ACCENTS TABLES BOURSE -- Restaurant Review

 

24 Rue Feydeau, 75002 Paris

Metro Line 8 (Grands Boulevards)
Website: https://accents-restaurant.com/

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+)

2.25 - Stars...................................€€€€...................................... 1- Bell

A friend invited me out to join for lunch. This is a one starred Michelin  restaurant. It looked familiar, but I couldn't immediately remember if I had been there or not. 

As I entered and sat for a few minutes the maitre'd said I'd been there before, and he reminded me where I sat, descriptions of the people I was with and then it all came back, beautiful interior great atmosphere, so why did I forget? I'll explain that later. 

There are 2 tasting menus, one for 52€ (4-courses) and another for 65€ (5-courses)

Amuse Bouche and Starters 

I'm going to depart from how I normally review restaurants by describing every single dish, to the dishes I recalled and it had a strong impact on me, positively or negatively because I had way too many tiny bites and could not remember what went into what dish. Also, the menu they gave us did not correspond to their lunch prix-fixe menu. So, net-net I will try and describe only those those dishes that I liked or disliked. You'll probably be able to figure out the dish by the picture.

This style of cooking "Nouvelle Cuisine" which was introduced to the U.S. back in 1969-71 and was very, very popular throughout the 80's. I didn't realize it was coming back. I personally don't like it, so I'm already prejudiced. Keep in mind some of these dishes were teeny tiny, larger than a thimble, but pictures can be deceiving.

For our amuse bouche we had a meringue of fish the size of a small bon-bon. I found so off putting because the fish flavor was very strong, and maybe I associate "baked" meringue with something sweet. 

Then we had the bone marrow. Basically a raw tiny tip of a white asparagus the size of my thumb nail served over a painted bone as a vessel and covered with a biscuit shaped like a bone on it? Kitschy, no? It had absolutely no distinguishable flavor. 

Lastly a savory broth with a watermelon ice cube. The flavors were clashing with each other and my palate wanted to hate it and like it at the same time. 

So, as you can imagine the amuse bouche was a mishmash of different flavors served on bizarre plates. It wasn't the size that bothered me, amuse bouche are supposed to be small. It was the flavors, or lack of.

NOTE:  All the dishes were cold.

STARTERS AND MAINS

Portions were a mishmash of small tasting items or an entrée portion. The watercress concoction was good, not sure if there was cream or thickened by bulk vegetable, but as they say in french "pas mal" (Not bad.). The broth was citrusy, but also had a lingering umami flavor. The sweet breads were actually quite good, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The oyster leaf wrapping the sausage, you want to beg the question, why even bother? It was a joke. I have an aversion to foamy food because it reminds me of baby spit. So, whatever that green stuff tasted like nothing, but as you hit the bottom there were stronger flavors, and I'm not sure what it was.

I really needed a manual describing the dishes, ingredients, and in what order to eat them.  A lot of the dishes all came out at the same time, so it was confusing where to start. Our wait person, although sweet, I could not understand his french nor what little English he knew. His native language is Japanese, and I speak no Japanese.

Desserts

There were 3 parts to this dessert, first one was a white asparagus, comte cheese, white chocolate, cardamom and pineapple served 2-ways.  Lastly, a pistachio sponge cake.

In the top photo, all I have to say it was wrong on so many levels for me. Yes, we put honey on cheese, yes, we put confiture on cheese to intensify the flavors, but the white chocolate ice cream really fought with the flavors of the comte cheese, I disliked it immensely. I actually found the combination disgusting.

On the other hand the pistachio sponge cake was out of this world delicious, light, airy and with the accompanying confiture was great since the cake itself was not real sweet. This probably was my favorite dish of all the dishes I tasted. Go figure?

SUMMARY 

This restaurant is not for everyone. Obviously not for me. I normally like to nosh and love tapas bars, but I wish they had a manual or description of what should be eaten with what. I think some of the mild flavors were competing with the strong umami flavors.  Plus I'm over this style of eating where you have a large number of thimble or small sized dishes versus few dishes done wall. And, you might argue well tapas are like that. I would argue they're not, tapas are honest non-pretentious basic dishes that can be shared with friends and the canapé sizes are satisfying.

As we continued our meal, it dawned on me why I didn't remember this restaurant, because it was unmemorable and too complicated. In my humble opinion, having a Michelin star does not guarantee a good meal. My friend and I both agreed this was her least favorite of the Michelin starred restaurants she had been to. Note: she is on a mission to eat at all the 1-starred michelin starred restaurants in Paris.

I digress, what made me laugh was the sausage wrapped in an oyster leaf? I think my 5-year old nephew could do that.

Would I go back, ABSOLUTELY NOT! 

With prix-fixe 4-course meal,  3-glasses of wine our bill came to 75€ each. I bumped up the fair rating a little bit because they tried so hard to make it a wonderful dining experience, the ambience, and service was excellent, it was just some of the flavor combinations that didn't work for me.