Hémicycle, 5 rue de Bourgogne, Paris 7
My previous meal at Hémicycle was last September, just weeks after the restaurant’s opening. We had a splendid meal, and I invite you to read my previous commentary to get the background on this restaurant.
This time, we were there a few days after New Year’s Day, essentially a vacation week in Paris (and many restaurants are closed for the week). Consequently, the restaurant was only about half full, there was a higher proportion of non-French diners than before, and none of them — French or foreign — wore a tie. But it was time to go back and see what was on offer in a new season.
Prices have remained stable since our first visit.
As before, our limits on what we could eat at a single meal took us to the “three”-course lunch menu at 49€.
While perusing the wine list, I spotted this philosophical list of cocktails (or list of philosophical cocktails) that either did not exist on our previous visit or that I had not noticed:
The wine list remains as before — extensive with excellent offerings at all price levels, markups that are fair to extremely attractive, and it includes some older wines (back, at least, to 1979).
Having checked with our waiter on what the menu would include, I chose a 2018 Coteaux-du-Loir rouge from the Loire Valley from the excellent Domaine de la Bellivière/Eric Nicolas, an organic and biodynamic producer. This wine is from the Pineau d’Aunis grape, which has been thought to be a relative of Pinot Noir, although recent research does not point that way. The grape type had been dying out until revived in the 1990s by producers such as Bellivière. It gives a somewhat elegant wine on the palate with distinctive white pepper aromas and flavors.
Because the wine is bottled with little or no sulfur dioxide and plenty of carbon dioxide (which causes a prickly sensation on the palate when first poured), I had the wine decanted to breathe and lose much of the dissolved carbon dioxide. The wine was rich yet elegant and worked extremely well with the dishes to follow.
The first amuse-bouche was a spinach chip with herbed mayonnaise. Characteristic of the cuisine here, it was precise and intense in its flavors, and the texture of the chip contrasted wonderfully with the sensual creaminess of the mayonnaise:
Next came a bayberry broth with bread gnocchi and another dish, the ingredients of which I did not write down and cannot recall, but both were interesting and tasty, and more than did the job of piquing the appetite. The bread gnocchi were particularly interesting for their texture, a combination of bread and gnocchi:
Before the first official course, the grissini, bread, and house-made butter from Normandy cream, all of excellent quality:
L doesn’t eat hare, so she received as a substitute starter smoked beets in a jelly with a beet granite and butter sauce. I sampled this and it was and excellent blending of the flavors:
I received the normal serving, raviolis of hare in a sauce that was a reduction of the meat. They were excellent, too, displaying richness and depth:
The main course for both of us was suprême de volaille (chicken breast) with fermented cauliflower, cima de rapa, and smoked piment:
This made for a most satisfying winter dish with richness but no heaviness. The fermented cauliflower was especially delicious for the acidity that it added playing against the rich sauce.
I then went off-menu to order the Chaource cheese in a soufflé with tangerine ice cream, a very fine dish that served well to finish the wine:
Dessert was a roasted pear with bergamot ice cream. This, too, worked perfectly.
Coffee with a delightful offering of sugar stars:
To conclude in the season, a galette des rois mignardise with crème diplomate.
And the bottom line:
As with my original visit in September, I find that this restaurant has exceptional cooking, very good service, and an outstanding wine list. When it receives its Michelin star prices will rise — it will still be worth going to, but if you have the opportunity to go now, do so!
Hémicycle
5, rue de Bourgogne, 75007 Paris
Tél: 01 40 62 98 04
Tuesday-Saturday lunch and dinner
Métro: Assemblée Nationale, Invalides