In our very last dinner, the night before his flight back home, Shane and I went to l’Office, where Blaise doing his stage. Decided to pay a visit in the early sitting. We were the first ones to arrive that evening. Asked to say hi to Blaise who came up to chat with us for a while. The menu, written on the blackboard in front of me, was very convenient for me to look (and uncomfortable for Shane) and I like having the description while still eating the meal.
The menu of the day consists of 3 options for entree plate and dessert for 33 euro
The place ambiance is warm and cozy, very typical Parisian bistro
We asked Blaise what’s his recommendations and he said that the maquereau entree is his own first dish in the menu and happens to be sent out for the first time this evening. Also he recommended the veal and the fish, and to drink wine with the meal. We took the maquereau entree and the veal but the fish dish was a supplement of 4 euro to the price of the menu so we settled for the cochon which was the other option. The wine was 6-6.5 euro a glass which is not very expensive but we were not in the mood to expend more than the 33 euros so we asked to pass on the wine. Unfortunately the wine issue was not only intensively recommended by the whole staff, but also made us feel very uncomfortable when we declined and started off the meal with a bitter taste.
The bread came first and we asked for some butter. It was a great bread to my opinion or was I just very hungry, ate lunch at work at 11am that day?
Now for the food:
Maquereau, herbs and gazpacho. Mackerel tartar, gazpacho and aioli
I love raw fish and mackerel is not the usual raw fish you get. This could be positive unless the fish itself was dull and unflavored. I added salt and it made it a bit better. The gazpacho was dominant and sweetish but the best thing here was the aioli which was well made with lots of garlic.
Asperges, bacon, oeuf
Asparagus is seasonal now so you can find it practically in every restaurant’s entree list or menu of the day. French really love to order the seasonal ingredients dishes which I find great. This dish was seasonal but not very interesting. Two of the more popular types of asparagus in the market now, tasted pretty good and with a little crunch of bacon, the egg had been poached nicely but we got some of the poaching water on the plate. Classic combination, nothing out of the ordinary.
Asparagus, poached egg and bacon.
Veau, petits pois, carrotes
This was the best dish of the night. The veal was cooked to the right degree, many seasonal vegetables filling the plate which I adore, matched well with the yogurt and the jus de veau (the meat sauce) poured over. The raviolis were so good.
Veal, peas and carrots but also two types of mushrooms, little ravioli filled with peas and mascrapone, wasabi peas and yogurt
Ready to eat the mains!
Cochon, poivron, aubergine, hericot vert.
The other dish was not matching in level to the veal dish. First, what came was a pork chop and not a cochon (baby pig) which supposed to be very small (up to 10 kg according to school’s pork booklet) so obviously the taste is not the same. It was said to be confit but it tasted just like a normal roasted pork chop with salt and pepper. It was tasty and juicy, not dried out or anything, but without any sauce, a small disappointment. The vegetables were the best part of the dish – sitting on an almond cream which was very good.
Baby pork confit, bell pepper, eggplant and green beans.
Panna cotta, mangue, cardamome
I really liked this dessert because it was light and not too sweet, had some acidity and interesting flavors of cardamom and lime, with some crumble and mango pieces. A little too much gelatinous.
Chocolate, noisette, mandarine
The other dessert I didn’t care for at all. it was a plate with a thin layer of chocolate ganache, some crunchy cookie with hazelnuts and gratin of mandarin. It was like getting the chocolate sauce without the cake. I couldn’t believe this one, I asked Shane, is it possible that this dessert is a plate with ganache? Not satisfying, weird combination.
Luckily we asked the waiter to leave us the bread while eating the desserts. It's not common and we got a little frown but we had something to put dipping the bread in the chocolate sauce was a lot better idea than the original one.
We received the bill inside a cooking book! I like this concept.
They did not expect Shane to read the book and copy the recipes! But he did and we got to sit there for a while longer
The bill was 33 euro per person, no surprises
Bottom line: I would not greatly recommend this place. Potantially someone can get a fairly nice dinner (veal, pana cotta), but at the same time it’s possible to get a mediocre meal. With a menu of only three items in each category you can’t say it’s only a coincidence that we ordered the wrong dishes.
Again it makes me think about serving a simple dish. A dish doesn’t necessarily have to be the multi elements never been seen before idea with foams and jellies and a several lines description to it, to be a good dish. It can be a classic simple dish and still be great, but in this case I think it should be well cooked to the right degree, perfectly seasoned, handled and served. It’s an art by itself.
Back to l’Office, we thought it was a bit too expensive over all. We didn’t get any amuse bouche or something to begins with, the two baskets of bread with butter filled us up eventually and the dishes were not amazing.
featuring: Shane
It’s true that there are many better options for eating out in Paris. But now having returned home I adore my usual wine country cuisine. I will miss these dinners mashav and I took. Good luck at Ledoyen!!!
It wAs a tad dissapointing
although I never met Shane face to face – I feel that I will miss him… good luck Shane…