For the past 5 years, I have tried extremely hard to get myself a table at Astrance but all my efforts came away without much success until this year, when I finally pulled it off.
The fact that this 25-seater only opens from Tuesday to Friday has a lot to do with me (and many others) striking out as often as I did. If you do the simple math, only 100 "lucky" customers from around the world get the opportunity to dine here every week. That is almost as tough as winning the lottery.
Astrance, co-owned by chef Pascal Barbot and restaurant manager Christophe Rohat, started off in their small premise in 16th arrondissement back in 2000. The restaurant was an instant hit and it was recognized immediately by the Michelin gods in the 2001 guide with its first star. They got their second star in 2005 and third in 2007.
Before striking out on his own, Chef Barbot started his career at Buron de Chaudefor (Murol/Puy-de-Dôme) in 1991 and after stints at Les Saveurs (London) and Troisgros (Roanne), it was his time at l'Arpège where he truly made his mark as the restaurant's head chef.
Astrance offers just one multiple-course surprise menu, Menu Astrance (€230), at dinner so I was glad I didn't have to worry about a thing. Just sit back and let Chef Barbot guide me through this wonderful journey.
First up as amuse bouche were two sets of nibbles - a crispy almond biscuit with mushroom cream fillings and then a praline "sandwich" with green apple.
Following our amuse bouche was Chef Barbot's signature dish and one of the most photographed dish from his arsenal - mille feuille of foie gras, apple and white mushroom. This was beautifully presented with the fatty foie gras sandwiched between layers of thinly sliced white Paris mushrooms and crisp green apples. A perfect touch of porcini powder, lemon paste and hazelnut oil helped to finish things off.
This is an extraordinary mix of contrasting flavors and textures. Now I can see why it's been a lock in Astrance's surprise menu for years.
Blue belly tuna with seasonal vegetables, edible flower and a fennel broth was another solid offering with great depth of flavors coming from the fennel broth to complement the sweetness of the raw tuna fish.
A cannelloni of cucumber, herbs and lemongrass was served on the side.
Roasted monkfish with seasonal vegetables and asparagus was next. This was wonderfully done although the tamarind and grape juice had a little too much acidity than first anticipated.
Roasted yellow chicken from the Landes was the first of two meat courses on the night. The meat was really soft and tender with its rich flavor combining well with the tomatoes and white beans.
Milk-fed lamb from Lozère which came with miso glazed eggplant, cheese and peppers, was spot on and could very well be the best dish of the night.
At this point, they served up a pre-dessert without telling us what it was but only to come back unexpectedly to quiz us on its ingredients. He did give us a hint that it involved 3 different ingredients.
This was interesting - a quiz for my palates. Thankfully, I was able to identify two of the three ingredients - mashed potato and cheese but totally missed out on the obvious vanilla ice-cream.
Another pre-dessert came in the form of a ginger, chili pepper and lemongrass sorbet. Very playful but nicely done.
Finally came the "real" dessert, raspberry tart with chrysanthemum, orange zest and what I thought was raspberry brittle.
More sweet stuff, this time it was jasmine tea sorbet with a bit of caramel. Interestingly it tasted a little like lemon tea.
Lastly, Chef Barbot's famous hollowed-out eggshell cups filled with jasmine-infused eggnog to wrap up this incredible meal.
Before we go, we had a wonderful visit from Chef Barbot himself. I was joking with him on how hard it was to get ourselves a table. He laughed and said it's all the result of their highly intensive "quality assurance". Well, that's one way to put it!
It's been an impressive experience dining at Astrance tonight. I thought service was impeccable and although most dishes were informal by haute French standards, I really enjoyed Chef Barbot's natural talent of combining flavors, especially the Asian influence into traditional French cooking. He made it look so effortless doing it too. But having said that, I believe there was still room for more fine tuning beyond the meat courses and desserts which I thought were both sensational in their own rights.
Food Rating: 8.5/10
Price: €€€€
Address: 4 Rue Beethoven, 75016 Paris, France
Closest Metro Station: Passy
Tel: +33 (0)1 4050-8440
Website: www.astrancerestaurant.com
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 38th (2014)
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