About food in Japan

Real Sushi, real Japanese restaurant, Tsukizi (築地), Paris

As mentioned on our first post of this series about Japanese related restaurants in Paris, now we can find a Japanese restaurant every 10 meters on a street in Paris. The chance of encounter may be higher than even in Japan. But not all of them in France are truely associated with Japanese. In addition to three restaurants, Aki, Nanashi and Toyo, already introduced on our monthly seriese of May 2013, Japanese related restaurants in Paris, at the last of the seriese, here we bring up a Sushi restaurant where we can feel real taste of Japan.

Tsukizi (築地), a Sushi restaurant based in Paris for over 30 years, is located in 6th district. The real Japanese restaurant is just off from Boulevard St. Germain on left bank which is known as an area filled with stylish and fasionable boutiques, cafe and bars.   

The street, rue des Ciseaux where Tsukizi stands, is calm, although stretched to two major main streets in the area, Boulevard St. Germain and Rue de Rennes.

Please do not miss the sign and entrance of the restaurant. As we told, every 10 meters or less, you will find a Japanese restaurant. Please make sure the restaurant name "Tsukizi". It is right place you go.

After poping in, we found a counter table with two Jaapnese Sushi masters as well as flat showcase filled with pieces of raw fish!!!

Yes, this is exactly same with what we can find typical traditional Sushi restaurants in Japan.  

 

 

Taking a seat close to some Japanese guests,

now our mind was in Japan, not in France any more. 

For lunch, reasonable set menu with a sushi plate is offered at less than euro 20 or for dinner Izakaya style small dishes as well as sashimi may be good as starter with a glass of sake before feast of Sushi. Due to the long presence over decades in Paris, the chef and staff know well taste of locals. Please do not hesitate to ask them if you need recomendation or have a question about sushi and other food provided at Tsukizi. They will be pleased to help you.

A glass of Umeshi (Japanese plum wine) along with amuse bouche or tsukidashi in Japanese was a good start of the real Japanese dinner.

It was nice to look at two Sushi chef preparing tens of Sushi pieces, while waiting for our plates.

 

On Sunday evening, from the start of the restaurant's dinner serving time 19h00, both local French and Japanese guests have visited there one after another. The restaurant tables became almost full before 20h00. We saw how much the real Japanese restaurant is popular here in Paris. We recognized some repeating guests who chatted with the chef and ordered their favourite plates without checking the menu.  

 

My SUSHI plate arrived !!

Again remind you, this is in Paris, not Japan.

No only the look, the taste is also surely

the work by Japanese chef with high quality seafood.

 

 What an amazing experience is in Paris...

 

Restaurant name: Tsukizi (築地)

Address: 2bis Rue des Ciseaux, 75006 Paris

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TOYO, restaurant by a Japanese chef - Paris

Chopsticks placed with a pair of fork and knife. As this cutlery setting, we are not sure if we should consider TOYO as a Japanese restaurant or French.

Local French people may believe that it is a Japanese restaurant elaborated in French style, while for Japanese, TOYO's cuisine is perceived as French with some Japanese taste because of the chef's home country.

It is fusion of French and Japanese or Paris and Tokyo styles.

The unique flavor is strongly associated with the chef, Toyomitsu Nakayama's professional career. 

He started his career from a French restaurant in Kobe, where it is known for high quality beef. after he worked for some years in France, he was hired by ISE, one of the best Japanese restaurants in Paris and challenged a way of Japanese cuisine that is different from French.

Before the chef opened TOYO as the owner-chef in 2009, he had worked for the most famous Japanese fasion designer, Mr. Kenzo Takada as the designer's private cook.

Now we understand it is no sense to think over the restaurant to be French or Japanese.

Let's see what are provided at TOYO. We visited the restaurant for lunch on mid-April.

 

Amuse Bouche - Bouillon soup with sea shells

　

The soup was served on the table

and includes Japanese taste, Umami.

 

My starter dish - squid, white asparagus

topped with Karasumi (dried mullet eggs, local specialty of Kyushu region)

Full of spring season.

Karasumi is rare to be found out of Japan!

 

Main dish for me - beef filet anchovy sauce

 
Thin sliced pieces of cauliflower are on top of beef.

The beef meat was finely cooked for "a point" or medium. 

 

Main dish for a friend - Curry rice with gamba in TOYO style 

It is close to a typical Japanese style curry rice

but the presentation is much more beautiful.

 

For dessert, all ladies ordered a same plate.

 

Green tea tiramis!!!

Again the presentation is fantastic!

 

We noticed some of ingredients especially fish and seafood as well as ways of cooking are in Japanese style at TOYO but plates beautifully presented look like French cuisine.

 

Whatever each of guest consider TOYO as either Japanese or French restaurant, it is a sophisticated choice and we will be able to enjoy plates for the taste and visual look.

 

Restaurant name: TOYO

Address: 17 rue Jules Chaplain, 75006 PARIS FRANCE

 

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Bento arranged in Paris style, Nanashi - Paris

We noticed that "Bento"(弁当, Japanese traditional box meal or lunch box) is a boom in France. So we tried a cafe called Nanashi "Bento Parisian" for lunch located on the 3rd district, north of Marais. 
The cafe is produced by a Japanese lady who had been working as a cook at the bio-cafe, Rose Bakery widely known by foodies.

Let's see what Bento Paririan is like?

Nanashi is located in North Marais area where a Japanese tourist can rarely be found. 

At the counter just after the entrance, it provides take-away service. Yes, surely Bento can be taken away as we do in Japan. Several people may be waiting for picking up his/her Bento during lunch time.

A side of wall is foot-to-ceiling height window bringing sunlight into the cafe tables    .

We can also find some staff including a few of Japanese female baking or cooking at the cafe's kitchen space, which is easily visible from the corridor. We have made sure that the cafe has Japanese taste at least on the making process.

The space stretches away into the back with a plenty of tables. As we could imagine, while walking the district, almost all guests are local French maybe walking or living in the area. It's not a place filled with Japanese seeking for home food.

On another side of wall, a large black board for menu is hang on.

The bright, modern and casual atmosphere is relaxing and must be good even if you are not interested in Japanese food.

 

Well on the menu, we could find familier Japanese words or food names in alphabetical letters; Chirashi (cooked rice, a kind of sushi), miso soup, edamame (boild green soy beans in its shell), beef bowl etc. But what we want to try here is, of course,...

 

Bento!!! Nanashi style

 Bento offered from chocices of meat/fish/vegetarian

accompanied with bio green salad.

The main menu changes on daily base.

My choice meat, today's menu is

pork roast with wild several kind of rice and cereal.

No Japanese taste is sensed for me but it is healty and tasty.

 

 

If you prefer to have more Japanese flavor, roasted sesami and bio soy sauce are available on your table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cafe name: Nanashi

Address: 57 Rue Charlot, 75003 Paris

Official website: http://nanashi.fr/

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Aki (Okonomiyaki), Opera, Paris

Last month, we had been in Paris, the capital of France for a week and tried some restaurants there. As monthly feature of May 2013, we will introduce Japanese related restaurants in Paris, which are truely recommendable for Japanese food lovers.

We found many Japanese restaurants in Paris every around the corner. Even if we say a Japanese restaurant can be found every 10 meters distance on streets, it won't be too exaggerated. Last time we visited Paris 5 years ago and the number of Japanese restaurants in Paris has surprisingly been increased for last several years.

But from our view, it is not so many cases that we found a restaurant providing "authentic" Japanese food there. So we would like to list up recommendations of Japanese restaurants in Paris based on our tasting and research.

The first one, Aki, is Okonomiyaki restaurant located on Rue Sainte Anne, Opera district central Paris. The Sainte Anne street is known among locals (including Japanese based in the city) as the area where a lot of Japanese restaurants and shops gather. Some of them run their business over decades there. We have the most chance to have real Japanese food in the area. Aki is one of them. 

When we arrived at the restaurant a bit later than 14h on weekend afternoon, the Okomoniyaki restaurant was still almost full and we had to wait until a waiter cleared a table for us. Sometimes we had to make a queue to have lunch or dinner there. It is quite popular restaurant.

For those who don't know what is Okomiyaki, we place a link to our older post explaining the dish.

Okonomiyaki(お好み焼き)　－Chibo(千房)

http://aboutfoodinjapan.weblogs.jp/blog/2008/11/okonomiyakichib.html

 

In short, it is salty pancake made with flour, shreded cabbage and main ingredient pork or shrimps etc. The casual plate is a local specialty of Osaka (大阪), the second largest city of Japan. 

On the basement floor of Aki, over a counter table, we can find the restaurant's chef cooking Okonomiyaki or Yakisoba (Japanese fried noodle) another popular menu there. 

 

This is it, Okonomiyaki Pork!! served by an iron plate.

When we just see this picture, we never imagine it is taken in Paris.

Pieces of Katsuobushi (dried bonite) topped on the pancake

are waved by steam from the heated plate.

 

Not only the look, the taste is also authentic Japanese. For Japanese living in Paris, the plate must be something cannot be missed and must remind them the home country, Japan.

We are also impressed with this green tea.

Guess it is made at the restaurant,

not ready-made canned or bottled drink.

It is also very good that the prices at Aki are quite reasonable a bit over euro10 for lunch and also dinner almost similar. 

 If you would, the restaurant also provides other casual but real Japanese food such as Japanese style curry, katsudon (deep fried pork with rice) and small Izakaya style dishes well matched with a glass of beer. 

We also have to mention that just in front of the Okonomiyaki restaurant, the same owner runs a bakery where we can also find bread in Japanese flavor. Drop by it and get a few pieces for snack or breakfast next morning.

If you have a chance to visit Paris but not Japan, try the Okonomiyaki plate to feel a piece of Japan. Just be ready to go the restaurant out of peak time or to make a queue.

 

Restaurant name: Aki 

Address: 11 bis, rue Sainte Anne, 75001 PARIS FRANCE

 

 

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