(https://www.restaurantischia.com/fr/)
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+)
3 - Stars....................................................€€€€........................................................ 3 - Bell
Ischia is actually a place. A volcanic island in the Gulf of Naples, Italy. So, this will give you a hint of what type of food they serve. This restaurant has been open only for a little over 2-months by celebrity French chef Cyril Lignac.
It's not an area that many tourists would venture out to, first it's quite a distance from the center of town and closer to Pont du Garigliano in the 15eme. It is a restaurant surrounded by a sea of residential apartments, colleges and a major hospital.
The interior is quite lovely. In fact, if you didn't know you were in Paris, you would think you were in a nice restaurant in the US and/or Canada. They do have a full bar, but unfortunately, it's only open for dinner.
I'm only reviewing the dishes I had.
ENTRÉE
Boeuf, crème citron moutardée. (Beef carpaccio).
The quality of beef was excellent. Very simple dish. Only annoying part for us, we had to wait for some bread, cause most of us had appetizers that needed bread.
The plating was boring, uninspired and just plain dull. I would have added some green herbs like parsley and maybe some shaved parmesan.
Don't we also eat with our eyes?
Plat
Ravioles de langoustines First impression, it looked like baby-spit on a plate. This was the most visually unappealing plating I have ever seen. For the caliber of Chef Lignac, shame on you. Can you honestly say this looks appetizing?
On the plus side, the flavors were all there. You could tell that they developed the stock from a long boil with shells and all. The ravioli under all that foam was al-dente and quite good
But it just looked so vile.
Dessert
Gorgonzola, mostarda di Cremona
As many of you know, I don't eat sugar, so I got the gorgonzola cheese. It was a pretty large piece. You can never go wrong with cheese in my book.
Wines
Bourgogne Aligot.
Besides Sancerre, this is probably one of my favorite white wines. And, at the price point of about €48, pas mal.
Flavor profile:
fruity bouquet with notes of apple and lemon to a more floral palette. In the mouth, this vibrant wine tickles the taste buds.
SUMMARY
We just got back from Italy, so maybe I'm a little jaded. But I do know flavors, and also know plating. The restaurant is just above the border of the Parc André Citroën in 15eme. So, not an easy place to go to. I doubt you'll see tourists there, but there's something comforting about seeing a lot of french people, who are known to be very demanding and have high expectations of food.
The interior is very modern, it could be a restaurant anywhere in the world. They didn't account for buffering the walls from the sound, so it was quite noisy for a "french" restaurant.
My biggest complaint of this restaurant is the plating, It was uninspiring and even to the point of unappealing. But what the dishes did have was flavor at least, if you can pass the appearance. I was really turned off by foamed up langoustine sauce like baby spit (refer to photo). But the flavors were spot on. Foaming the langoustine sauce added absolutely no value.
The price point was €69 per person with a 3-course meal, 2-bottles of wine and an 1 aperitif.
Will I go back, probably not. I would rather go to our corner Italian ma and pa restaurant for a quarter of the price and better presented. We also eat with our eyes, n'est-ce pas?
Please check website for address, operating hours & menu.
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