As we were strolling away from the louvre and slightly lost, we chanced upon this contemporary Japanese restaurant, Zen. There are times when you look at a place and you sort of feel that it's kind of special. Sometimes your intuition fails you, other times it does you proud. Well, this time my intuition did me proud. Catch this chic and modern Japanese restaurant during lunch time like we did to get the best value. They were serving Ramen and a side of gyozas for just 9.90 euros! Best part was, everything was delectable. We got an additional side of Sake Maki for kicks, and it was satisfying too. The crispy and juicy gyozas were excellent, and so was the chashu, though I did wish that the ramen noodles had slightly more bite.
Zen
8 Rue de L'Échelle F, 75001 Paris 01
Tel: 01 42 61 93 99
I wouldn't miss visiting a fresh food market in Paris. Just soaking in the atmosphere was good enough. I always wanted to know what kind of ingredients Parisians have access to, and well, who wouldn't want to be able to buy bulots and oysters right from the markets, even if they cost twice as much as the ones in Cancale or Saint Malo?
My Michelin-starred restaurant of choice was Guy Martin's Sensing, mostly because their lunch menu sounded like a good deal at only 35 euros. Alas, an unfortunate misunderstanding caused them to serve us the Déjuener, same menu with wine pairings, at 55 euros instead. Not that it's a bad deal, it's still a pretty decent one, I just don't understand why they couldn't give us the 35 euros menu when we specifically told them we didn't want drinks. They looked really confused when we rejected the wine, asked if they could offer us water, and when I inquired if the water was included in the 35 euros menu, they said yes, and charged us 55 euros each, offering to let us take away the wine we didn't consume during our meal. A pretty huge lapse in service for a one Michelin star restaurant, if you ask me. In terms of food, the entrées were the stars. The asparagus soup was beautifully presented and flavourful, but it's the crab that took the cake. The combination of the sauce and crab meat was amazing.
The black potatoes gnocchi and the fish itself were only okay. My favourite part was the strip of deep fried fish skin which was absolutely delectable. There was a choice of cheese or dessert to end the meal, and they were clearly very generous with the cheese. The meal ended with a platter of sweets after we found out that we had been mistakenly served the Déjuener, and therefore asked for coffee. In the end, we left the restaurant not quite impressed, with a bottle of red wine in our hands.
Sensing
19 Rue Bréa, 75006 Paris
Tel: 01 43 27 08 80
Spinning Around in Gastronomic Paris, France, Part 1
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