decor, owner and chef."
8.2 L'Office, 3, rue Richer in the 9th, 01.47.70.67.31, closed weekends (Metro: Chateau d'Eau) looks much the same as it did for the last decade but the new team has brought forth a sea change in its food. The menu looks deceptively simple but the dishes themselves are anything but.
Of the four entrees that were offered the broccoli and tartare of maigre spoke most beckoningly to us. I'm still trying to figure out how the chef got so much flavor and seasoning into such a simple looking sauce - it was astonishing.
Then the table split between decorticated shrimp in a rich bouillon with cereal wafers and what was called "beef Wellington" but was not the whole roast beef but very big pieces cooked perfectly and individually inside a pastry flecked with seeds and cereal grains with a rich pepper sauce; again a dish that looked so simple but was, in reality, complex, incredibly flavorful and hard not to love immediately.
At this point, I think we all were full and didn't "need" dessert but we "wanted" it. And again, what came out was much more complex and flavorful than what we expected: a chocolate ball of ice cream, small babas au rhum and what was called cheesecake but I'd call a mousse of passion and mango on a pie crust.
Our bill, with two bottles of Chinon and two coffees was 260.60 E or 130.30 E a couple. dB's = 66.2 when it was quiet but it got to a shouting level quickly.
Go back? To the most inventive meal of 2019? I'm almost afraid that I'll be disappointed, but you bet.
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