Restaurant Aldéhyde received its first Michelin star this year. And it’s a block-and-a-half from my apartment – staggering distance! Part of the trail is a courtyard entrance paved with those lovely ancient rounded stones, so it’s extra cautious staggering for that segment! But I made it safely there and back home for lunch today. It’s perfectly accessible for the mobility-challenged, with just a tiny step up from the sidewalk.
And what a lunch! It started with a terrific Champagne Brimoncourt Brut Régence (mostly Chardonay with some Pinot Noir) – fresh, slightly sweet, suggestions of pear and peach and rosemary, tiny bubbles – delicious alone and it beautifully enhanced my first courses.
The amuse bouche was a finely chopped broccoli and tarragon tartare, which I think was bound with olive oil, topped with little dollops of sunchoke purée and a green pepper purée enhanced with just enough Tabasco-type hot sauce to wake you up and make your tongue tingle! They served a terrific very-crunchy-crusted bread with Spanish olive oil.
Then came several small ravioli stuffed with duck confit, on a bed of braised leeks, topped with crispy leeks, in a pool of cilantro emulsion, dusted with with some dried powdered thyme (I think). WOW! Warming, rejuvenating, deep, pillowy, earthy, just fatty enough. Satisfying while leaving enough stomach space for the next courses! With it, the herbal qualities of the Champagne came forward.
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| before the "sauce" was added |
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| with the "sauce" |
Next, my fish course – the most tender and sweet and pure barely-cooked trout, slightly warm (cooked sous vide?) with a small skinned tomato stuffed with trout liver! A “sauce” of halved cherry tomatoes, hazelnuts, red onion and (I think) cacao nibs in a well-balanced vinaigrette was spooned over the dish. Amazing contrast of textures and flavors and levels of acidity that stimulated all areas of the palate.
I went for a delightful Spanish medium-intensity dry red wine Alto las Cuestas (Grenache) with my meat, cheese and dessert courses. Senses of cherry and cassis, parsley, grape stems, birch, and leeks. I loved the tastes and the way it tamed the spicy elements of the final dishes.
So for my meat course, pristine moist rich lightly roasted chicken breast and more darkly roasted leg meat, slightly spicy red pepper purée seasoned with za’atar, and a small red pepper stuffed with an herbed cheese, all in a pool of delicious chicken stock. On the side, a little pastry basket containing all the flavors of the dish, sitting on a dab of hot sauce, to be consumed in one bite after the rest of the plate was eaten – so clever! Again, fabulously skillful blending of flavors and senses and textures that all worked together and complemented each other. Brilliant!
I’m in France, so of course I need a cheese course before dessert! Goat cheese chunks and a bit of Szechuan pepper flavored vinegar were in the bottom of this bowl. It was topped with cheesy foam, fresh figs, fig compote, and olive oil also spiced with Szechuan pepper. A great mix of fresh and sweet and hot, and the wine’s woodiness blossomed with this course!
And a real eye-opener for dessert, in more ways than one! An almond sablé style cookie, fresh honeydew strips and purée, melon sorbet, dollops of cantaloupe and jalapeño (yup!) gels. Wow! The sensation of the cold sorbet against the jalapeño gel was delightful, and the whole dish just worked! I'm pretty sure that I've never had jalapeño in a dessert before!
Finally a very strong very hot very delicious espresso with an apricot-violet jelly and a tiny financier. What a meal!
Almost all of the 20+ seats were full. The sound system was low, the conversations were quiet, registering about 60-70dB most of the time. I heard a mix of languages around me, but the common denominator with wait staff was English.
You can bet I'll be back, hopefully for dinner next time so that I can sample more of Chef Youssef Marzouk's classical yet imaginative French cuisine (with Tunisian influences). He graduated top of his class in chemistry before following in his parents' footsteps into the culinary world, so it's perhaps not surprising that he named his first resto after the molecule contained in coriander, thus reflecting the distinctive character of his cuisine!
Aldéhyde. 5 rue du Pont Louis Philippe 75004. One Michelin star. https://aldehyde.paris/
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| the view from my table |
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