Fontana Rosa -- Restaurant Review

28 Boulevard Garibaldi

75015, Paris
Tél : 01 45 66 97 84

Webiste:  Fontana Rosa

Hours: 7 jours sur 7 pour dejeuner et diner

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+)

  3.5 - Star........................................................€€......................................................................2 - Bell

We typically don’t go for Italian food, unless we want something quick then we just head off to our local neighborhood pizza places. In other words, we’ve never really been to a little higher end Italian restaurant.  So, for JJ’s birthday he wanted to try something different, an Italian restaurant in our neighborhood, a little more upscale. So, we went to “ Fontana Rosa”.  It got mixed reviews, but we decided let’s do something different.  This restaurant specializes in Sardinian cuisine.

It’s a nice enough looking building from the outside. Inside, it seemed pretty large and spacious. The owner and the maitre’d were a hoot.  They were so nice and friendly, and joking with us in French, Italian and English. And, in French he jokingly said, he would only serve us if we asked in Italian, haha!

They had a pre-fix menu: 20€ for an entrée/plat or plat/dessert. And, for 30€ you can have all 3. We did a la carte.

We ordered some apéros to begin with, me a kir with casis and JJ ordered a (European) martini on the rocks.  Martini in France is like a vermouth, and you can get it white, rosé, or red and tends to be a little on the sweet side.

Shortly after we got our drinks, we got our amuse bouche. The amuse bouche of the night was a creamy scrambled egg with sprinklings of dried fish roe. A typical Sardinian dish. JJ who hates eggs loved the dish, and I who love eggs disliked the dish. It was too, too creamy, almost like custard. The fish roe was what I expected, a little crunchy, salty and fishy.

For our entrée JJ got the “Cassola di cozze e vongole come sardegna” (mussels and clams in broth with herbs). “Oh my God”, this dish was delicious. The clams and mussels were cooked perfectly and the broth was to die for. It was clear broth devoid of any cream, but it was so rich with flavor, you didn’t want to adulterate it in anyway.  Needless to say JJ licked the bowl clean, and I have to admit I helped as well.

I got the “Mosaico di polipo con pomodoro aglio e basilica” (carpaccio of squid with olive oil and basil).  Another “Oh my God” moment. Italians believe in simple, but fresh ingredients and not a lot of ingredients.  This dish in its simplicity was unbelievably well executed and presented so beautifully. The squid was paper thin sliced; hence, not chewy, but tender.  And, the sprinkling of olive oil with basil was truly a wonderful combination.

For our plat JJ ordered the “Pesce spada alla Santioghese” (a sword fish with crushed tomatoes and cream), it was also served with some carrots and cucumbers.  JJ loved the dish. I thought it odd that the swordfish had cream, because I usually associate cream with Northern Italian cooking. None-the-less, JJ thought it was an excellent dish.

I ordered one of their specials for the evening, “Ossobuco” (Ossobuco served with saffron risotto). I don’t know why I ordered this dish, it is after all a Milanese dish and Sardinia is known for their seafood and simply roasted meats, but I have to confess, I love bone marrow and I hadn’t had it in a while.  What a mistake. The dish was unattractive; the sauce was thick and glutinous. I couldn’t even taste the meat, because the heavy cream sauce was so distracting. There was one bone marrow with the passage too small you had to use a bread stick to scoop it out, if you could keep it from cracking so I gave up. The risotto was a bit too al dente, it should’ve been creamy not glutinous.  Add insult to injury, this dish was 29€. I guess you figured I did not like this dish at all.

We did order a wonderful bottle of “Fonte venna Montepulciano d'Abruzzo” JJ’s favorite Italian wine originally 34, but was reduced to 29. It is a nice hearty dry red that goes well with very rich food.

Dessert, we got a strawberry tart. The waiter told us that it was a simple tart with the strawberries laying atop a crème pâtissière. In actuality, it was not sitting on a bed of crème pâtissière at all, but atop panne cotta, it was much lighter. I loved this dessert, very simple and surprisingly light. I told JJ I was only going to take a bite, and I wound up eating half, oh well.  And since I had mentioned to the waiter that it was Jack's birthday he put a single candle on top.

Summary:  The ambiance, the roominess of the restaurant is excellent.  They even had a little sun-room with tables, I suppose used more often for lunch.  The service is excellent. They’re not only efficient, but so friendly and amicable. I commented, “you’re all so friendly”, and our waiter replied, “that’s because we’re Italian” and I laughed, and I replied, “you’re definitely not French”.  He said his wife is French, oops!

For me the egg dish was a matter of preference. I like my eggs to look and taste more like eggs and not to have so much cream.  I immensely disliked the Ossobuco, JJ concurred that it was not a good dish.  Overall, however, JJ thought what he had was excellent.  I would like to go back and just stick to the Sardinian dishes.  So, if you go, avoid the ossobuco like the plague and only order what you know to be Sardinian!

We ordered a la carte, had two apéros and a bottle of wine for a total of 145€ for 2-people.

Axuria -- Restaurant Review

54, Avenue Félix FAURE, 

75015, Paris
Tél : 01 45 54 13 91

Webiste:  "Axuria"

Hours: 7 jours sur 7 de 12h à 14h30
et de 19h à 23h

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

Axuria, which means milk fed lamb, is a restaurant not too far from where we live. A friend called last minute and asked if could join her for dinner. Never one to turn down a dinner invitation we said, "bien sûr" (of course). We had heard of the restaurant and we were able to make reservations on the same day.  I was surprised, but then I remembered it was election night, and also a Sunday, so not a typical dining evening.

We got to the restaurant, and the waiter/maitre’d answered the door and greeted us very warmly. Our friend was already at the table. We had a very nice table along the window, and the restaurant was maybe a third full. It has a very nice interior, nicely laid out with a very cooling blue color palate.

Almost immediately we got an amuse bouche of chorizo sausages and puff pastry cheese sticks.  I was surprised the chorizo had very little kick to it, and the cheese sticks were nothing special.

We were going to get apéros, but had decided just to get a half a bottle each of the Isabelle et Pierre Clément Châtenoy red and white.  We loved the wines, since I’m not a wine connoisseur all I can tell you was that the white was a tad dry, but not as dry as a sancerre, loved it. And, my companions thought the red wine dry and robust, it was a hit as well. 

Much to our surprise and delight, we got another amuse bouche, this time it was  a little creamy soup of leeks, celery and green onions, with a sprinkling of a little olive oil. We loved this dish. Rather than be dainty, I drank it and practically licked the bowl. I could’ve had that as a main course for sure.

Entrées:

Our friend ordered the “Ravioli de truffes noires court-bouillon et sa crème parfumée” (Ravioli of black truffle broth and flavored cream).  Just a little aside, our friend is Italian, so she knows ravioli. She raved that it was delicious, especially the sauce. Not wanting to dig into the ravioli, I asked if I could sop up some of sauce with my bread. It was delicious. Extremely tasty, or as they say in French, “Beaucoup de goût” lots of flavor.

 

“Coeur de scarole braisée farcie aux huitres fines de claires marennes d'Oléron cuit en cocotte, laqué” (Escarole stuffed with oysters fine clear Marennes d’Oléron broth).  This was a stuffed escarole with oysters. This dish was delicious. I wasn’t as polite and asked my companion if I could taste it.  Yum, yum. This dish wasn’t as creamy as the ravioli, but was not a shy dish, you could taste the oysters, and the accompanying broth was delightful.  It had a punch of flavors.

I ordered the “Pâte artisinale aux queues de langoustines, consummé d'épices et feuille de citron kaffir” (A dough stuffed with langoustines, broth of spices and kaffir lime leaf). This was probably the most refined of all the entrées we had. Basically, it was akin to a wonton stuffed with langostines. Normally kaffir leafs are used in Southeast Asian curries, but in this dish the citrusy element was quite mild and not overwhelming. It was a good, solid dish, again very refined.

Plats:

Our Italian friend ordered the Parmentier de cochon Iberique braisé, sarriette (Braised Iberian savory pork pie). I’m not a big fan of “parmentier” which is akin to a sheppards pie, oftentimes it’s folded into the mashed potatoes, in this case it was all meat and then a layer of potatoes on top. I thought the pulled pork was a bit stringy, our friend thought it was OK, but I would definitely not order something that is typically made in a French home. It was not a complicated nor a sophisticated dish.

Cabillaud with a foam cream and variety of vegetables. The dish was flavorful, and my companion enjoyed that the dish was accompanied with various vegetables which is a rarity in most French restaurants, unless you’re ordering a salad as a plat, and contrary to popular belief, French fries don’t count.

I had the “Braisée traver de Porc” (braised pork ribs).  These spare ribs are nothing like the typical spare ribs you get in US. They were slowly braised in a rich wine sauce and the meat literally fell off the bone. I loved the dish because it was rich in flavor.  Surprisingly, it was served with a side of haricot vert, carrots, squash,some potatoes and mushrooms. That was quite a nice accompaniment.

Desserts:

Our Italian friend ordered “Craquant de 3 sorbets maison, colis de framboises” (3 crisp sorbets, raspberry parcels), this was basically a trio of sorbets that consisted of raspberry, mango, and lemon accompanied with some sugar crispy wafers. Our friend said it was quite refreshing after a heavy meal.

Originally my companion ordered the “Petit feuilleté chaud de pommes, crème glacée à la vanilla.” Our waiter got it confused, and brought out the “Assiette de fruits frais de saison simplement minute” (Assorted fresh seasonal fruit ). He was about to return it until he saw the plate of fruit and incredible variety, it was too appetizing to return.  He liked the fruit and thought it was very fresh. It also had a dollop of mango sorbet

I ordered “Assiette de fromage” (plate of cheese). I have to say, I had quite the variety of cheese. Normally, you get 2 or 3 types of cheese to sample, but this particular dish had 5-cheeses, a nice salad tossed in a mild creamy vinaigrette, accompanied with walnuts and dried apricot. Whoever their cheese vendor is, s/he is a keeper.

After desserts, when we thought all was said and done, much to our surprise and delight, they served us a plate of madeleines as well as little chocolate fudge.  At this point, I’m thinking I'm liking this restaurant a lot!

Click here for video of "Axuria"

Summary: Although it's namesake is Axuria (milk fed lamb), I think there was maybe one lamb dish on the menu. Regardless, this restaurant is a winner. Chef Olivier Amostoy is one of the best Chefs in Paris.  Our favorite dish was the amuse bouche soup.  The only dish we weren’t that excited about was the parmentier, but other than that, everything was a winner. I really don’t want to share this restaurant, since it’s a neighborhood restaurant that I want to start frequenting, but I’m all about sharing.  Auxria is a hidden gem, so go before it becomes too popular.

Total bill came to 137€ for 3-people

Délice de Shandong -- Restaurant Review

88, Boulevard de l'Hôpital

75013 Paris

Tél : 01-45-87-23-37 

www.deliceshandong.com

Hours: Le restaurant est ouvert tous les jours sauf mercredi. 

Les horaires d’ouverture sont de 12h00 à 15h00 à midi et de 18h30 à 23h00 le soir.

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

Typically we go for Asian food for lunch with friends on the week-ends (comme d'habitude), and usually around Avenue de Choisy in the heart of the 13eme arrondissement, Chinatown.  Today for lunch we decided to do something different and head over to the other side of the 13eme, along the boulevard de l’Hôpital.  We selected “Délice de Shandong”.  Shandong, being a Northeast province of China, and is known for its vinegars, grains, peanuts, seafood, and they favor steamed breads vs rice as their starch of choice. 

We were 5-people. A couple from NYC, and one in particular very well versed on Western cuisine as well as Asian/Chinese cuisine, a “foodie” in other words.  Myself, JJ, and my best friend who is from San Diego, and although he does not claim to be a “foodie” he has a fairly good palate.

We ordered several dishes and they came at varying times as in most Chinese restaurants. So here’s what we ordered:

We ordered the “Soupe avec le goût pimenté et aigre” (Hot spicy sour soup). Great consistency, tasty, but we all agreed it was lacking something. So, we asked for some soy sauce and vinegar, keep in mind Shandong region of China is well known for their vinegar. I just added vinegar to mine, since I found the salt balance just fine. What a difference it made. It tasted like what “hot and sour soup” is suppose to taste like.

Ravioli au porc et chou (potstickers). They were a little bit on the doughy side, and one companion was expecting it to be a little pan fried so the bottom would be crunchy and the top steam sort of like gyoza (Japanese version), but it was all steamed. Regardless, I thought they were good.

“Intestins de porc aromatisé” (flavored pork intestines). This was probably our favorite dish. It’s a spicy dish accompanied by sweet banana chilis, with a nice layer of hot chili oils. Pork intestines can have a funky odor and taste, but the Chef did a great job of ensuring they were cleaned properly We devoured this dish like no tomorrow. It isn’t for everyone, in fact, my best friend would not eat the intestines, but he did eat the banana peppers. And, it is a very spicy dish!

Porc fumé sautés pimenté (Spicy smoked pork sautéed).  This was our second most favorite dish. It was spicy, smoky, and was "chowed" with leeks and tofu, with the latter having the consistency of tempeh. The pork was pork belly, now how can you go wrong with that. 

We had one vegetarian dish. “Aubergines à la sauce piquante” (Eggplant with a spicy sauce).  Eggplant has a tendency to absorb a lot of oils, but there’s a difference between being greasy and oily, and this dish did have chili oils as a flavoring agent, which gave it a little heat, it was delicious. We loved it. I think there’s a trend here that we’re liking the really spicy dishes. 

Lastly, at the request of one of friends who doesn’t really eat spicy, we ordered two dishes: the “Poulet aux ciboulettes à la vapeur” (Steamed chicken with chives), and Boeuf sauté aux oignons (Beef sautéed with onions).

Poulet aux ciboulettes à la vapeur.  This was a very mild and delicate dish. Surprisingly, the chicken was very, very tender and moist; probably due to the steaming and the fact that they didn’t over steam it. The added chives gave it another delicate layer. We liked it, but were not wowed by it.

Boeuf sauté aux oignons.  Except for one person, this was the dish that we all unanimously agreed was “boring”. I don’t know how else to describe it except it was dull and not very imaginative. It’s something you could get at the Chinese “traiteur” in Paris.

It looks like this group really liked the spicy dishes. I’ve noticed in France that a lot of restaurants that would typically be “spicy” in their native countries "Frenchify" their food and tone it down. This restaurant stays true to its roots. The dishes that were suppose to be spicy, were.

All of us liked the food; however, my best friend preferred the Chinese food around the Ave de Choisy.

Summary:  This is the next best thing to be being in China, San Francisco, or NYC. Unfortunately, we had ordered so many dishes that we neglected some other dishes that are known for this region, such as the seafood, steamed breads and peanuts...  Oh well, there’s always another day. And, we’ll be sure to go back!

For 5-people including 2-beers, 2-sodas, and a big bottle of Badoit (sparkling water), our bill came to 18 euros each.

Semilla -- Restaurant Review

Unmarked restaurant, hopefully they'll get a sign soon

Address: 54 rue de Seine, 75006

Nearest transport: Mabillon (10)

Hours: 

Est ouvert tous les jours: du lundi au samedi: 12:30-14:30 déjeuner, 14:30-19h diner et brunch. Dimanche: brunch de 12h30 à 16h puis supper à partir de 19h "pièce du boucher"justqu'`a 22h

Reservations: recommended

Telephone: 01 43 54 34 50

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+)

  3.5 - Star..................................................€ (Prix-fixe menu)...............................................2 - Bell

Typically every month we meet up with a good friend to explore or retry a new restaurants. So, on May 1,  we decided to try Semilla.  Semilla has only been open for a month, and is the new restaurant venture of Miami born Juan Sanchez and New Zealander Drew Harre.  I've been to their restaurant Fish La Boissonnerie and liked it immensely and was extremely excited to try this new restaurant close to their restaurant  Fish La Boissonnerie.

Interior of restaurant

The restaurant is not marked. We took a guess and figured that the unmarked restaurant had to be Semilla; fortunately, we were right.  It's a quite spacious restaurant. It almost felt like you were in a loft because of all the exposed piping and air-conditioning vent. I liked it, it had a lot of character.

Water dispensing machine

We were hoping to be able to eat earlier, so we met at noon.  We were the first one in the restaurant.  We asked if we could have a menu. The maitre'd said, "absolutely not, we would have to wait until 12:30" exactly, no less, no more. All part of the rigid french experience (but in fairness, the menus are printed each day and were only brought to the restaurant at 12:30).  So, while we waited they asked if we wanted water, flat or with gas. They had their own dispenser that makes sparkling water free of charge, so we opted for that, very green.

Chef's in the open kitchen

 
The Kitchen is quite open and exposed. I love that you can see them preparing the food and checking to see that they're not using pre-packaged food "a la Metro" (a sort of Costco of prepared foods for restaurants). Fortunately, we did not see any.

Chef's Luncheon

As we waited, we saw at least 10-young chefs preparing their lunch. In France, the Chefs prepare and eat their lunch before opening the restaurant to the public.  I was amazed how fast they ate, maybe 15-minutes tops.






Finally 12:30 pm arrived. We got our menu which was freshly printed on a sheet of paper. What struck me first and foremost was the price, 19 euros for the formule lunch which consisted of an entrée (the 1 and only 1 entrée contained 3 items, so no choice, an interesting concept), and a plat. Desserts were extra at 8 euros, so for all 3-courses 27 euros, with cheese there is a supplementary cost of 2 euros extra. Not bad.

Within 15-minutes the restaurant quickly started packing in. It was a holiday (May 1), but people were coming. And, what I found even more interesting, was the number of couples who brought babies in their strollers.

First course "L'assiette de trois entrees:" which consisted of a velouté champignons crème (mushroom soup), muffin chataîgne (chestnut muffin), and a "queue de veau vinaigrette" (veal tail). I liked the entrées in this order: (1) the soup was creamy, tasty and delicious, (2) the muffin was moist and light, you could tell it was made with a lot of egg whites to give it a nice soft texture as well as the moistness. One friend commented it was a bit on the salty side, but I loved it. And, (3) the veau, which we all commented that it tasted like tuna. It was like a deconstructed meat, egg-salad with a "citrusy" side.  So, with the first course we were off to a good start.

Then we got our plats: They had 3 choices offered, and so the 3 of us each chose a different one.  One got the Maigre, fondue de blette, champignon de Paris, buerre noisette. A fish. The presentation was very, very odd. It was literally covered in greens. If you didn't know any better, it looked like a green salad. Remember the commercial, "where's the beef?"my first question was, "where's the fish?. We finally found the fish, at the bottom of the forest. Despite the weird presentation, we all tasted this dish, and it was very moist and delicious.

Next we had the Involtini aubergines, chèvres frais, basilic. The only "lacto-vegetarian" dish on the menu. It was good. The eggplant had a nice taste and the chèvre wasn't overwhelming. I liked it, but my friend thought it was just average, saved only by the wilted basil it was resting on.

I had the Pintade, crème de cèleri, jus de rôti (guinea fowl). There were two pieces of fowl.  One  like a pale chicken breast, while the other looked like a guinea fowl leg that was definitely confit'd.  The breast was either steamed or sous vide. It was extremely moist, but absolutely tasteless. As for the confit'd leg, I was expecting that it would at least have a little more flavor, but it too was bland. I mixed some of the greens (Italian flat parsley and dill) and put a piece on each bite, it made a world of difference. It gave it some depth.   We all agreed, although this dish was cooked well, it lacked flavor.

Onto the desserts. Two of us had the Crèmeux guanaja, confit de kumquat, streuzel. At first I thought guanaja was some type of fruit, but turns out it's an island off Honduras that lends its name to a special blend of chocolate. This was very chocolaty and creamy with chocolate streuzel sprinkled on top, on a bed of a soft syrup-soaked cake with dashes of salt. I loved this dessert, I thought it was excellent, whereas one of us commented it was just OK.

The other dessert was the Soupe d'agrumes, glace Pamplemouse which was like a simple fresh fruit cocktail with only citrus (mostly grapefruit) which my citrus loving friend enjoyed.







We had an opportunity to speak to one of the owners Drew Harre. He told us parts of the menu changes daily, and the whole menu changes weekly. Admittedly, they're still tweaking the menu and he considers the restaurant a "work in progress." We had some friends that had gone the week prior and had the blanket de veau and said it was excellent. But unfortunately, they did not have it on the menu.

In summary, It's amazing that the restaurant has only been open for a month. They had some very strong dishes as well as some dishes that could use a little work.  While it's true they still have some tweaking, as Drew states, it's  a work in progress, I'm confident they'll come up with a winning formula "à tout de suite". I would definitely go back.

For the 3 of we paid 123€ with 2-glasses of sancere and a bottle of
Gueule de Loup.