[Paris] Restaurant A.T

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Restaurant A.T by Atsushi Tanaka

Add: 4 Rue Cardinal Lemoine, Paris 75005
Tel: 01 56 81 94 08
Hours: [Tue-Sat] 12:15~2pm, 8~9:30pm
Website: www.atsushitanaka.com
Price: [lunch] €45, €75 with wine pairing [dinner] €85, €150 with wine pairing
Visited on: Nov 2014

I have already visited many establishments ran by Japanese chefs here in Paris (e.g. Passage 53, Kei, Sola, Le Clos Y), and while I’ve always loved the clean, precise style of Japanese French food, the idea of “yet another one of these” doesn’t excite me so much anymore. But when I saw the photos on Restaurant A.T’s website – and I’ve seen many pretty plates prior to this already – I was still wowed. Created by Atsushi Tanaka (trained under Pierre Gagnaire), the dishes look sharp, modern, and ultra artistic. Then, a quick search on the internet sent back very positive feedbacks. Ok, I will give this a try.

The 5-course lunch menu (€45) started with Charcoal Chips – and we were to find out later that the chef really likes his charcoal – with colors matching the grey-toned dining room.

Leak/Brown Butter – very pretty, but the leak was quite tough and neither my lunch date nor I managed to finish it.

Veal/Rutabaga/Rosemary, rare, tender veal slices accompanied by powdered yellow turnips and rosemary, quite lovely. To be eaten with a pair of tweezers.

Arctic Char/ Tomato/Juniper. Liked the refreshing flavor and the crunchy texture of the arctic char, just wished that the portion was a little bigger…

Monkfish/Pil-Pil/Romanesco. Pil-pil, a Spanish sauce typically paired with shrimps or fish, was a great accompaniment to the monkfish. Also loved the colorful bits of romanesco and cauliflower, which added some nice crunchy texture to the mix.

Duck/Onion/Chinese Artichoke, not bad.

Raspberry/Beetroot/Timut Pepper, light and refreshing.

We were then asked if we want to try the newest dessert creation from the kitchen – Figs/Dates/Pistachio (+€15) – well, why not? The dessert was overall not bad, though I found the sorbet to be too sour with a very strong taste of balsamic vinegar. The golden sheet draping over the plate is a fig jelly, and while very pretty, was difficult to cut and eat.

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by lunch at Restaurant A.T. The dishes were indeed beautiful, but some of them not so practical to eat (e.g. the leak and the fig jelly) and some lacked good balance in flavors. Perhaps it’s an off day?