Restaurant Review -- Neige d'été

12 rue de l'Amiral Roussin 75015
Metro: Line 6 Cambronne
Tel: 01 42 73 66 66
Email: contact@neigedete.fr
Website: www.neigedete.fr
Closed: Sunday and Monday

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-75); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-80); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)

 4 - Star......................................................€€€......................................................... 2 - Bell

What a nice find in the 15eme. They've only been open for about 2-months, there is no sign in the front of the building but it's easy enough to find.  One of the first things you notice as you enter, is its starkness. It is very minimalistic, almost staid. Only texture was some furry blankets covering some of the banquets.  For me personally, I find minimalistic decor very cold and uninviting. The restaurant is Japanese owned and run. One part of the restaurant that I really liked was the open kitchen. From what I could see, it was very clean, efficient and well run. There is a Chef with 3-sous chefs.

The menu is a prefix menu, no choices and no variations. You can, however, at the time of booking let them know if you are allergic to anything, and they will adjust for your allergies.  So basically, you do not know what you will have until the menu is set. Lunch dégustation (tasting menu) is 35€ whereas dinner is set at 65€.

We received a copy of the menu what we could expect for the day. We also got an Ipad for their wine list. We're pretty high tech, but we found the use of the Ipad difficult to navigate, and difficult to compare the individual wines. However, they do have a resident sommelier, and he can help guide you through this difficult wine application.


Entrée:

For our two amuse bouche courses, our first amuse bouche we had the sugar encrusted foie gras and a pear compote. The foie gras was actually more chicken livers and gizzards encased in a sausage casing. Both were a modest size and both very delicious.  Interestingly our utensils were located in a drawer below our table. Although it's a clever idea, and many restaurants have employed this, the problem with this drawer concept, it did not have a lip at the front, hence, whenever I opened the drawer the utensils kept spilling onto my lap. This is an easy fix, which I hope the owners will consider employing.

For our second course we had the pumpkin soup, with a pumpkin foam, and at the bottom of the soup was a nice surprise of morsels of chestnuts. This soup was absolutely delicious. It was creamy, sweet and surprisingly light. It also had a touch of salt, and with the texture of the chestnuts, it was a big hit for all of us.






Plats:

Our first plat was a paella of chorizo, squid and grey shrimp. This too was really delicious. The rice was cooked perfectly and the chorizo imparted a nice flavor, but not spicy.  The squid was scored so it would insure tenderness once grilled. One thing I can say about the Japanese, they know how to cook seafood. And, I must not forget that their grilling created a nice smoky flavor in the squid. This dish was a hit! There was a fried herb place atop the foam, I asked what it was, it was a Japanese herb that was not translatable in either French or English.

For our second plat, we had the farm raised chicken with winter vegetables and a jus. This was a piece of chicken breast, and I have to say, it was one of the most perfectly cooked breasts I have ever had. It was tender juicy and just plain delicious in its simplicity and very well executed. It was accompanied with simple purple potatoes. Atop sat more of the Japanese "mystery" herbs.





Desserts:

For dessert, well anyway three of us, had a chocolate tart, a raspberry panna cotta and a scoop of ice cream flavored with rosemary and verbena.  Everyone liked the desserts, but it appeared that they favored the ice cream the best. The desserts were not heavy and overwhelming, but just perfect. Overall the desserts were a hit.

I had the cheese plate in lieu of desserts, but you can also have the cheese plate as a separate course for a minimal supplementary cost. No complaints about the cheese, they were good.

Afterwards, we had some miniature chocolate bars, almost like brownies and some macaroons.









Summary:

All the Chefs and staff worked almost roboticly to provide excellent service and excellent food. If you're looking for well executed,  text book "precise" and very delicious food, then this is the restaurant for you. But, in addition to delicious food, if you're looking for more warm and cozy and romantic restaurant, then this is probably not the restaurant for you. The plating was very precise, not overly pretentious as some restaurant. You could definitely see the Japanese design sensibility.  Although the food was excellent, we agreed it lacked soul or personality. Maybe if they cozied up the place a little and not act so robotic it wouldn't seem so sterile.

I would've rated this restaurant a 4.5, but they need to improve on the "it-factor". But I would definitely recommend this restaurant for the food. But be forewarned the menus are fixed, so check ahead of time to see what they're serving.

For 3-bottles of Luis Pato Portugese wine (2-reds, 1 white), 2-aperitifs, filtered water and 2-coffees our lunch degustation bill for 4 came to 258€.