52 Faubourg Saint-Denis
Add: 52 rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, Paris 75010
Tel: N/A
Hours: 8-12am (continuous service, open daily)
Price: [appetizers] €9~12 [main courses] €16~19 [sweets] €8
Visited: May 2015
Restauranteur Charles Compagnon of L’Office and Le Richer has opened up 52 Faubourg Saint-Denis, and from what I could tell on this first visit today, it is just like Le Richer: open daily, continuous service from 8am to midnight, no reservations, with light, refreshing, and creative dishes. The meal didn’t wow, but it was a pleasant experience.
For starters, we ordered three different plates to share. “Gazpacho de carottes, brousse aux herbes, petits pois” (€9) – carrot gazpacho with herbs and green peas, “rillette de maquereau en escabeche, gaufre aux herbes, creme de citron” (€8) – mackerel rilette with herb waffle and lemon cream, “asperges vertes, cremeux de pdt, jaune au chorizo, tuile parmesan” (€12) – green asparagus with potato cream and parmesan wafer.
All were refreshing, but the mackerel rilette with herb waffle and lemon cream was definitely my favorite.
To the main courses, which turned out to be quite delicious and more memorable than the starters.
“Lieu jaune laque au vin rouge, risotto de pdt au raifort, feves” (€19), yellow pollack lacquered with red wine, potato horseradish risotto and broad beans.
“Paleron de boeuf en pot au feu, carottes, coriandre, pate fraiche, cacahuete” (€16), braised beef shoulder with carrots, coriander, fresh pasta, and peanuts.
“Poitrine de veau rotie au thym, laitue braisee, condiment miso/kiwi” (€17), veal roasted with thyme, braised lettuce, miso/kiwi condiment.
Our first dessert was “salade de cocombre et fraises, creme citronee, biscuit aux amandes” (€8), cucumber and strawberry salad with lemon-flavored cream and almond biscuit. We don’t usually see cucumber being used in sweets and the idea might seem a bit bizarre, but this was actually very tasty, with the cucumbers providing a refreshing balance to the sweet almond biscuit.
“Mousse au chocolat noir, sorbet poivron, tuiles et pignons caramelisees” (€8), dark chocolat mousse with red pepper sorbet, chocolate wafers and caramelized pinenuts.
A pleasant lunch.