Pierre Sang in Oberkampf

I had a few friends plan a pretty amazing get together in Paris last week- 3 flew in from New York, 1 from Florence (Italy) and another that took the train from London. They stayed for 7 days, the equivalent of “21 meals!’ according to Huimin. We obviously managed to fit in about 35 meals in total, I believe- I wouldn’t have settled for anything less when I have foodie friends visiting.

One of the first places we hit up for dinner was Pierre Sang in Oberkampf. Trending in restaurants in Paris is the “no choice prix fixe menu”, where you literally do not get to choose anything other than your choice of wine for a meal. I actually really love this idea because everything you eat is a surprise, and most of the time, seasonal and fresh and just so goddamn tasty.
At Pierre Sang, they don’t even hand you a menu of any sort  and only explain the dish to you after you have eaten it. Definitely an interesting way to have dinner- we spent most of the time deconstructing our dishes and guessing at ingredients.

Started off our meal with a sparkling vouvray (chenin blanc) that had no sugar or yeast added, as explained by our waiter. Still wondering if this was forced carbonation of some sort, how else do you get a wine to be sparkling without yeast? Still, a not too dry sparkling (relatively ‘sweet’ even without any additional sugar) wine to start our meal with!

The first dish we had was little pieces of razor clams (not whole) with peas, asparagus, carrot foam. I completely forgot to take down what that little white powder was, but it was almost like shaved cheese ice of some sort. Cheese snow, I want to call it 🙂

The next was artichoke braised in some sort of ginger infused reduction of octopus and artichoke, octopus (the word for octopus in french is PULPO, gotta love the french for that 🙂 ), beet root shoots, and rice cracker crumbles.

Tempura battered andouilletes, albacore tuna, bearnaise sauce. A really cool play in textures.

Braised lamb with confit potatoes, mandolin sliced radish, with a lamb (and garlic infused) reduction

The infamous mont d’or

Dessert: Opera cake, almond butter cake, avocado macaroon, white chocolate sauce.

My dinner dates for that night, and my foodie buddies for the entire week! We only paid 35 euros per person for our dinner, excluding wine, which I thought was really reasonable for the dishes we got. This is what is awesome about Paris and this new anti-fine-dining sentiment with all the young chefs here. People are tired of fussy expensive food- all we want is to eat a tasty, delicious, innovative and interesting dish and not burn a whole in our pockets while doing so. It might have been too much to ask about 5 years ago, but now thankfully, it’s becoming more the norm 🙂

Je Kiffe Au Passage!

There seems to have been a trend towards casual restaurants serving french-style tapas and a selection of inexpensive wines catering to the younger, bobo-esque crowd in Paris. Au Passage is one such place focused on market fresh ingredients with a menu that changes daily and a pretty sick list of super value for money wines! Au Passage’s location is somewhat low-key, wedged between two small lanes with a very simple and non-descripto facade. If you were to walk past without knowing that it was located at that very spot, you wouldn’t give the restaurant a second glance. The only reason we had any knowledge of the place was because of the millions of rave reviews online! Olivia, Britt, Reed and myself decided to check out the hype after a long day at school. We got there at 7:30pm and were the first ones in the restaurant– still can’t comprehend how the french can eat so late! But anyhow, it was a good decision to mke our way there early because there was only one table that was without a reservation, phew! We started off the night with a delicious and fruity red wine from Beaujolais. And then followed with another red, and a sweet rose dessert wine (both of which I don’t remember the names of and didn’t take a photo of because we were all too excited with consuming everything that was brought to the table).

Appellation Morgon, Beaujolais, Burgundy

saucisson platter

beets and chevre cheese, beet chips and cherries

Loved the cherries in this dish!

 

This was definitely a dish to remember. The squid was so goddamn tender! It almost semed like it melted in my mouth. Definitely sous vide, i bet! With a savoury squid ink sauce and a garnish of parsley for some kick and OOMPH.

escargots

Au Passage’s take on the escargots, served on a piece of toast.

hamachi sashimi

Leeks with stuff we couldn’t figure out. Tis is the problem with the simplicity of the restaurant, being unable to decipher what goes into a dish which is probably best for the restaurant, I guess. Although it really drives me crazy when I’m unable to identify an ingredient in a dish, especially when it’s so goddamn delicious.

doughnuts

Pain perdu with creme anglaise

This was one helluva dessert that was so simple yet so well done! French toast with creme anglaise, how unexciting it sounds but what a rindonkulously decliious dessert!

We also had a few more plates of food that I didn’t manage to take pictures of before everyone at the table devoured it. One of which was a sick rendition of a foie gras pate! I think they called it a Foie Gras parfait, served as a cut block of pate that was so creamy and rich but sooo light at the same time! Mousse like texture with an amazing flavor! I bolded that so you would notice, if you were just looking through the photos on this post and missed out on reading the text, this is the only thing you need to really read! ORDER THE FOIE GRAS PARFAIT if they have it on the menu.

The bill came up to about 45 euros per person, which I thought was super reasonable for the amount we ate and for the 3 bottles of wine that we had. Definitely going to be back a few more times while I’m here.
I love the simplicity but subtle quirkiness of the decor, the dark wood tables and chairs, the extensive and amazing and value-for-money wine list, the ever-changing seasonal menu, the deliciousness of every single plate that came out and als the overall unpretentiousness of the place. This is the kind of restaurant/establishment I would like to own one day. I’m gathering resources and trying new things, getting one step closer each day!