Le Passage

[fresh_a]

Don't go!

[fresh_a]

Apologies for my minimalist post! Here's a little description (from above mentionned blog) detailing my recent experience at Alain Senderens' "Le Passage", his annex tapas-bar. I'd be interested in hearing from others who have been there...

It's difficult to know exactly where to start when one is so disappointed, and for so many reasons, about a dining establishment, no less one with a two-star Michelin chef, a concept raved about in the international press, and fawning articles in publications like the Figaroscope (shame on you Cammas and co.). I am talking about last evening's fiasco at the tapas bar/annex to SENDERENS, called Le Passage. My partner in crime, Austen,and I, being the hardcore gastronomes that we are, and looking for some time to kill while waiting for his girlfriend to finish some business, decided to find something to eat. As we were both tired after a very difficult week taking care of the world's rich and famous, and after having been inspired by the latest Figaroscope on luxury tapas in Paris (shame on them!) we went through a number of options, and decided on Le Passage. The entrance was pleasant enough, located in a side passage next to the main restaurant, it's tiny, winding stairwell suggesting a private club of some sort, like something off the set of Eyes Wide Shut. The dining room was pleasant enough, in a minimalist sort of way, and we made our way to the counter-top bar, happy to see that we actually already knew both head barmen from previous establishments. A good start. That actually turned out to be the only reason we stayed as long as we did. The menu, rather limited, was divided into different tapas, followed by suggested fixed menus with tapas, wine, and cigars. We tried pretty much everything, each dish, in hopes of finding something decent. The starter was sea bream and seabass sushi , four small pieces of (obviously preprepared) "sushi", cut very fine on a mealy rice bed. Austen and I, who had been so looking forward to as taste of two-star freshness, were sadly mistaken. We looked at each other in incredulity. For the first of many times during the meal. Next, we had the gambas in vermicelli, with a sort of sweet and sour dip, which Austen enjoyed, and I found overcooked, but still okay. Next, we had probably the best dish of the evening, the haddock, served on a sort of bed of cole slaw , which was fresh and tasty, then followed the taster of tapas with scrambled egg with spicy chorizo , which was also okay, the inedible calamari , which was infernal, and to which I compared the cafeteria at my work (and believe you me, that's a stretch) , followed by the final dish, open shell mussels with jabrugo ham, which was edible and relatively tasty. During all this time, we had numerous glasses of wine, which were good, with the exception of one red, which was totally corked. Dessert, which was offered after the staff realized that, despite our feigned efforts to give the impression that we were not experiencing actual gastric meltdown, we were not enjoying ourselves, was actually quite good, Senderens famous vanilla millefeuille

At the end we felt so duped, that we couldn't help laughing about it for the rest of the night over drinks at the Forvm Bar across the street, a 1930's jewel, which, lucky for us, was still open to soulage our gastronomically stricken bodies and souls.

[bleudauvergne]

How much does it cost to feel duped by this experience? It is a shame that no one bothered to sniff the corked wine before serving it to you.

[fresh_a]

We paid a a hundred and something Euros. Should've been double with the freebies we got, but if I knew what we were in for, I never would have gone in the first place. We were, quite frankly, shocked, and embarassed for our two aquaintances who work there, who, out of the goodness of their hearts tried to make amends for everything , when obviously we couldn't stomach the food. I'm SURE we're not the only ones with a negative experience to tell, and this certainly stops me from wanting to go to SENDERENS.

[bleudauvergne]

Well one good thing is that they were perceptive enough to realize you didn't like it even though you were trying not to show it and tried to make amends. Did you discuss with your friend how you think this anomaly of a place came to exist and how it went wrong? The idea was good enough that you had hopes when you decided on the place. This was coming from the same kitchen as the restaurant? Besides improving the execution of certain dishes, i.e. the calamari, what do they need to do to make it a good experience? Tapas - can it come from a French kitchen?

[phrederic]

Thanks for the warning, Fresh.

I'm not too keen on Senderens current direction nor the reworking of Lucas Carton in the first place. But le passage sounds awful. I wonder if there's a trend of high-end places trying to remake themselves into something younger, hipper and more cosmopolitan. It wouldn't be hard for such transformations to cause a lack of attention to the quality of the food.

By the way, you like the Forum bar? I've been there a few times over the years and never got the "draw" of the place. It seems expensive, stuffy and well, boring. What am I missing?

[John Talbott]

Very interesting report Adrian. October 9th last year Colette and I tried to get into Senderens (having been told it was full when we tried to make a reservation), we figured it being a Sunday it would be easy and as a fall back we'd do the bar menu upstairs. And indeed that's what happened; after they almost seated us downstairs and almost allowed us to order off the downstairs carte; one look at the tapas advertised tho' and we were outta there. From your account I'm glad we didn't order.

By the bye, the downstair's carte/food/etc is not like upstairs at all.

[fresh_a]

We were shocked. Obviously Alain Senderens doesn't eat any food off of the tapas menu. Another surprising thing was the fact that the Figaroscope raved about it last week in their luxury tapas article, and even dared compare Le Passage to the Atelier de Joel Robuchon, which is so far superior that any comparison is absurd. I've been dubious about the Figaroscope since last year they gave big heart ratings to a couple of restaurants totally undeserving of praise in the same column, which, unbeknowst to all readers were owned by the same person! Strange coincidence..

[fresh_a]

In the words of my good friend Christophe concerning the Figaroscope (I'll leave the research to my loyal readers):

"I'm glad you went because i wanted to try it out after Figaroscope's latest review (shame on them) It's becoming more and more obvious that they're not 100% partial. (remember La Cuisine and Petit Champenois?)"

Edited March 17, 2006 by fresh_a (log)

[Laidback]

In the words of my good friend Christophe concerning the Figaroscope (I'll leave the research to my loyal readers):

"I'm glad you went because i wanted to try it out after Figaroscope's latest review (shame on them) It's becoming more and more obvious that they're not 100% partial. (remember La Cuisine and Petit Champenois?)"

←

Thanks for the heads-up, fresh_a, I value a slam critique about 2 to 1 to a positive one. It is odious to get ripped off.

[fresh_a]

Your welcome, lb. I can't believe places like this can even exist. Let alone be owned by one of Paris' most mediatic chefs.