My wife and I ate here back in October, 2014. We were initially a bit apprehensive about this place because its location on the extremely busy corner of Blvd de Rouchechouart and Rue des Martyrs made it seem like a tourist trap. Fortunately, the food - for the most part - proved that this place is for real.
The starters involved a pumpkin soup with hazelnuts and foie gras, and marinated Basque mushrooms with a poached egg and an herb pesto. The soup was comforting, if slightly under seasoned, though things came together nicely when you had all of the goodies on your spoon, and the flavor came out more once it cooled down.
The mushroom dish was better/more interesting: it consisted of an assortment of pickled wild mushrooms (so they were cold) with bits of sausage embedded in them, while the poached egg kind of tied it all together, and various herbs enhanced the flavor. While we wouldn't call this life-altering, it was quite good and you could tell some serious thought and care was put into it.
Things got alternately weird and exciting with the main dishes. My wife ordered a pan-seared saddle of lamb, which came with a dense bed of sautéed wild mushrooms with chorizo jus and little crunchy bits of chorizo, and my f-ing god, this is absolutely one of the best lamb dishes either of have ever had (and we've had plenty of great lamb dishes). The lamb itself was cooked to perfection - orgasmically tender, juicy, and exploding with flavor, with a perfect sear on the outer layer of fat. The wild mushrooms (an assortment of fresh chanterelle, oyster and hedgehog mushrooms) packed an intense flavor that harmonized with the lamb brilliantly, and the chorizo jus and some aggressive seasoning really tied everything together. This is one of those dishes that will *forever* remain etched in both of our memories.
The dish I ordered, sadly, was a total failure: braised veal shoulder in a reduction sauce with cauliflower and fries. While the meat was fork tender, the dish was unforgivably bland and woefully under seasoned. My wife felt bad for me and she generously swapped dishes midway through so that I could feast on her mind-blowing lamb. How the same place could put out one dish that was astoundingly life-altering and another that was so horribly, unremittingly bland is a bit mystifying, but this is certainly not the only place where my wife and I have encountered this.
We also savored a half carafe of some pretty damn good red wine, and we had an awesome table at a corner window that was perfect for people watching at the super bustling intersection.
Next time we're in Paris we'll be back, especially if there's lamb on the menu. read more