Restaurant PAGES only has 7 or 8 tables with much of the room being taken up with the open kitchen. They have one Michelin star. White clothed tables are widely spaced and set with a wooden container of potato chips. Pale walls with some exposed brick, a stone floor, and lots of stainless around the kitchen and on some of the walls and ceiling, set the tone of the room. A display case is in the back with meats they are aging and soft music played in the background. It felt very modern but I wouldn’t call it a fun ambiance. They have been open 4 years and offer only a tasting of 8 courses. There were 3 supplements available the night we were there, caviar, truffle and/or Wagyu beef. We opted to include the last one. There are no menus before or when you finish. They did bring a nice warm cloth to wash off before you started.
We ordered a glass of Brut Rosé Champagne while we snacked on the amuse bouche of parsnip root with coriander, Jeruselem artichoke with chive and mackerel marinated in rice vinegar. The parsnip was nice, artichoke very good and the mackerel was a little strong but with good texture.
Wagyu carpaccio was decorated with lemon zest, scallions and leaves. It was a sirloin cut and light and tender. It came already seasoned with salt and pepper but extra salt was on the plate if you wanted. It had a reasonable but not exceptional amount of flavor. It was nice to have the extra salt.
Bread was served as sliced baguette pieces. It had a nice chew to the interior and a good crust.
Sea bream was Japanese style with the head being barbecued with aromatics. It was served with cockles and herbs, sundried tomatoes and shallots in the sauce. The interesting flavor of barbecue seasoning made the meat succulent while the cockles just added a briny component. It was really lightly cooked keeping it moist. It was pretty good.
Blue lobster from Britany was on a puddle of lobster bisque made with comté cheese. The cheese flavor was very mild and the lobster was perfectly cooked. It was tender and very tasty.
‘Sea and Forest’ was a sticky rice risotto with chanterelles and scallop carpaccio wrapped with pork belly. The excellent tender pieces all worked great with the al dente risotto rice. It blended into the savory sauce for a fine dish.
A palate cleanser of salted flakes of butternut squash and of chervil root were light and okay. They seemed to have been micro-planed into the very light material.
Boneless white meat chicken was grilled and served alongside a marinated egg yolk, a foam of dried pears, baby vegetables and roast scallion. It was a fun combination of flavors and textures, especially the scallion roots that seemed to have been fried. This was a good course. They also served a Parkerhouse roll that was nicely light and warm. It was really good with a little butter.
The beef plate came with 3 different types of beef, cuts and aging amounts. The longer piece was from Normandy and aged 5 weeks. The smaller piece at 2:00 was aged 8 weeks. The one at 10:00 was a German Simmental and a tad dry. It didn’t seem as tasty and rich as the others. The other 2 pieces were regular “meat butter” – delicious. The potatoes were seasoned with tarragon.
The first dessert was called ‘autumn’ and was a take on crepe suzette. It was made with Clementine oranges and ginger ice cream. The ‘oak leaf’ was infused with tea and tasted a lot like oak. It came with a cup of oak tea – a bit too much oak for me. The ginger ice cream was tasty as were the crepes and orange part. A very good dessert.
The second dessert was pear and chocolate. A milk chocolate mousse was mixed with dark chocolate crumbles topped with mashed pear. The pear had been roasted with calvados and some pear ice cream was also part. Hazelnuts added more texture to the sweet and great combination of flavors.
Last treats were fine.
