boston

I was there in Feb with my wife and with my son who was visitng on business from Hong Kong where he lives. It is a a very small unassuming space. The service is lovely. The meal was excellent. The food is indeed aisian influenced with a Hong Kong style according to my son. My son spoke in mandarin with the gentleman behind the bar. There is a wide selection of teas. As mentioned the chef has spent considerable time cooking in Hong Kong. If you would enjoy a fine meal of french products fusion with Chinese Hong Kong sytle beautifully served you should go. The resto is so small and so popular suggest asking for a reservation well in advance. Boston

I know I should respond with resto suggestions but I take my lead from John. I am surprised no one mentioned the Jardin d'Acclamation in the Bois de Boulogne. Metro Sablons or take the "little" train from/to Porte Maillot. This is a great amusement park with nostalgic rides, pony rides and a little zoo too! Great for kids. There are other interesting things in the Bois as well.

So, Sandy, am I correct that it's your sense that what makes Bigarrade creative is its pricing not its food? If so, that would then open up a whole new bunch of places. ← Hi John Thanks for forcing me to be more exact. What I am trying to say is one view of creativity involves " what you make out of what you have to work with" compared to others. It is always about the food, but the food is created from the ingredients. On one hand creativity will express itself independently at all levels of available resources(ingredients). However given two creative chefs the one with the most resources will always out since more resources will provide more options. I appreciate both but respect more the creativity of a creative chef who inspires my taste having 10E worth of ingredients to cook with versus a creative chef who has 100E worth of ingredients with which to cook. I think I feel this way because with unlimited budget there is the danger that the ingredient itself will be considered what is creative in the dish as opposed to the creative use of the ingredient in the dish compared to how others have used it. Sandy

I"ll add one: Bigarrade Christophe Pele. I would include the variable of price along with food when thinking of creativity. What he is trying to do for the price he is charging is for me very creative. Cameleon I enjoy , especially the calves liver dish. It is a fine resto experience. But I do not think of it in the creative category. sandy

Kinugawa 9 rue du Mont Thabor. There is another on Rue St Phillipe du Roule It is expensive however. Boston

Jacques Genin has opened a shop at 133 Rue de Turenne. 0145772901. He is still keeping the old one going I believe. I do not know if he will still allow others into the factory with a call now that he has a shop. That was a great experience ala Wille Wonka! Does anyone know? Thanks. Boston

I will add a new one. Bigarrade 106 Rue Nollet. Christophe Pele offers his own modern style at a price incredible compared to Le Cinq. It will be interesting for you to speculate on how much of the price differential between the two is in the food versus everything else. And if you want a traditional solid wonderful meal experience I would suggest Le 153 Grenelle. Jean Jacques Jouteux really provides an incredible price quality value here that is really fun with his sister out front. Boston

← Merry and I were in Paris last week. Report to follow but I would like to add to the comments without appearing to " pile on ". We ate at L'Amboise last year with a "regular". In winter with black truffle season. The food was in the "to be expected excellent". The truffle dishes were the only outstanding dishes. I would only say that my wife had similar feelings to Robyn. The service was condecending, the atmosphere was so dark and dreary and serious. That environment seemed to stiffle what I would call the holistic pleasureable participation of the diners with the food, the staff and the restuarant. Unlike Guy Savoy( since it is mentioned above) which has a bright playful beautiful dining space designed for intimacy and an attentive staff that share their pride in the food they serve with the guests. The price quality ratio, experience and difficulty of reservation will not get us back compared to others in a similar category. "Every system is designed to achieve the results it gets" so as Julot says it is more of a club. Sandy

Any advice on eating during nuit blanche. merci. Sanford

I know we are moving off the original subject. I will add a vote for Table de Fes for Morrocan coucous. Bosotn

We recently called for a reservation in October. There seems to be a new approach now. No reservations taken. Instead show up at a time of your choosing and wait to be seated. This is actually a more straight forward approach than a reservation system that goes out so far in the future it does not work and creates ill will in the process. Boston

Just to add some more open sunday discussed in the past: L'Ardoise rue Mont-Tabor 1st Les Fines Gueules 2 Rue de la Vrilliere et 43 rue croix de petete s champs 1st Le Bistral 80 rue Lemercier 17th Le Balzac 3-5 rue balzac Ripaille 69 rue des dames 17th sandy

I would add Market on Ave Matignon and Drouant in the 2nd. have fun.

The Boston Globe today had an interview with Guy Martin. It seems he will open a Sensing on the water front in Boston. The connection is his french friend who managed a hotel in Boston and now is an advisor to this deveoplment project. Merry and I ate at Sensing approx a year ago. To be brief: the food was average, the atmospheric light show was a major distraction and the front room is considerably less warm and conducive to a dining experience than the back. We decided we would probably not return and have not. Is this too harsh? Have things become better? Sandy

Having been in Paris the past week, I absolutely agree. I can also say we know where all the smokers have gone. They have "stormed" the side walks. In front of every store. at the service entrance of every hotel, there are the staff in there beautiful costumes smoking away. Late night Merry and I have waded through the desparate smokers just out side the bar or restuarant having a smoke. I suspect policy will eventually have to deal with this as well just as in the states. sandy