Alliance, 5 rue de Poissy, Paris 5
Alliance opened in November 2015, and since our first visit, this has been our favorite restaurant in Paris and one that we look forward to going back to multiple times a year.
The chef, Toshitaka Omiya, is originally from Osaka, Japan. He came to Paris in 2001, working with Joël Robuchon, Alain Passard, and Philippe Legendre before going out on his own. He is simply amazing in his capacity to come up with new dishes and to include in them great clarity of flavor, finesse, and overall balance.
Toshitaka’s co-owner is Shawn Joyeux, who oversees the front of the house and takes care of the wine selections, which are extensive, excellent, and have something for everyone at all price levels. The service is always impeccable.
The outside of the restaurant, between the Seine and the boulevard Saint-Germain, is understated.
The menu:
The interior is elegant and understated, with only about nine or so tables (depending on how arranged):
We took the menu “Instant”, officially consisting of four courses, although as you will see, that is quite an understatement.
As I mentioned, the wine list here is excellent at all levels, extensive, and fairly-priced. On this occasion, we chose to go with wines by the glass.
L started with an excellent white Côtes Catalanes from La Soula, in the Pyrénées foothills near the Spanish border. The outstanding Domaine Gauby is responsible for this wine.
I took a white from Savoie, the mountains on the Swiss border on the eastern side of France, produced by Christophe Martin of Château de Lucey.
The first set of amuse-bouches were miniature spring rolls of quinoa and confit lemon on the left and beets and beets and algae on the right. They were delicious with unexpected combinations of flavors and the contrast of the smooth, glossy texture of the wrapper with the food inside.
Next came gougères of Parmesan and twists of some kind. Both were delicious. The gougères, being made from Parmesan, were milder than those made from Comté and in this making were entirely hollow inside rather than having a chewy interior — perhaps more interesting intellectually as a variation than in practice.
Then delicious lollipops with melon in the middle wrapped in a white cloud of ginger. The flavors melded harmoniously and the texture of the melon played well against the ethereal ginger. Then tacos of avocado cream with smoked salmon. Most customers received foie gras tacos, but since L does not like foie gras, these were the substitute: crunchy taco exterior agains the creamy avocado and slightly juicy salmon:
But wait, there’s still more — accra of lobster, ginger, and lime that were just so incredibly intense and pure.
And a final overture — a pumpkin purée our soup with roasted pumpkin seeds and coffee foam on top. When mixed, we had the yellow of the pumpkin purée against the brown of the coffee foam, a fine introduction to autumn. Once again, the flavors were distinct and played off well against each other, with the coffee adding an unexpected lift to the pumpkin.
Next, were artichoke pieces under an artichoke cream that had been scorched with coriander leaves on top. This dish was simply sensational in its finesse and blending of pure flavors.
Alongside it, we had house-made focaccia (above), followed by miniature lobster croque monsieurs (below):
Both were excellent, but the lobster croque monsieurs especially stood out for the intensity and purity of flavors.
At this point, we each ordered a glass of Trousseau from Domaine Dugois, a very good producer in the Jura, east of Burgundy along the Swiss border.
Trousseau is mostly associated with the Jura, where it is believed to have originated; but small quantities are planted in other countries and regions of the world, most notably Portugal where, under the name Bastardo, Trousseau is one of the grapes that can be used for Port.
This wine was medium-weight and fairly extracted for a Trousseau and with a firm, creamy texture that I found different from most Trousseaus I’ve had. The wine had dark cherry fruit.
From there we moved on to lobster with red pepper, harissa sauce, and pasta cooked or fried in the lobster’s water
This was a very good dish with the two faces of the red pepper (the sweet pepper and the spicy harissa) complementing the lobster, but since it “just” outstanding, it was a bit of a letdown from the artichoke.
A rich bouillon was served to cleanse the palate of any lingering lobster flavor:
The final savory course was the rack, thigh, and breast of rabbit in its juice served with carrot and carrot purée:
The rabbit was tender, moist, and cooked to perfection. It played against the slight sweetness from the carrots. Once again, we are reminded that the season is early autumn.
With that, we finish with the savory dishes and so this simple four-course lunch must be coming to a close, right? Not so fast.
Dessert number one is tagliatelle of cucumber with cucumber ice cream and pistachio crumble — light, delicious, and unexpected.
Dessert number two is a variation on baba au rhum — baba with Campari and kumquats, Campari ice cream, and citrus variations. Very different from the previous dessert, especially in the contrast of the cucumber tagliatelle texture with the baba texture, but also quite delicious.
Mignardises:
Clockwise from the top:
Vanilla cream puffs
Hazelnut financiers
Tangerine jellies
All delicious and a light finish to the meal.
The amazingly reasonable check for what we had:
For what it’s worth, some restaurants in Paris are better at lunch and some are better at dinner. I prefer Alliance at lunch.
Alliance
5 rue de Poissy, 75005 Paris
Monday through Friday lunch and dinner
Tél: 01 75 51 57 54
Métro: Maubert-Mutualité, Pont Marie, Saint-Paul