Restaurant Review: Le Clarence, Paris
I finally made it here and can genuinely say that I totally believe all the fanfare bandied around Christophe Pele’s gem in the house of Haut Brion. His cuisine is one of modernity, subtlety and clarity. Decidedly French with flourishes…
I finally made it here and can genuinely say that I totally believe all the fanfare bandied around Christophe Pele’s gem in the house of Haut Brion. His cuisine is one of modernity, subtlety and clarity. Decidedly French with flourishes of Asian influence in a non-intrusive way (quite unlike say Barbot’s love of citrus-charged flavours), his lightness of touch across the dishes is inspired stuff and I find it extremely appealing.
During lunch there are three choices of carte blanche menus, starting at 90euroes for a short 3 courses and going all the up to 190euroes for the six course menu Le Clarence. In the evening, there is the epic 8 course which can be had for 320euroes. I went for the 6 courses plus the white truffle supplement (60euroes), and arranged a little wine flight comprised of Haut Brion’s 2nd wines and their non first growth labels.
Every course here is delivered as sequential multi-plates a la Gagnaire, and as a surprise. In some regard, the spontaneity of Pele’s creative cuisine feels much like a grand version of Parisian bistronomy, played out in a most opulent setting. I think it is every bit worthy of its two star rating and I would compare Pele’s idea of a carte blanche to that of Passage 53. Both Chefs’ frame their menus around a string of balanced and light dishes that flow from the start to finish.
What really makes Le Clarence rather unique of course are that you can opt for the HM and LMHB first wines – both the whites and the reds – by the glass, and indeed fashion a wine flight based around them. They would still cost a ton, at 130 – 200 euroes a glass, but not thousands if you were to pop the cork on 4 bottles of each of the white and red Graves.
Is it a candidate for 3 stars today? Probably not, as I feel that Pele is still tweaking his ideas about Cantonese flavours in his cuisine. Also, a couple of docked points for presenting tourists with a sub-standard white truffle that is at the moment showing very well near its peak season. However as it stands, his cuisine is very attractive, the cuisson is generally spot-on and I would love to revisit to see how he is progressing in due time.
