Caché, 23, Villa Riberole, Paris 20
Caché opened in October 2019, so not long before the trauma of the pandemic. Perhaps that explains why there is relatively little commentary about it on the internet.
The name is French for “hidden,” and indeed this restaurant is not easy to find. It is on the eastern edge of Père Lachaise Cemetery, but there is no direct access from the cemetery. Instead, one enters from the lively rue de Bagnolet, walking up a private alley that is lined by buildings that now or once housed artisans and light industry:
There is greenery at the end of the alley and a restaurant, but it turns out that the restaurant is not Caché:
Turning left, the pleasant walkway continues:
And then left again, past another restaurant, Amagat, with outdoor seating. Amagat appears to be related to Caché, as it shares the same address and links to Caché on its website. Then left down a dark corridor and up some stairs, and one arrives at a loft-like area that is the restaurant Caché:
As the menu shows, this is a fish restaurant, and unlike most fish restaurants, here there is no compromise. But for a few vegetable sides and the desserts, everything is fish:
The desserts:
The concept here is to encourage sharing of plates among all the people at the table.
And the wines by the glass:
The carte des vins is largely natural wines and includes a significant section of orange wines. Markups did not seem unjust; the selection works well with the food, but is not broad or loaded with prestige names.
We chose to start with a 2022 Côtes-du-Jura “Chardonnay Initial” from Jérôme Arnoux, a producer whose wines have pleased me in the past:
This is a wine with good minerality and tension and was perfect for our initial starter (and continuing on thereafter) while we were waiting for our delayed fourth member:
This was a delicious tarama of smoked cod roe and celery, served with very good pain au levain. The tarama was salty with depth of flavor and good precision.
Meanwhile the restaurant began to fill up, mostly with trendy-looking people in their thirties and forties, probably mostly francophone but clearly with some anglophones, too.
With the arrival of our fourth member, we filled out our order, taking first the beautiful cured salmon and trout roe with smoked cream:
This played the saltiness and juiciness of the cured roe against the cream’s smooth texture and smoky accents. It was a hit.
We also took the bisque-lacquered brioche:
This was very good, too, with the rich bread texture of the brioche soaking up and melding with the bisque.
Next, we took two of the raw fish dishes. First, the tuna and toro tuna with ponzu jelly with samphire; there was also a bit of lemon jelly to add accent here:
The dish was refreshing, pure, and light. With that, we also had the amberjack with clarified bouillabaisse, rouille ice cream, and fennel, all of which blended perfectly:
Before it was cooked, we were shown our whole turbot, one of the most prestigious fish in France:
And after cooking and filleting:
For me, turbot ties with or just edges out lotte (monkfish) as my second favorite fish, with Saint-Pierre (John Dory) being my undisputed favorite. This generous serving, allowing us all to go back for seconds and even thirds if we wanted, was a real highlight. This fish was rich but light, and flavorful. It came in a pil pil sauce, typical of the Basque region in France and Spain, and one couldn’t imagine a better combination.
With the turbot, we took a second bottle of Côtes-du-Jura Chardonnay from Jérôme Arnoux, this a 2020 Chantemerle cuvée:
This wine was was raised in oak and from a riper vintage/terroir, providing additional breadth and power that married well with the richness of the turbot.
As vegetable accompaniments with the turbot, we took excellent grilled potatoes in shoyu butter:
and cold eggplant served with baba ganoush and Armenian salad:
Both were quite good, but in no way detracted from the wonderful turbot.
After all this, we were sufficiently full that we had no room for dessert.
The bill, coming out to 116€ and change per person was more than reasonable considering the quality and quantity of food that we enjoyed:
If you go to Caché, and I strongly encourage you to do so unless you are allergic to fish, I suggest going with at least four persons so you can experience one of the whole fish dishes. That said, there were many tables of just two people, and even a few with just a single person.
Caché
23, villa Riberolle, 75020 Paris
Tuesday-Saturday dinner
Telephone: 06 09 31 61 62
Métro: Alexandre Dumas