16-03-2013

Paris on the go

Ducasse guides us, this time, among fusion restaurants and modern style brasseries

Adeline Grattard of the Yam'Tcha restaurant in Rue

Adeline Grattard of the Yam'Tcha restaurant in Rue Saval, tel. +33.(0)1.40260807. Married to Chiwah, a man from Hong Kong, according to Alain Ducasse she’s the author of an "astonishing” cuisine, one “filled with her love for Asia, with sweet and bitter flavours, and light cooking processes" (foto Paris-Lifestyle)

see part one

A walk across town should also guide you to contemporary Paris. The ancient caesura between the rive gauche and rive droite fades, while the most dynamic neighbourhoods are often to the East. Mama Shelter for instance, is only 200 metres from Père Lachaise. You might go there for the trendy atmosphere and the decor designed by Philippe Starck, but you will also find the nice surprise of a simple and tasty menu, created by Alain Senderens. Or there’s the Chateaubriand, +33.(0)1.43574595, only a few minutes from Canal Saint Martin. Inaki Aizpitarte will serve you an eccentric cuisine, based on culinary pairings mastered with great skill.

Christophe Vasseur, baker of Du pain et des idées

Christophe Vasseur, baker of Du pain et des idées

And since you’re in the area, visit Christophe Vasseur’s Du pain et des idées bakery. You’ll devour his «pain des amis» as if it were a cake! Paris, after all, is evolving, and thus is its cuisine. With no complexes or taboos. Three examples. First of all Yam’Tcha (4 rue Sauval, +33.(0)1.40260807), which I’d define as astonishing. In the kitchen, there’s Adeline Grattard, previously at the Astrance, sided by her husband Chiwah, whom she met in Hong Kong. A crucial detail: Adeline’s cuisine is filled with her love for Asia. Sweet and bitter flavours, light cooking processes, a great moment.

Another example: Kei, Kei Kobayashi’s restaurant. He discovered French cuisine at the age of 9, after seeing Alain Chapel on television. His journey has led him to the Plaza Athénée, which he left last year in order to take over Gérard Besson’s restaurant. Here he serves a perfect cuisine, revived by delicate Japanese influences. Finally, there’s Spring, a warm place run by Daniel Rose, with a few tables and a snack bar where one can taste some nibbles while sipping his wines. Indeed, for this American is really a master of French wines. All these examples demonstrate that contemporary French cuisine is open to the world, it is alive, it knows how to seduce beyond its frontiers and it also knows how to include the talents and trends that come from abroad.

Alain Ducasse with Jacques Maximin chez Rech (foto Gilles Pudlowski)

Alain Ducasse with Jacques Maximin chez Rech (foto Gilles Pudlowski)

This vitality is expressed also in the reinterpretations of traditional Parisian bistrots and brasseries. At the Rech, the Jacques Maximin-Adrien Trouilloud duo does marvels with the fish and other sea products theme. Ray wings, mullets, sardines, sea-bass, grey mullets… Paris is transformed into a sea-port! At David Rathgeber’s Assiette you can dive into a «tasty and rascal cuisine», to use his own words. The territory of Auvergne is reinterpreted with as much talent as humour. The Parisian bistrot is, in fact, an institution rooted into the different regional cuisines.

Having mentioned the Auvergne area, there’s also Lion, which inspires Aux Lyonnais: established over 120 years ago, it is as lively as in its early days. Many dishes still in the menu are a testimony of this descent, such as the White-clawed crayfish soup or the Sausage in a brioche.

A tasty stroll in Paris knows no limit except the physical strength when walking. It would still be necessary to mention the delicious food offered in the Marais neighbourhood, the passages opening on boulevard de Strasbourg, a few more open air markets, the shops selling cheese, delicatessen and excellent pastries. This is why this city is charming: there’s always yet another road to cross, a corner to turn in order to see, hear, taste the character of a neighbourhood. And then you can return, again and again, because the city is continually evolving. And it continually offers new emotions.

2. the end


Dal Mondo

Reviews, recommendations and trends from the four corners of the planet, signed by all the authors of Identità Golose

by

Alain Ducasse

Frenchman, born in 1956 in Castel-Sarrazin, Aquitaine, is one of the most celebrated haute cuisine chef. Chief of a group including 27 restaurants in the world

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