Exquisite Cuisine in a Comfortable Setting
- 6 Rue Bailleul ,
- 75001 Paris
Bookmarks
In order to bookmark a restaurant, you need to have an Account.
Please sign in to activate this functionnality.
This review may contain sponsored or affiliate links.
Is a Michelin-starred meal an indulgence or an investment? I set out to find out the answer by booking a table at Granite — a hidden gem in the 1st Arrondissement, mere steps from the Louvre Museum.
Granite is Chef Tom Meyer‘s first restaurant. Born in a family of restaurateurs, his experience includes sous-chef-ing for Anne-Sophie Pic, working at La Chèvre d’Or in Èze, and gathering prizes in prestigious contests. Add to that his first Michelin star, obtained in 2022, just a few months after Granite’s debut.
I come across the restaurant by chance, while doing a quick search for the best Paris restaurants of the moment.
Lucky to score a last-minute reservation for lunch, I go in prepared to be amazed. The first impression is very good. Showing up 15 minutes early is no problem, and I am shown to my table right away. I am immediately drawn to the bright and airy decor. There’s an almost coastal vibe to the place, what with the pewter blue velvet chairs, white walls, and warm wood accents.
The open kitchen occupies a large part of the main floor (there is a basement sitting area as well), with only a few tables lined up against the wall. It’s like we’re getting a front row seat to the show. To my right, an artful shelf system made of reclaimed old beams painted white is a gorgeous attention grabber. It’s an actual micro-bar area, with liquor bottles and gleaming glasses filling the white space. Sleek and elegant, no doubt. Equally sleek and elegant is the service.
The staff is knowledgeable and courteous, and their English is very good. The sommelier talks me into trying a glass of rosé champagne, while the room manager explains the menu. I opt for a tasting menu consisting of five dishes — they call it Quartz. Three different amuses-bouches arrive first. They are veggie-based (peas, zucchini, juniper berries). They look like diminutive works of art and taste amazing. By now, I have a really good feeling about the meal ahead.
One by one, the courses arrive. Tiny tomatoes, skin removed, flavored with chamomile, resembling bonbons. Arctic char with juniper berries. Beef with sour cherries, surrounded by a sauce that I mop happily with the rye bread offered from a selection of four different breads. Oh, the bread. Don’t think this is dense, thick pumpernickel. This rye bread is more like a croissant, with laminated layers that have just the right structure to soak up that divine steak sauce. “The chef loves it when the plates come back clean,” the floor manager tells me with a smile. I make sure there’s nothing left on my plate when she returns to pick it up.
Then arrives a cheese dish: Comté ice cream laying in a blackberry sauce. And for dessert, there’s once again a trio. First, a pre-dessert palate cleanser of champagne foam and raspberry. Then the proper dessert, inspired by a Pavlova maybe, of raspberry and crunchy meringue flavored with black garlic. I know. It works well, don’t be prejudiced.
And to top it all off, two intensely dark chocolate truffles arrive, displayed on a rough-looking rock. It all looks beautiful and a bit otherworldly, somehow. The entire experience has been a bit otherworldly. Time stopped for a couple of hours. The outside world disappeared while I focused on what was a perfectly choreographed performance, from start to finish. Indulgence or investment? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
Leave a Reply