I couldn’t find any lunch openings at Alliance online, so I called them. They said yes, one spot was available on the 29th at 1:00! And when I gave the host/co-owner Shawn Joyeux my name, he remembered me despite the fact that my last visit was in 2017. It’s kind of spooky, but I do love this aspect of French hospitality.
This resto opened in 2015. It’s in the 5th arrondissement, just across the Seine from the Île Saint-Louis. It took them only two years to earn their first Michelin star. Chef Toshitaka Omiya worked with some of the best chefs in Paris after his arrival from Japan in 2001 - Patrick Pignol, Alain Passard, Eric Brieffard, Philippe Legendre and David Toutain - until he opened Alliance with Shawn Joyeux.
The mood is calm, refined, unrushed. It’s beautifully decorated in grey, white and gold with Korean paper art on the walls - nothing splashy, just a feeling of comfort. It seats about 30 people at round tables, each accommodating one to four guests. It’s a haven from the world just outside the door.
Rather than a charger, a simple twisted pottery ring was placed directly on the tablecloth to contain the crumbs that would inevitably fall from the bread and amuse-bouches - don’t worry, the waiter swept up the crumbs before the first course was served! The tableware is an interesting mix of handmade pottery and elegant flowing white porcelain.
For my apéritif and to go with of all my amuses, I had a 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs Champagne Copinet Marie - fresh, with hints of straw, parsley, celery, white flowers, grapefruit. Lovely!
Before the amuse-bouches I was served two perfect lighter-than-air gougères (choux pastries with Gruyère cheese) and some peppery crispy pastry straws. Perfect for the menu-studying portion of the afternoon!
Their menu is interesting. They offer an “Instant” option (preparations chosen by chef Toshi) and four other options, each centering on a main course but including a variety of amuse-bouches and other accompaniments. I went for a fascinating-sounding very young black-legged chicken which chef had rubbed with lobster coral and tarragon (I think the waiter said that chef inserts the coral under the skin) and allowed to cure/rest for at least a day before cooking à la minute (just before serving). The waiter suggested that, since the last-minute cooking takes a while, I might want to add a vegetable-based course as well. Yup! More about that later!
The first two amuse-bouche were wrapped in soaked rice paper. One was a carrot purée with orange oil and the other a celeriac purée with what I believe was a baby red Mizuna lettuce leaf (just slightly peppery). The rice paper was slightly chilled and the purées were room temperature, which provided a sensational (!) mix on the palate and just the wake-up call it needed.
My next amuse-bouche was foie gras and shallot mousse in a tiny brick pastry cone (it's propped up in a tin of dried corn in this photo) - so entertaining and brilliant - gotta figure out how to do this myself! Then, little pearls of a whitefish mousse on a hand-formed rice cracker which didn’t get in the way of the fairly intense mousse - clever!
Next, a Breton oyster that had been just-cooked in onions, sitting in a small pool of the braised onion jus and covered with a pillow of seafood mousse containing some little salty beads (either caviar or one of those molecular gastronomy concoctions) and topped with some micro herbs and crispy onions. Amazing! Now my palate was even more alert.
Then monkfish, lobster, and crab. On a stick! Battered-fried! You probably won’t find this at the Minnesota State Fair!
So, the vegetable course that my waiter recommended was artichokes three ways. There were razor-thin slices of raw artichoke on the bottom of the plate, then a layer of poached zingy wedges of artichoke heart, all topped with a sweet artichoke mousse that had been just-slightly singed to give it a wonderful toasty taste, all harmonized with plenty of coriander (which seems to be the signature herb for this trip!). Fa-a-a-a-n-tastic, but a lot of food! Vegetarians, this would be perfect for you!
Before the main course, a lobster broth was poured from an elegant glass teapot over a small bowl containing thin raw slices of Amanita caesarea mushroom (a non-poisonous variety of the Amanita genus; one of its cousins is the famous “death cap” mushroom!), dark-meat chicken, lobster and herbs. Stunning!
And finally, my main course. The breast meat from the black-legged chicken, cooked to just-pink, subtly enhanced with the lobster coral, with crispy and salty skin. On the side, some lobster claw meat fried in tempura batter, braised celeriac and spinach, lobster foam, and lobster shell demi glace. Holy moley. Worth the wait and every euro! Sadly, I was SO full that I had to leave a little of the chicken behind - I should have eaten only about half of the artichoke course so that I would have room for cheese and dessert. I joked with my waiter that next time I would come and order just the soup, cheese and dessert!
With my main course, a 2019 Domaine Pavelot Aloxe-Corton, a pinot noir from Burgundy. Peppery, sage, mushroomy, earthy. The course itself was perfectly balanced, so this wine didn’t need to “cut through” anything, it just needed to enhance the other flavors, which it did beautifully!
Here’s the cheese cart. Yikes. So gorgeous. I wanted a sample of each one. My waiter told me that the long rectangular option on the right was a goat cheese from an area near several rivers, intentionally made to look like a boat to celebrate its terroir. I nicknamed it the goat barge! It’s a very fresh cheese with a short shelf life, so I would have loved to try it, but alas, I was too gluttonous earlier in the meal. Let that be a lesson to me!
Even though I didn’t order dessert, my coffee was served with a selection of Mignardises - a financier, meringue, rice crisp, almond cookie, and chocolate sablé sandwich cookie. I did manage a nibble of each!
(Love the coffee cup with a "handle" encircling it that doesn't get hot!)
With my apéritif before the meal, Mr. Joyeux brought me a copy of “Thuries” magazine (a publication I hadn’t seen before) to peruse during my lunch. He told me that only once in a resto’s life can it be featured in this magazine, and they were selected this spring during the height of the pandemic when they were open only for “click and collect” service. So they had to take a few days to re-set the resto to look like it was ready for in-person service and then prepare several of their signature dishes (which weren’t available in the click-and-collect mode!) for photographing. He said that it was a lot of work, but they were so encouraged by being chosen for this honor, and it gave them hope that the pandemic would end soon for France.
Bonus: Mr. Joyeux invited me to take the magazine home with me! And it just so happens that my main course, the young black-legged chicken with lobster, was one of the dishes for which they provided photos and the recipe. Think I should try it?!?
Restaurant Alliance - 5, rue de Poissy 75005 Paris https://www.restaurant-alliance.fr/
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