What a wonderful place to have a sampling of Asian appetizers for lunch on aa wet, partly sunny in…read moreParis on a January afternoon.
We were staying near the area and happened to pass by this place as we were searching for a place to grab a bite. It's a small indoor cafe, but two things stuck out: the friendliness of the greeter (who we later found out is the owner) and that the dumplings were being handcrafted fresh by ladies right in front. We were seated at the last available seating for two, and there was a carafe of still water right there (with a sprig of mint for flavor). The restaurant emphasizes the fusion element (mainly between Chinese-dim-sum and Japanese Gyoza). We got two plates from the 'Les Compositions' menu: Menu (Dim Sum) Star (15.90€) and Menu Gyoza (14.90€). The Gyoza plate came out first, consisting of 4 meat dumplings and 4 veggie dumplings (you can tell the difference by the color of the wrapper). The plate also had medium grain rice, and seaweed salad, and a dipping sauce (soy vinegar). The dim sum plate came in two personalized size steam baskets that came JUST out of the steamer (all of it was very freshly hot, which was great). It came with rice, dipping sauce, and edamame (which is why it is called fusion, I guess). Everything was good, very fresh, and steaming hot. Obviously it depended on personal preference for fillings (we both like meat fillings a lot more than vegetarian). The size was perfect for the two of us for lunch, and we finally sated our (good) rice fix after a 12 day absence.
As we were finishing, the greeter came over, and asked us to write something in a guest book. Kinda neat, so my wife wrote a nice greeting. We learned that she was Anne, the owner, and when she noticed that we were from Cali, she pointed us to a different guest book that had been signed by a famous California resident. We struck up a conversation, and paid by credit card. We left the restaurant really happy (it helped that the sun peeked out as we went outside as well). Ann was really cool, and love how a place like this exists (probably all over the city) without much hoopla.