Tondo - Bring your magnifying glasses

Fresh from manning the helm at the overrated (and now defunct) Roseval, chef Simone Tondo has now taken over the helm at the ex-La Gazzetta, a venue I've written about on this site a few times before.   La Gazzetta descended from the pinnacle after the departure of phenom Swedish chef Petter Nilsson and was just never the same.  It eventually closed in, what, something like early 2015?  In its place, with a modest sprucing up of the interior, is chef Tondo's incarnation, the aptly named Tondo.

As with Fulgurances (see my previous post), Tondo has quickly gotten a lot of positive buzz - Le Fooding, Telerama, all the usual suspects.

I've always appreciated the interior at 29 rue de Cotte - two large rooms, a well-appointed bar just past the entrance in the front room.  Co. and I were led to a table in the quiet, dimly-lit back room and quickly decided on the 7 plates for 60 euros menu over the 4 plates for 45 euros alternative.  What can I say that makes any sense?  Not much, many have told me.  What I mean is, the food looked great, but somehow underwhelmed.  There was nothing out of the 7 plates that made me drop my jaw (or my fork, whichever came first) and say 'wow, this is excellent,' or 'gee, this is amazing.'  Not only that, the dishes were rather miniscule.  Let's just head right to the pictorial stage of the festivities and you can judge for yourself.

The carte - click to read, or use that magnifying glass I suggested.

chef Simone Tondo, still young  (http://tondo-paris.com/equipe/)

A room with a view

The painting behind Co., minus Co.

Foccacia, oyster soup, etc.

More of the foccacia dish, half eaten (sorry)

This is the dorade

I don't know, potato and bok choi as a main dish?  Kind of a miss.

More fish - lotte this time (but not a lot of it)

The canette - probably the hit for me

Dessert 1 - baba et clementine  (doesn't work if you don't leave the bottle of rum on the table, hint)

Dessert 2 - pear and black chocolate

Not on the carte, but on my camera - I think they threw this in at the end, and why the hell not?

What's food without a little wine - this a 39 euro Syrah

To be fair, with 7 dishes, the plates don't have to be copious, so my magnifying glasses poke might be a little harsh.  This was a good meal, but nowhere near dazzling.  There was just something missing that could have put Tondo on the map for me.  A bit too pricy (159 euros for two) for just 'I guess it was pretty decent.'


TONDO     
29 rue de Cotte Paris 12
tel. 01 43 47 47 05
website:  /http://tondo-paris.com/

Déjeuner : Jeudi, Vendredi, Samedi de 12h15 à 14h
Diner : Mardi, Mercredi, Jeudi, Vendredi, Samedi de 19h30 à 22h

Fulgurances - Oink

Co. and I have been busily trying out new restaurants and I've been preoccupied with other pursuits, meaning I'm way behind posting on PRAB.  The end of a year is a fine time for rectification, so here goes.  In order, since my last post (Biondi), we hit Fulgurances, Tondo, La Vague, and Mamagoto, all fairly new and highly praised additions to the Paris restaurant scene.  And my reaction in toto is, basically, meh.

Up first, Fulgurances, around since Oct. 2015, and one of those venues that has rotating chefs.  Noted Anglo restaurant critics were effusive in their praise:

"A bold, brave concept:"  - Patricia Wells

          "Wow, what innovative cooking." - John Talbott


If you say so.  After reading about the wonderful culinary concoctions cooked up by resident chef Tamir Nahmias I finally snagged a reservation - one week after Monsieur Nahmais had finished up his stint and handed over his apron to Irish chef Rose Greene.  So much for that idea.  Without any feedback about the Madame Greene experience, Co. and I gave it a shot.  And the result was a big disappointment.

The restaurant itself is fairly modern, with open kitchen and tables too close for comfort.  The staff was amiable enough, but the carte in the early stage of chef Greene's residency was heavy on vegetables and light on everything else except for the main dish, pig.  I don't eat pig, but that doesn't make me a vegetarian, yet that's how I was treated throughout the festivities.  No substantial replacement dish, just vegetables.  Let me tell you, I had enough cauliflower in all its facons to last me through 2017.  It really would have been nice to have seen some sort of poultry, fish, or seafood in the room, but alas, that was not the case.  Oink, oink.

the chef

the kitchen

Bouillon - basically, miso soup (for me, minus the morceaux of pig

Onions and shallots

Cauliflower

Oink - Co. liked it

Back in the garden for me, the pigless

Dessert -yogurt  sorbet and shortbread, no great shakes

There certainly seemed to be something serious going on in the kitchen and as you can perhaps judge from the photos, these were not dishes prepared by an amateur.  It's just that if I'm going to be shelling out 150 euros for dinner, I'd like to have something more substantial than cauliflower.  When I discussed this briefly with one of the servers, she mentioned how they 'would have to talk to the chef' about a more meaningful alternative to the main dish.  Whatever became of that promise, I have no idea, and Mme Greene is now finished her Fulgurances stint, so it's moot anyway.

It's certainly not fair to pan a restaurant that could end up being spectacular next month when a new chef and carte come onto the scene.  I doubt I'll be back, but that shouldn't stop you from giving it a shot.  Good luck.


FULGURANCES
10 rue Alexandre Dumas   |   Paris   |   +33 9 81 09 33 32   |Wednesday through Saturday |
website:  http://fulgurances.com/en/

Prosper et Fortunée- One Man Show

Prosper et Fortunée's Eric Lévy does it all - takes reservations by phone - and offers a detailed explanation about the restaurant's concept in the process - shops the local markets in the morning, seats customers, cooks the food, serves it, prepares the bill, and takes the payment.  Okay, I lied, he does have an assistant who, like clockwork, shows up just around the time that the 12 customers are finishing up their dessert to unobtrusively begin to clean up the kitchen.   I hesitated writing about my visit with Co. in tow for a late February dinner, because P&F is tough to review.  It's like going to your aunt's house for dinner and watching her slave away in the kitchen preparing dishes in heartfelt earnest to please her loved ones in the next room.  Even if the meal was mediocre, you don't want to hurt her feelings and so you tell her the meat loaf and mashed potatoes were the best you've ever tasted in your life.

The inimitable Monsieur Levy, a one-man band

Or not.  Unlike the nervous, obsequious aunt, Monsieur Levy carries out his evening's work with an air of inspired, workmanlike confidence.  And despite the unavoidable intimacy of P&F, it's not like you are yukking it up with fellow diners in the small one-room-kitchen restaurant-atelier, although I'm sure that happens depending on the dynamic of the evening. I had no compelling interest in talking with anyone but lovely Co. during our visit, albeit discussion with Monsieur Lévy proved the exception.

It took a while after our 8:30 pm arrival before the remaining diners showed up and M. Lévy began slicing and dicing the ingredients so that the several course affair could get rolling.  The preparation and servings were methodical, with each course being served to each diner in turn, seated at a handful of high tables.  If you are in a hurry and in need of a quick dinner, P&F is not the place to be - it was after midnight by the time we paid up and donned our coats.

 

If it seems like I'm stalling to avoid talking about the food, you are an astute reader.  Bear in mind, I'm stalling about the dishes because in procrastinating, I've forgotten their descriptions.  The ingredients were fresh and tantalizing, okay, satisfied?  Hey, its been a tough month with the world coming apart at the seams, and maybe you can forgive my memory lapses - I can't find my P&F receipt or visitation card, and all I have to rely on are a bunch of blurry photos, including those below (in order of their serving).  By the way, I have finally - FINALLY - purchased a decent camera, and once I figure out how to use it, which hopefully will require less time than it is taking for me to master the French language, you should start seeing some really beautiful, amazing, fantastic food photos at this site.  (Disclaimer - the first three photos above are not mine).

An excellent fish soup to start off the evening

Risotto with a scallop on top

This, I believe, is cabillaud

Co. says thumbs up for the lamb

And for me, the non-eater of lamb, some of the tastiest scallops I've ever eaten

Dessert 1 - not really the apple of my eye, but Co. wasn't complaining

Dessert 2 - much better, and much more interesting than it looks (I vaguely remember mention of almonds and yogurt

When it comes to wine at P&F you take what you're offered from a couple of choices - this Graves did not disappoint, at all

Eschewing end of meal espressos, our bill came to a reasonable €124 for the six-course meal and bottle, certainly reasonable for an unforgettable experience.  I have no great urge to do it again, but a dinner at Prosper et Fortunée is one of those 'you've got to try it once' sorts of deals.


Prosper et Fortunée

50, rue Broca

Paris 5

 Tel: : +33 1 43 37 70 39

Metro: Les Gobelins, Censier - Daubenton

 

The restaurant sits unobrusively on a quiet Parisian street - one day you will have nostalgia for these blurry images (soon, I hope)

 

Le Galopin - Looks Can Deceive, In a Good Way

Le Galopin - not much to look at ...

Situated rather inauspiciously on a corner of the Place Saint-Marthe in the 10th, Le Galopin has been churning out positive reviews since its inception four years ago.  Yet you wouldn't have guessed that just by passing by.  The look on Co.'s face as we approached Le Galopin for a Friday evening dinner said it all: 'what kind of a dump are you taking me to tonight?'  That question was quickly rebutted by two small warm-up dishes that perfectly fit the chilly, mid-Winter evening.  With each ensuing dish, the food just kept getting better.  Co.'s visage quickly changed to: 'Why haven't we been here before?'

...but the view on the square outside is typically Paris (whatever that is)

Unadorned walls, traditional wood chairs and tables, and a laid-back clientele left me feeling overdressed in my dashing sportscoat and button-down sweater ensemble, but I can live with that.

The online interior image ...

...and my more artsy take on the interior

Since Day 1, brothers Romain and Maxime Tischenko have gone with a simple concept - one ever-changing fixed menu consisting of seven plates:  2 amuse-bouches, 1 entree, 2 plats, and 2 desserts, now priced at 54 euros.  Let me tell you, this is a great deal, and the affordable and varied wine selection won't break your wallet either.  Here's what the carte looked like (exactly, because I brought it home) on the night of our visit:

Click to read without having to use a microscope

And here are some blurry photos of the food, sorry, but you will hopefully get the idea:

Amuse bouche 1 - our only gripe here was that there wasn't more of it, until we remembered that it was only an amuse bouche.  Left on each plate were three mussel shells, but the plate consisted of closer to twice that number.  Those are squares of dried seaweed beside the moules.

Amuse bouche 2 - if I remember correctly, the bouillon de fane was radish-based.  The salmon eggs are lying on the bottom, so you can't see them, but I ate them and they were really good.

Entree - it's too bad this is blurry, because this simple dish of soft tofu, raw mushrooms, and cedrat was very nice.  That's okay, I didn't know what cedrat (a citrus fruit) was either.  The highlight for me was the rectangle of fried bread, an almost crunchy counterpoint to the rest of the dish.

This first main dish (cabillaud) may have been the highlight of the evening.  Excellent.

This second main dish (canard) may have the highlight of the evening.  Wait, did I already say that?  Heliantis, by the way, is a sunflower plant, something else I learned at Le Galopin.

Dessert 1 - I admit, I wasn't looking forward to this one, and anytime I see grapefruit listed as my dessert, I'm disappointed.  But, wow, this dish proved me wrong in a big way.  A very refreshing transition leading up to the chocolate.

Dessert 2 - Blurred again.  I was looking forward to this one and was not disappointed.

To sum: 7 for 7 - you can't do much better than that (except to maybe add some little cakes with the coffee, but you can't have everything).  Not a dud on the table.  I, of course, can't guarantee you'll be as lucky as we were during our recent Le Galopin dinner, but I quickly added the restaurant to my 'go-to Paris bistrots' category.  One of my counterparts, John Talbott, summed up Le Galopin this way:  “out of this tiny kitchen . . .  come dishes of such complexity, creativity and contrasting ingredients it kind of takes your breath away…”  I wasn't exactly breathless, but that was a damn good meal to start off the new year.

Les frères Tischenko

LE GALOPIN
34 rue Sainte-Marthe
75010 Paris
tel: 01.42.06.05.03

On the way back home from Le Galopin