Fish La Boissonnerie -- Restaurant Review

69 rue de Seine
Paris, France 75006
Tel: 01-43-54-34-69
Hours 12:30PM - 2:30PM, 7:00PM - 12:30AM
Metro: Odeon (4 & 10)

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 (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

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

This restaurant has been here a long time. The first time we came here was when we first moved to Paris back in 2008. Since then the interior has been remodeled. So, the interior is a little more spacious. The dining area is on the main floor with large windows. Upstairs are the restrooms as well as the kitchen with a glass partition so you can see them at work.

We were 4-people for dinner and 2 of our friends are pescatarians (fish, no meat nor fowl).  For a Friday night, it was not at all as busy as we had remembered it. This restaurant as its namesake is heavy on seafood, which is perfect for us.

We perused the menu, and they had a nice selection of seafood as well as some meat and fowl dishes.

AMUSE BOUCHE.  We had a cold cauliflower mousse. In actuality it was more of cold soup, rather than mousse. It was quite refreshing since it was a warm evening. It actually tasted as if it had a little bit of anchovies to flavor the soup, but it wasn't overwhelming or anything.









ENTRÉE

Soupe Broccoli, feta, menthe (Broccoli soup with feta and mint).  This soup was served cold. Perfect for a warm summer evening. Feta can be a very aggressive flavor, but in this simple dish the flavors complimented each other well. The freshness came out, the saltiness from the feta enhanced the soup and the mint added some coolness.

Asperge bio d’Anjou, condiment fraise, vierge piquillos (Organic asparagus, strawberry condiment, virgin piquillo peppers).  I loved the freshness of this dish. At first bite we thought the little dab of red sauce was a sriracha of some sort, but as we dug into it more we discovered it was actually pureed strawberries with some of the piquillo peppers which gave it a nice bite of heat.  The freshness of the asparagus combined with fresh strawberries and dollops of aged balsamic vinegar was a hit.

Carpaccio de seiche, poireaux grillés, sauce à l'encre. (Carpaccio of cuttlefish, grilled leeks, ink sauce). Two of us had this entrée. This was a dish where thin slices of cuttlefish were wrapped around grilled leeks. Because the plate was black, it was hard to notice that there was actually a sauce of ink squid that the carpaccio sat atop. Don't know if this was done purposely to fool the eyes. The squid ink had that characteristic iron, mineral taste, which went well with the otherwise minimal flavor of raw squid.  Overall, it was a very good dish.










PLATS 

Maigre, pulse de chou-fleur au curry, broccoli, grecque au thym citron. (Meagre white fish, pureed cauliflower with curry, broccoli, Greek lemon & thyme). Two ordered this dish. This fish was perfectly cooked. The skin was crisp and the interior was nice and tender. After-all this restaurant does specialize in seafood, so I expected nothing less. Although the pureed cauliflower did have curry, it was a very mild use of it, which was perfect so as not to distract from the simple flavor of the fish. There were chucks of cauliflower which gave it some texture. A very good dish all around.

Cabillaud, asperges blanches au beurre noisette, pousses d'épinard, citron. (Cod, white asparagus with hazelnut butter, spinach sprouts, lemon). This fish too was cooked perfectly. The cod sat atop fresh spinach and white asparagus. It was a simple dish, but a very good dish.

Agneau de Guillaume, petit pois à la française, sarriette/mélisse (Lamb of Guillaume, French peas, savory / lemon balm). I had to be different, so I ordered the lamb. The lamb was perfectly cooked pink, just how I like it. I got a nice large double piece of the rack of the lamb as well as a saddle. It was accompanied with grilled baby lettuce and sat atop fresh peas that were perfectly cooked, al-dente. And, there was also a pea purée flavored with lemon balm (mint). Wonderful dish.


DESSERTS

Tarte a l'orange façon crème brulée et crème crue. (Orange creme brulée with raw cream. A very simple dessert and the orange flavors did come through. The creme brulée sat atop a wonderful little butter wafer, and the caramelized sugar on top was extremely crunchy, as it should be. The accompanying cream added a nice balance. One thing I liked about this it was not overwhelmingly sweet.

Abricots du Roussillon, mousse coco, sorbet citron/romarin. (Apricots du Roussillon, coconut mousse, lemon / rosemary sorbet). The apricots were slightly poached/candied and although it was sweet, it still retained some of its tartness. The sweetness from the coconut mousse and sorbet counter-balanced the tartness. It was a good dish.

Tarte aux fraises, rhubarbe, sorbet framboise. (Strawberry tart, rhubarb, raspberry sorbet). Jack is a sucker for anything rhubarb, so he ordered this dessert. Although good, this dessert had more strawberries and raspberry flavors than it did rhubarb. The strawberries and few pieces of rhubarb sat atop a cream and a butter pastry round. The raspberry sorbet was surrounded by some crumble.









WINES

I ordered one of their white wines by the carafe (50cl) and Jack ordered an Irouléguy (one of his favorites) from Domaine Arretxea - Organic Wine | Red Tradition. This red cuvée is characterized by tasting notes of cassis, spices,  and pepper.  The restaurant has a very, very extensive wine list.



















SUMMARY

This restaurant is owned by a Miami born Juan Sanchez and New Zealander Drew Harre who also owns and manages Semilla (right across the street), refer to my review Semilla. The chef at the helm is Valentin Vasseur. We were very, very pleased with our meal. As you would expect from a  restaurant that specializes in seafood, the fish dishes were perfectly cooked. The accompanying dishes such as the vegetables and pureed cauliflower made sense, since the star of the dishes was the seafood. The service was EXCELLENT. Although this restaurant is frequented by tourists, it doesn't have the same feeling as a "tourist restaurant or trap". It's a small cozy atmosphere, with good simple food executed well.  We really enjoyed our meal. Since this restaurant is frequented by English speakers the wait staff are all bilingual, and in our case trilingual, since our wait-person also spoke her native Spanish. Would we go back, ABSOLUTELY.

Note: It's also a wine bar. And, after dinner, several people came in just for the wine.

For 4-entrées, 4-plats, 3-desserts, a bottle of wine, and a 50cl carafe of wine, our bill came to 244€ or 61€ a person.