Restaurant Alliance, Paris, 3/22/17

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Exterior

Restaurant Alliance is a small place, about 10 tables, that has been in this location about 15 months.  One end of the room is windows looking into the kitchen where you can watch Chef Toshitaka Omiya work his magic.  He makes trips into the dining room to check on the diners also.  The one dining room is modern in style with interesting circular ceiling fixtures providing a nice light level.  The noise level is very acceptable and probably helped by the various geometric shapes on the walls, carpeting and drapes.  Tables are close enough to that you don’t feel isolated but not so close that you have to move a table to exit.  Alliance offers two tasting menus of 6 or 8 courses and an a la carte menu.  I don’t think I saw anyone choosing the latter option.

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interior
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windows to the street
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Interesting light fixtures

 

Portion size is well modulated and pacing of the meal was good.  The night we were there a black truffle option was available for each tasting menu.  We chose the longer tasting with no truffles. No wine pairings were offered but if you hand your wine decisions over to Sommelier Shawn Joyeux he will find you great options at your selected price point.  Between he, the chef and the excellent servers we had a relaxed and wonderful evening of fine food and wine.

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Table set up
menu
Menu
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Frankie found a pretty plant

 

A couple amuse start the meal: a rice krispy with fennel cream -it was very crisp with a light flavor and a brioche with coffee cream – the buttery brioche was accented with a dot of deliciously intense coffee flavor.

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rice krispy fennel cream
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Brioche and coffee cream
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Frankie checked out the containers
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wine

 

The menu started with  a carrot and cumin cream topped with crunchy goodness.  Served warm, I might have added a touch of salt but the light carrot flavor was well combined with cumin and the crunchy topping added that needed bit of textural contrast.  A nice dish.

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Carrot cream with cumin
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from the top

 

Next was a radish topped with caviar from Venice and served alongside some house made focaccia covered with olive oil and lemon.  The focaccia was good, nicely chewy and well seasoned. The radish and caviar were excellent, the slightly hot radish pairing well with the salty, briny caviar.

radish and caviar
radish and caviar
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closer
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foccacia

 

Bread and butter combined with olive oil arrived next.  The bread had a really nice denseness with an incredibly crispy crust. It was fresh and warm and prepare to make a mess when you eat it, but it’s well worth it.  For me the bread was wonderful without any enhancement.

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bread and butter
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bread
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butter
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Frankie showed the interior of the bread

 

Raw shrimp were mixed with olive oil and served with fresh cream all topped with toasted nuts. The totally fresh shrimp mixed well with the cream and the nuts added a fun crunch.  The simple dish was positively delicious.

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shrimp with olive oil
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closer
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Chef visiting dining room

 

Potatoes, onions, shallots and mushrooms were served with buttery crumbs.  The perfectly cooked potatoes blended really well with all the other ingredients to make a fine combination of flavors and textures. A simple and wonderful dish.

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potatoes, onions and mushroom
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closer

 

Sea bass with coriander, hazelnut oil and asparagus was the next course.  The fish was barely cooked and thus not dry at all. The asparagus had a wonderfully strong taste but the foam was more visual effect than flavor.  Raw asparagus was diced and spread around the plate to give a textural component to the dish.

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sea bass
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closer
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Frankie posed with the art

 

Duck liver was served with turnips, carrots and duck consommé.  Ginger and lemon grass provided additional seasoning for the dish.   It was a spectacular bit of poached love in a bowl.

duck liver and turnip
duck liver and turnip
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closer
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inside

 

Beef filet, aged 3 weeks, was plated with salsify which had been previously smoked and eel fish. Everything blended great.  The salsify which had been black was peeled down to the nice caramelized color.  The meat was tender and tasty but the salsify was the star here.

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beef filet with salsify
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closer
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Frankie approved

 

A palate cleanser of apple and cinnamon was a wonderful refreshment.

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apple cinnamon palate refresher
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Frankie said, “Where’d they go?”

 

First dessert was a vanilla custard with black olives crumble on the top.  The custard had a texture like that in coconut custard pie and was totally yummy.  The olive crumble added a perfect contrast.

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vanilla and black olives
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from the top
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Chef Omiya in his kitchen

 

A rolled biscuit was thin sliced and placed on ice cream and then decorated with crumbles.  Sweet and buttery bliss here – yum x3!

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biscuit, crumble and ice cream
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from the side
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closer
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Sommelier Shawn Joyeux and Frankie

 

Chocolate and coffee with cocoa ice cream was next.  It was ganache with a crunchy top and ice cream – how could you go wrong?  Wonderful textures, contrasts and sweetness.  Another yum x3!

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presentation
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chocolate and coffee
closer
closer

 

Finally we ended with a miniature pound cake that was a yum x2 – all buttery goodness.  It was paired with buttery chocolate cookie and chocolate mousse in a shell.  Both really good too.  I didn’t want to stop!

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miniature pound cake
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chocolate cookie
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Chef Toshitaka Omiya and Frankie

4 thoughts on “Restaurant Alliance, Paris, 3/22/17

  1. we also visited this place e had one of the lesser eating experience unfortunately

    1. Sorry to hear that. We went back on our last trip to Paris and it was even better than before. Those photos are due out June 3. Not as elegant as Le Clarence but equally imaginative food.

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