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Poussin: wine bar and wine cellar restaurant – 12 rue Cheroy, Paris 17th
A wonderful welcome at this little wine bar in the Batignolles! The décor is very pleasant; you come here to enjoy lovely wines and share tapas dishes.
Their specialties: charcuterie, croque comté, beef tataki, patatas bravas, pimientos del Padrón… Lovely dishes at reasonable prices!
We thoroughly enjoyed several tapas, in particular the perfectly seasoned beef tataki, and we chose the domaine de La Petite Odyssée (Antoine Bernardin), cuvée Saillant 2021 to accompany our sharing plates.
A very lovely biodynamic red wine from the Haute-Garonne with a rich and captivating aromatic palette! This blend of Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon offers deep notes of ripe red fruits, touches of spice and cacao, a lovely well-balanced tannic structure and a persistent finish!
The perfect spot for after-work drinks or a date — we'll let you decide.
Saisons – 50 rue du Château, Asnières-sur-Seine
You are now beginning to know this address where we go regularly — that says a lot about how well we are received! Yet another fabulous team dinner at Saisons – Cuisine du Marché with a wonderful welcome from Frédérique and her son Simon.
A meticulously crafted menu prepared especially for our team, featuring highly elaborate dishes bursting with flavor, as well as great wines enjoyed to celebrate the year-end with colleagues.
Let's go.
A delicious red kuri squash soup with grilled mushrooms and spicy sauce, followed by a magnificent tuna steak beautifully surrounded by lovely condiments (lemon, lovage) for the starters.
And then, WOW: magnificent food and wine pairings with some very impressive bottles.
Philippe Pacalet, Puligny Montrachet 2019: it is very lovely, perhaps still a little young, but so pleasant to enjoy already! A very beautiful aromatic richness after quite a bit of aeration: fresh notes of white flowers and white fruits, an ample texture, complexity following 1 year of aging on lees… Very lovely!
Coche Dury Meursault 2008: with this blind tasting sleeve, as usual, no one knows what to expect, except for the person who chose it… 9 pairs of eyes immediately went wide open after the first nose.
You sense that this is a very fine wine. Meursault is not so difficult to guess: butter, brioche, honey, hazelnut, yeast and oak aging, intense notes… We already revel so much in the nose alone. On the palate, it is pure ecstasy. A magnificent roundness, a silky texture, still that buttery and toasted character — it is simply extraordinary.
One of us dares to say "it's a Meursault from Coche," even though you never quite know what the bosses will put on the table… And indeed it is — a resounding yes! Vintage 2008, far better in white than in red when it comes to Burgundy.
Bouchard Père et Fils Corton Charlemagne 1987: the wine pairs perfectly with our second fish-based starter! A fine wine with notes of citrus, honey and a hint of toastiness. Freshness, roundness, balance — it is superb, even past its peak.
On to the main course. Simon treated us to a delicious pigeon with beet reduction, beet purée and beet pickles. An absolute delight — beet lovers, you are in for a treat!
Tender, flavorful, well-seasoned and beautifully accompanied…
L'Anglore Tavel 2021: always a pleasure to enjoy. Some members of the team are not great fans, but Tavel remains for almost everyone one of the best cuvées from this estate. A fruit bomb.
Clos Rougeard Le Bourg 1989: as with Coche Dury, you sense you are dealing with a truly great contender. It is grand, very grand. Dense, thoroughbred, complexity that leaves us speechless, exceptional length and finesse.
Domaine du Colombier Hermitage 1999: you sense a touch of well-integrated stems (a green note that is not at all off-putting and adds complexity), peppery notes, fruit, toastiness… On the palate, it is fleshy, with tannins that have become supple… We all lean towards a syrah; Hermitage is among the guesses around the table, and we all agree that it has some age. And so here is a beautiful Hermitage 1999!
Trévallon 1982: incredible! It joins the club of Coche Dury and De Rougeard, also earning a place on the podium of the evening.
What a revelation!
For dessert, a magnificent creation centered on pear, vanilla and pecans. A delight elevated by a delicious Sauternes: Château Filhot 1986.
Yet another magnificent evening with wines that are far from being forgotten! We even got to taste them again at the office the next day!
La Cantine de Samuel – 11 rue Fourcroy, Paris 17th
Yet another great little address in the 17th arrondissement of Paris: a relaxed atmosphere, no fuss, good brasserie dishes and a warm décor. You enjoy your food and wines surrounded by bottles, and you feel right at home. A particular fondness for the hand-cut steak tartare with fries and the duck parmentier: great French brasserie classics that always delight and won't break the bank.
Some enjoyable wines to accompany everything — our choice fell on Les Meyssonniers from Chapoutier. A reliable reference often found in this type of place, and it never disappoints.
Le 6 Paul Bert – 6 rue Paul Bert, Paris 11
An excellent address that was revamped for its reopening with chef Pauline Séné! Yet another former Top Chef contestant who excels in a restaurant you rush to visit.
New décor: retro café tables, zinc bar, concrete walls… A very pleasant atmosphere with a view of the kitchen!
A very warm welcome, a varied wine list featuring estates more or less well known, but you always find something to your liking.
Starter centered on butternut squash, chestnut, dill, confit shallot and almond as well as tarama: an absolute delight, perfectly seasoned and very well paired with the cuvée Nuage Blanc du Domaine du 7 (Anjou).
For the main course, veal sweetbreads Aillaud! Delicious veal sweetbreads (and we have high standards in this regard) paired with a beautiful cuvée from Laura Aillaud – Amorcito, which, beyond the rhyme, perfectly accompanied our dish. A lovely blend of syrah, carignan, grenache and grenache blanc to make our hearts sing in this restaurant!
Plénitude, Arnaud Donckele – 8 quai du Louvre, Paris 1st
Simply WOW.
If you can visit this restaurant once in your lifetime, it is clearly worth the trip.
A magnificent menu in a fantastic setting — Chef Donckele knows how to delight and even invites us to move around the restaurant during the tasting…
A succession of delicious dishes and an ecstasy of unforgettable wines:
Sardine, leek, marigold
Market Garden Symphony
Langoustine, squash, rosemary
Scallops, Seaweed, Caviar
While savoring a fabulous Rully 1er Cru Le Meix Cadot from Dureuil-Janthial — wonderful!
Poultry, Viroflay, Soft Apple
Hare à la Royale: not on the menu — a little surprise from the chef on the fly!
For the cheese course, we move to a small cheese corner where we are served whatever we wish: there is an extraordinary selection and wheels of indecent proportions.
All accompanied by a delicious wine from Italy from the Foradori estate (Sgarzon Teroldego 2016), a great wine from the Dolomites — an absolute delight.
A little nod to the chef's origins, before we move on to a trou Normand enjoyed in the kitchen. Another short stroll to aid digestion and immerse ourselves in the heart of the restaurant.
For dessert, still staying true to Arnaud Donckele's roots, an affectionate nod to Normandy: apple, cinnamon, calvados, or a magnificent chocolate and pecan dessert. Petits fours with coffee, naturally.
A huge bravo. You do need to spend a fair sum, but it is a unique experience with dishes you remember for the rest of your life.
Alliance – Paris 5, 5 Rue de Poissy
A magnificent address in the Parisian Latin Quarter! 1 Michelin star for chef Toshitaka Omiya at this magnificent restaurant!
Discover the superb menu we were treated to:
Raw oyster, roquefort and Granny Smith apple
Pâté en Croûte: pheasant, wood pigeon and duck foie gras
Potato gnocchi, Krystal caviar and white wine sauce
Black-legged poulette truffled with lobster coral: thigh broth and lobster claw; roasted supreme, stuffed cabbage and shell jus
Mallard duck, beetroot in salt crust and royal sauce
Smoked chocolate, milk chocolate cream
Petits fours
Quite a revelation!
We enjoyed excellent wines: if the standard was high on the plate, it was equally high in the glass!
Jacques Carillon, Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Les Referts 2013: a superb nose of citrus, white flowers, fresh butter, a hint of hazelnut and a pronounced mineral backbone. It is very lovely. On the palate, it is precise and taut, with a beautiful freshness and a saline touch, as well as a few subtle notes from the aging that add complexity. A true delight.
Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches 2000: we follow up with another superb white!
Incidentally, a little anecdote: the Clos des Mouches gets its name from the beehives that the winemakers kept on this plot — "Mouche" being the more refined way to say "bee" in the past.
Anecdote aside, let us now focus on the sensations: it is honeyed, with hints of almond and lemongrass, intense flavors of toasted almonds and hazelnuts. Excellent!
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Sylvie Esmonin Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Clos Saint Jacques 2014:
On the nose, it is an explosion of dark fruits (blackcurrant, blackberry), notes of violet, black pepper and a touch of well-integrated oak — already very inviting! The palate is structured and powerful, with silky tannins and a beautiful freshness, as well as a certain minerality, lending tremendous balance to this fine wine!
Auguste Clape Cornas 2013:
Superb — powerful dark fruits, pepper, leather, smoke… Very typical of the granitic terroir of Cornas. The tannins are still present but elegant, with beautiful notes of tapenade and graphite, also typical of the terroir.
Vieux Château Certan 1989:
1989 is a particularly outstanding vintage. Vieux Château Certan being a very great wine from the Right Bank in Pomerol, close to Pétrus, it lives up to the reputation of the great 1989 vintage! It has developed exceptional finesse over time, while retaining a fabulous concentration and richness with all the aromas of evolved Bordeaux wines that we love: undergrowth, tobacco, a chocolaty and mentholated character, blood, iron… We appreciate it immensely!
And for dessert, nothing beats a fine Porto, even more so when it has some age: Porto Colheita 1937 — magnificent intense aromas of citrus, dried fruits and apricot. It is juicy and velvety, the perfect ending to a wonderful dinner!
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