Le Dauphin

A very unique looking restaurant in a very unassuming block of town.  Decor is very casual and service is fast.  The menu was easy to order, two sets of fixed menu and a list of wines.

A bar in the middle of a small restaurant.

Ordered both sets of fixed menu, first sets of appetizer (Entrees).  Herb salad with goat cheese, eel, and fennel with passion fruit seeds.  The salad is very refreshing, crispy and aromatic.  The unique combinations of licorice (fennel), fragrant (passion fruit seeds), and tartness (dressing) created a flavor that I’ve never experienced before.  The eel adds a nice addition of protein to the dish however, flavor wise it really didn’t need it.

Bonito, raw cockles, smoked eggplant, and mandarin oranges, with greens.   Again the combination of flavor really blew me away.  Fresh bonito sliced sashimi style paired well with the unique sea flavor of raw cockles.  Smoked eggplant adds smokiness to the dish.  Roasted green onions add sweetness while the mandarin oranges add citrus acting as dressing.

Another shot of the raw cockles.

Of course every place you go in Paris you are served with a bowl/basket of French baguette.

The main courses (Plats), anglerfish, carrots, currents, sorrel, and bulgur wheat with spice.   The fish was cooked to perfection.  The spice was like Indian style curry.  The currents add sweetness.  Sorrel adds a citrus flavor.  Carrots prepared in two different ways which makes this dish unique.  Soft, stewed carrots have a completely different flavor and texture than thinly sliced crunchy raw carrots.   I really appreciate what the chef is doing here, I’ve never thought to put two very different preparations of the same vegetable in the same dish.

Veal hanger steak (cooked to perfection as well), prepared exactly the same way as the other main course, shows same preparation works with both seafood and red meat.

Desserts, cheese of the day, looks and tasted like Saint-Nectaire which is a cow’s milk cheese served with some greens drizzle with olive oil and side of butter for your baguette.

Freeze dried raspberries, fresh strawberries, and preserved lemon peel, with sabayon foam.  The Freeze dried raspberries adds crunch, the fresh strawberries adds sweetness, and the preserved lemon peel adds tartness with the cream foam bringing it all together in harmony.

The waiter recommended an excellent white wine (Languedoc Roussilon) to go with both sets of fixed menu.

The coffee was great, nice and strong.

Overall an amazing experience.  Flavor combinations I’ve never experienced before, and priced well compared to other restaurants around Paris.

Inaki Aizpitarte, the own/ chef of Le Dauphin and Le Chateaubriand in Paris.  A celebrity chef that you actually see at his restaurant running the show.

I’ve read, heard, and seen that he is currently the best chef in Paris.  I was somewhat skeptical at first but after this meal, I have become a true believer.  A new breed of chef that others will follow in his inventive neo-French cuisine.

31, avenue Parmentier
75011 Paris

Rating: ●●●●●