Restaurant Review -- Aux 2K

 

5 Rue Louise-Émilie de la Tour d'Auvergne, 75009 Paris

For reservations and directions, website: https://aux2k.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+)

4.25- Star...............................€€€..................................... 4 🔔

Friends from Nice were in town and he selected this restaurant, cause he had heard about it from the Michelin guide. It's in the 9eme and a very cute homey restaurant, but quite small. 

The restaurant is run by 2-women chefs. One of french/Italian origin and the other Japanese. So their menu was a fusion of both and mixing cultural food differences is becoming the norm in Paris. 

The restaurant had only seating for 20 people. It was quite tight, but homey. Because it was so small it tended to be quite noisy and our voices bounced off the walls, so made it difficult to hear at times. 


NOTE: I'm only reviewing the dishes that I had, whereas JJ will describe his dessert. 

Gougères -- As an amuse bouche we got the cheese gougères.  Nothing out of the ordinary but a good staple first start.

Pork cromesquis, green curry, galangal, coconut, shiso --  Please note, I forgot to take a photo, so this photo of our entrée is from their website. They were croquettes, and this is where the Asian flavors were more pronounced. Ours were topped with Chiffonade of seaweed (simpler than the photo). I don't think it really added to the dish, but more to the presentation. 

The dish was excellent. My actual favorite of the night. The pork filling was encased with a creamy like texture to bind it, but was soft rather than firm. It had a bit of kick to it from the green curry and galangal, but was not overwhelming. Overall they just look like ordinary croquettes, but the surprise was in the tasting. Excellent! 

Roasted pigeon, smoked eel, shallots confit, salmis sauce -- If you consider pigeon meat, then this is like a "surf & turf". The dish was topped with 2 large battered fried shallots. Overall the presentation and composition of the dish was excellent. The eels were enormous. I don't think I've ever had eels that large. Overall the taste profile, the pigeon was perfectly roasted and the meat was extremely moist. The eel tasted more like a softer "monk" fish than eel, but it was delicious none-the-less. Overall, another excellent dish.

Rice pudding banana and caramel 

This was a quite rich dish, creatively done.  Placed on top of a crunchy phyllo-like wafer the 'lait' was very creamy (looked like ice cream) and the rice was buried inside.  The banana and caramel gave it a sweet but not overwhelming sweet taste.  Very delicious.

SUMMARY 

I'm glad our friends recommended this restaurant. It is a small restaurant and you definitely need to make reservations. The presentations were fantastic, as an example one of our friends ordered the veal.

The veal was beautifully presented. It wouldn't be fair for me to review since I only tasted a little piece of it. But from what I had it was delicious. So this dish not only presented beautifully, but tasted good. 

My favorite was the pork croquette entrée, but the plat principal was also excellent. And, Jack loved the dessert.

There are 2-issues that you have to be aware of, because it is small and tables are tight, it can get difficult to hear and talk. So, this is not a place for a romantic meal.

And, this is more my pet peeve, they turn tables. I suppose to turn a profit they would need to, especially with only 20 tables, but then again that doesn't mean I have to like it. As most Parisians, we like long leisurely meals. Our reservations were at 7 pm, with the next one at 9 pm. However, I'm told if you make reservations for e.g., 8 pm or later, there is no seating after yours. BTW, I did not feel rushed with our 7 pm reservations. 

I would've rated it at 4.5, but the loud noise, I lowered the rating slightly. Would I go back, absolutely, but I would probably do lunch or the last dinner seating at 8:30 pm or 9 pm.

For three pre-fixe menus @€45 each, 1 ala carte @ €45, 1-bottled water, 2 bourgogne blanc, 1-pastis, 1-americano, 1-spirtz royale, 2-Chinon our bill came to €283 or €70.75 per person.