Aldehyde was in the Marais district and the name references the distinctive character of Chef Youssef Marzouk’s cuisine – French cuisine infused with Tunisian influences.  This is his first solo restaurant but he comes from a restaurant family with his father a pastry chef and mother a restauranteur.  The small place has been open a year and a half and has one Michelin star.  The natural wood tables were in a room with exposed stonework, windows to the street,  music in the background, art on the walls, a dark ceiling and open kitchen.  The street it was on was filled with interesting little shops.  At lunch they served a blind tasting only, of 4 courses.  At dinner they have 5 and 7 course tastings.  There was no printed menu before or after and with my lacking French the descriptions are the best I could decifer.  We enjoyed some wines by the glass with the tasting.  The food was all well seasoned with the tasting well paced and portioned.  I would recommend the place if you’re open to surprise.

Set-up

 

Food

An amuse bouche was a salad of cauliflower, anise and dill.  It was good.

 

The servers brought slices of tasty brown bread and oil if you wanted to dip it.  It was fine.

 

.Duck ravioli were on braised leeks then topped with a cilantro emulsion and fried leeks. The ravioli were a tad tough but the flavor combinations were delicious and overall the dish had lots of texture.

 

Pollock was plated with confit celeriac and a sauce made with coffee.  The perfectly cooked fish was great with the sauces.  Also on the plate were citrus elements and something crisp.  It all blended nicely.

 

Roasted duck breast was seasoned with a blend of spices and plated with turnip, orange blossom and a leg of duck preparation.  A reduced sauce was made from duck trimmings.  The turnip was so seasoned it almost tasted like an apple with the cinnamon and sweet glaze.  The leg meat was the tastiest meat and quite tender whereas the breast was a nice medium rare but chewy.  Some turnip puree rounded out the plates, which was also well seasoned and good with the duck meat.

 

Butternut squash was made into a sauce and combined with cilantro oil.  It was poured into a top crisp shell over a lower shell filled with ice cream.  It was not the most attractive plate but it offered lots of texture and good flavors, while not being overly sweet.  It was filling too.

 

Last treats were a ginger jelly and a baked chocolate cookie/muffin.  Both were tasty.