Mova, rue des Dames, Paris 17
I’ve had Mova, in the upscale Batignolles quarter, in my sights since a couple of highly positive reviews in late 2019 (including my good friend John Talbott) and then another review in early 2022. But despite an aborted attempt or two, I’d not made it there until tonight.
Batignolles was a little village to the north of Paris until it was incorporated into the city in 1860. The Impressionist Alfred Sisley and poets Stéphane Malarmé and Paul Verlaine, among others, inhabited the quarter, and not far away were others such as Claude Debussy and Édouard Manet. I gather that the sector had fallen on difficult times by the 1970s, for when I mentioned Batignolles not that long ago to a friend who had lived in Paris at that time, he scoffed. Apparently, he was unaware that it now has become a center for youngish (30- and 40-somethings) who are doing quite well.
The restaurant is situated at the eastern end of the rue des Dames, which is chock full of interesting restaurants and other foodie-related shops. Tourists are almost non-existent here.
At dinner, you have a choice of either four or six courses, both at extremely attractive prices given today’s inflationary economy.
We both took the four course menu.
It was a hot evening and the first evening of the rentrée, when vacations for most are over, and people are back to work. Surprisingly, when we arrived at ten to eight, the room was already half full, and all but a table that was speaking Chinese spoke French.
The room is light and airy and although I didn’t count, I suppose it seats about 40 people. There is no outdoor seating.
With the dinner and as an apéritif, we chose to share a bottle of 2019 Bourgueil “Clos Sénéchal” from the excellent Domaine Catherine et Pierre Breton. It might be worth a moment here to explain my reasoning for doing so, since the menu had both seafood (the quenelle) and meat (the lamb), and most people would opt for a glass of white and a glass of red.
I generally do not like to order by the glass if there are good bottles available because you usually (but not always!) pay more for wine by the glass and because you don’t know how long the bottle has been open (I’ve not infrequently rejected wines by the glass because they clearly had been open too long.
The rule of white-with-fish and red-with-meat is by not means inflexible. We probably order red more often than white with fish. What matters are the overall qualities of the wine, including the weight and balance. In this instance, I thought the lamb dish would be strong enough that it would overpower any of the whites I was considering. As for the fish, it would be rich enough to support a red wine that was not too overpowering and that have good acidity. Reds from the Loire Valley, Burgundy, the Jura, and Alsace generally have the acidity and balance to pair with fish (there can be many exceptions of course).
So we ordered the 2019 Bourgueil, as mentioned above. What was brought to the table, though, was a 2018 Bourgueil from Breton and from a different vineyard (and it was a wine that was not shown on the wine list). Moreover, it was brought without any announcement that it was not the wine we ordered and it was brought already opened, which psychologically would make it difficult for us to refuse the bottle if it was not exactly what we wanted. In this, case, happily, it worked out all right as the vintage and the vineyard were ones that were fine with me, and the wine was splendid — once we cooled it down enough — with plenty of stony minerality and very good acidity.
About the temperature, most red wines in France and elsewhere are served too warm in restaurants and most whites are served too cold. With the whites, you can always wait for them to warm; with reds you need to actively cool them down (if they are too warm they will lose balance and can become very blowsy). Certainly more than half the time I order a red wine in a restaurant, I have to ask for a bucket (un seau) to cool the wine down — and you should not hesitate to do the same.
The first course was cherry tomatoes on a parmesan crust, and it was light, flavorful, and delicious.
The second course was a lobster and lemon bisque with cabillaud (cod) quenelles — it was more substantial, but not too much for a warm evening. And it went well with the wine, which was finally cooling sufficiently.
Next, the lamb is barely peeking though the kale above, but you can see it better below.
It was a rustic dish, but with plenty of satisfying flavor.
For dessert, we had what was described as the restaurant’s take on Pêche Melba, but another way of looking at it would be a Pavlova of peach and raspberry with marscapone and meringue. Either way, it was light, fresh and delicious.
L’addition.
Mova provided an excellent meal at most attractive prices and I’ll be back. For those of you who want to get out of touristy central Paris and eat with Parisians, this is definitely a place to seek out.
Mova
39, rue des Dames, Paris 75017
Monday dinner, Tuesday-Friday lunch and dinner
Tél: 01 45 22 46 07
Métro: Liège, Place de Clichy, Rome