Aldéhyde, Paris 4

Aldéhyde is a small restaurant in the Marais, just up from the Pont Louis-Philippe. It opened at the end of August. It is the first restaurant for chef Youssef Marzouk. Prior to opening the restaurant he had most recently worked at restaurants in the Hôtel Cheval Blanc in Paris with William Bequin (Le Tout-Paris) and then Arnaud Donckele (Plénitude).

Marzouk has restaurant origins in his veins, as his father is a pastry chef and his mother a restaurateur.

The name of the restaurant comes from a group of molecules, one of which gives the particular flavor to coriander which in turn “reflects the distinctive character of the [restaurant’s] cuisine”, according to the website.

Despite the small size of the restaurant, it is gastronomic in its intention with the additional twists from Mazouk’s Tunisian origins. The meal here was one of the most impressive I’ve ever had from a newly-opened restaurant and I look forward to follow-up meals, which I shall report on. Plenty of vegetables cooked beautifully to bring out their best and layered spices and other flavors in all the dishes.

At dinner, the restaurant offers a choice of a five-course menu at 95€ and a seven-course menu at 120€. We took the five-course option.

The amuse-bouches:

At the bottom of the photo in the white bowl is chopped tomato with burrata and basil with orange blossom and its water. Above that are tartelettes of girolles in tapenade and of carrots with cumin. All did exactly what an amuse-bouche is supposed to to, awakened the palate (and other senses) and made us aware that there was something special going on here due to the finesse and precision of the food. There was also a liquid shown in the tall glass which was a non-alcoholic corriander infusion.

The wine list is relatively short (e.g., there are three or four white Loire wines, but no red Loires), but has well-chosen selections. With new restaurants, the wine list is often a major expense that has to be built up, and I am sure that as the restaurant prospers, the list will expand accordingly. We chose a red Chassagne-Montrachet vieilles vignes from Domaine Bruno Colin, and throughout the meal it was what we hoped for, showing finesse, intensity, and precision, plus the ability to go with both the fish course and the meat course to come.

The wine was served at proper (i.e., cellar) temperature, although on this warm evening we did eventually have to ask for an ice bucket to keep the temperature cool.

The next course is described as “dôme de chou-fleur, ras el-hanout de mayda, sauce Dubarry à la marjolaine.”

This was a delicious and fascinating presentation of cauliflower (chou-fleur) three ways. The golden outside is is composed of very thin slices of pickled cauliflower; inside is delicious cauliflower purée, and then there is a cauliflower sauce with marjoram. The result was complex, and impressive.

Next came “esturgeon, fleur de courgettes piquée à la verveine, beurre jaune curcuma”, that is, sturgeon with zucchini flowers spiced with verbena, and beurre jaune with turmeric. I give you two pictures, the second showing purees on top of the stuffed zucchini flowers (the green piece between the sturgeon on the right and the zucchini flower on the left is a zucchini mouse or purée. This, too, was a most delicious dish with great finesse and layering of the various flavors.

The meat course is apparently one of the chef’s signature dishes. It is described as L’agneau en 2 façons, anguille, espuma slata méchouia, jus corsé” (lamb cooked two ways with eel, foam slata méchouia, and thickened jus). But that doesn’t really do it justice. In particular, one of the ways that the lamb is cooked is Tunisian barbecue, which yields a very delicate flavoring. And there’s the little pepper filled with a white cheese and herbs, adding an extra spice note.

The pre-dessert was beautiful to behold and wonderful tasting: geraniums on top of a lemon custard.

The main dessert was not an anti-climax; it was a wonderful apple composition with aniseed and dill:

Finally, mignardises:

The bottom line:

If you are lucky enough to be in Paris this fall, I encourage you to make room for a visit to Aldéhyde. It’s one of the new stars of the season.

Aldéhyde

5, rue du Pont Louis-Philippe

75004 Paris

website: aldehyde.paris

Tél: 09 73 89 43 24

Tuesday-Saturday lunch and dinner

Métro: Pont Marie, Saint-Paul, Hôtel de Ville