Pre: I'd like to believe I come to new restaurants with an open mind but since this place was so hyped and touted as one of the great openings of the rentree along with Maison and Fleur de Pave, and the cheffe, Amandine Chaignot, so celebrated for her stints at the Raphael in Paris and Rosewood in London, I couldn't help but be influenced.
5.4 Pouliche (which one translation site cites as “My Little Pony”) 11, rue d’Enghein in the 10th, 01.45.89.07.56, open 7/7, Wednesday veggies, Sunday no brunch but family food (Metro: Chateau D’Eau) certainly identifies itself brightly on the outside but on the inside is all raw grey concrete, forcing my co-diner and I to trip over steps in the dining area, “oh well, she said, maybe that’s the zeitgeist.”
Then they gave us the the menus: starters to share, choice of entree among fish (sea bass but I couldn’t hear what it was because of the noise - "must be the zeitgeist"), meat (duck with risotto - ditto) or veggies, dessert. Starters to share arrive: creamy soup, raw Brussels sprout salad and tiny mussels - we look at each other “maybe it’s the zeitgeist, let’s see if she can do better.” Then we both had strips of overcooked duck on top of creamy risotto with mushrooms “ok, no more, no less.” Finally the dessert, a hazelnut cake with an ice, only half of which we could eat, BUT they offered to provide a Tupperware box to home it.
Our bill (which had to be paid at a stand-in-line stand, I guess “it’s the zeitgeist,” with a Badoit and lovely wine, chosen by my wine-food writer friend, plus two coffees was 92.50€. Db’s were higher than the boo’s Trump got.
Go? If you believe the other sure-to-be glowing reviews, go for the 28€ no choice lunch, “zeitgeist” and all.
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