Akrame: ‘Innovative fine dining close to the Arc de Triomphe’

Chef: Benallal Akrame                                              

During our last Paris trip we wanted to combine our other Bistronomie adventures with a more classical styled experience. We had heard that Akrame, a new place to be in the 16^th, got recently rewarded with lots of promising reviews.

Akrame is located in a side street of the Place de l’Arc de Triomphe. Luckily for us the restaurant was only few footsteps away from our hotel. Chef Benallal has a background with Pierre Gagnaire & Ferran Adria. Last year, only one year after opening, he received already his Michelin star.

The restaurant is not very big and has an interior in a chic and contemporary style. Black leather chairs are combined with grey & warm colours while the artwork reflects a more modern approach. In this trendy restaurant they do not serve à la carte. The chef will surprise you after choosing one of the menus that he is changing monthly. The menu ‘coup de coeur’ offers 4 courses for 60€ (100€ incl wine pairing) and the menu ‘gourmand’ serves a walk with at least 6 courses for 80€ (130€ incl wine pairing).

We had difficulties in taking note of all surprise dishes and the picture quality failed due to the cosiness but we try to give a kind of impression of Benallal’s work.

Amuse: Brioche with smoked eel

Amuse: granny smith & Parmesan, trout eggs and eel

Amuse: Black olive & yoghurt

Amuse: smoked potatoes & milk jelly

Celery, crab & passion fruit

Coque sur laitue, tarragon, campari jelly, grapefruit & beurre blanc

Pollack fish, polenta gnocchi & spaghetti of carrots

Oyster & cuttlefish, foam of oyster loaf & squid ink

Sorbet of thyme & eucalyptus

Egg yolk with champignons de Paris & a herb butter sauce

Black Agnus, emulsion of charcoal potatoes & a mustard caramel

Comté, 42 months aged with flower honey from Touraine

Lemon tube; mango & fermented milk; Apple, pear and caramel; white chocolate mousse & black olives

The innovative style with combining nicely textures & flavours was very interesting. The pollack fish and the oyster dish did not convince us but the coque sur laitue and egg yolk were really amazing. We would have served the oyster dish earlier in the meal but that is off course personal. Although the restaurant is quite small we had the impression that the 3 hosts were not able to handle a full professional service. Often we had to ask for the wine and water, maybe the reason is the extensive wine pairings but in our opinion the service did not follow the creativities and quality of the kitchen. We ended this culinary walk for around 250€ per person, not cheap at all but for Paris Michelin standards it was affordable.

Be-Gusto

Akrame

Rue Laureston 19, 75016 Paris

TEl: +33 1 40 67 11 16

www.akrame.com

Sunday closed

Be-Gusto score: 15,5/20

Chef Benallal Akrame