Evaluation: 18.5/20
Two trips to this Parisian restaurant proved that this is one of the most exciting restaurants where I will be looking forward to dine in the future. Madame Grattard cooks well balanced and perfectly seasoned dishes with considerable depth for 20 to 25 guests. It would be inaccurate to call this “an Asian restaurant,” because although the chef has spent time in Hong Kong and is a master of some Asian spices and sauces, her sensibility is very much modern French, reminiscent of Passard and Barbot (she worked at L’Astrance), with the rigor, attention to detail, precision, and the search for excellent ingredients we expect from these Michelin three macaroon chefs.
This said, the cooking is original, mature, personal, and imaginative, the hallmarks of a great chef. Another attractive feature is wine matching for each course. The wines are selected by a young sommelier, Mlle Marine, and over the two visits I found her selections to be commendable. The wines offered by glass are not only good matches for the dishes, but also they are good wines on their own right. She chose wines with good acidity, minerality, and a lean structure, rather than heavier, jammy, international style, Parker wines.
If you order the larger menu at Yam’Tcha, your meal will start with two sets of amuses, while you sip the complementary tea. The first will be crisp smoked tofu with homemade sweet-sour sauce.
In May the second amuse was one of the highlights of the meal. It was an emulsion of white garlic with St. Georges mushrooms and diced razor clams (couteaux). This dish was a perfect illustration of the “terre-mer” theme, and it was praiseworthy in its simplicity and calibration of contradictory tastes that ensued in harmony.
In June the second amuse was a fresh pea veloute with fresh ricotta, like a Corsican brocciu cheese, with blueberries. This was very good.
The main courses started on the highest note in May with a perfect dish showcasing the very rare wild salmon from the Adour river. This salmon is juicy and moist, but not fat. It has a unique texture.
The steamed salmon was served with a Szechuan cream sauce, Chinese cherry tomatoes, and turnips. It was served with a glass of a lean, mineral driven Chablis with background citrus notes: 2010 Chablis, Chateau de Beru, “Clos de Beru”.
In June the first main course was one of the best foie gras preparations I have had. It was feather light, but thick and rich. The foie gras was first steamed and then fried in a wok, and served with algae, cucumber, and fruit jam. It was accompanied by a rich Chenin: 2011 MontLouis Les Choisilles from Francois Chidaine. I was impressed by the fact that the wine had no residual sugar, but the complex honeyed apple and quince notes and viscous texture, balanced by strong acidity and a pleasant bitterness in the long minerally finish, made it a very good match for foie gras.
The May visit featured a thick piece of Atlantic turbot cut from the bone and served with a classical reduction sauce highlighted with some Asian herbs and spices, and given extra depth with a foam of salted preserved Chinese cabbage. Few chefs can concoct such a difficult calibration of flavors without masking the flavor of the fish and achieving the right balance. The 2011 Vermentino (Folle Blanche) from Domaine de Cantoussel, in Provence worked quite well with this dish, as the wine was not fruity, indeed quite austere on the palate, and possessed a touch of roasted wild herbs on the nose and also a saline-minerality in the finish.
In June we had an Asian influenced preparation of Breton lobster. Served with a classical reduction of crustaceans enriched by her own brand of XO sauce (dried shrimp, garlic, ginger) and a zucchini flower filled with sticky rice, this dish was excellent. The chef is a master of the wok technique, and her lobster is sweet and juicy. The rich dish was accompanied by wine that blended of Chenin and Chardonnay: 2011 Limoux, Domaine de Gaure, Mauzac. This wine had some residual sugar, kept in check by fine acidity and a pleasant bitterness reminiscent of confit agrumes’ peel. It worked with the dish.
The third course of the May visit was also lobster, and again it was served with crustaceans jus and XO sauce. This time the lobster was paired with fresh sweet peas and pommes nouvelles, which had an iodine finish (from proximity to the sea?) and matched the lobster perfectly well. 2009 Montluis “Tuffeaux” Francois Chidaine was selected for the lobster. This rich Chenin worked with the XO sauce as it had a creamy texture (old vines?), complex fruity notes alternating between fresh and tart to ripe and palate coating, all underlaid by remarkable acidity and a long mineral finish. I guess I discovered this Domaine at Yam’Tcha, and on the basis of the two wines I tried, I may say that make balanced wines respectful of the terroir.
In June we had an excellent consommé of beef with creamy bouchot mussels from the Atlantic, shredded beef shoulder, tomatoes, chives, and summer truffles. The quality of the broth was outstanding. This is a dish which is hard to match with wine, and I wonder how an aged, earthy rose millesime Champagne would have fared. The sommelier chose a Corsican Sangiovese (the local name is Niellucia) from Abbatucchi: 2011 Cuvee Faustine. This was clean, precise and had an earthy finish with well mastered tannins. It did not add much to the complex flavors of the dish, but did not detract from them either.
Madame Grattard is a master of handling duckling. Her preparations are not sinewy or chewy or undercooked, but not the melt in the mouth without flavor type either. (This latter type is often the result of sous-vide cooking, which cooks the meat in a uniform way, but it becomes brown and has a boring texture.)
In May she prepared an outstanding sausage- boudin along with the roasted breast and served the duck with a young carrots, fresh spinach, and cumin. Just the right amount of black rice vinegar was used to de-glaze the dish. The wine was the 2010 Fitou “Cadette”, Domaine Les Milles Vignes. It is opulent and generous, but its concentrated fruitness is balanced by nice minerality in the finish. One cannot help but notice that the wine developed a cumin-like spice in the aroma which matched the sauce of the duckling.
In June she prepared the roasted duckling from Landes with a teriyaki sauce (also de-glazed by black rice vinegar). It was served with sweet-sour aubergine with garlic. While I missed her boudin, her preparation of the eggplant was a new revelation for me as I have ordered sweet-sour eggplant with garlic in many Chinese restaurants but have not seen eggplant at this level. I also don’t have an objection against the 2011 Crozes-Hermitage served with it, with its thick texture and roasted rare cooked beefy aroma, from Domaine Gaylord Machon, cuvee “Ghany”.
They serve some steamed rolls which are addictive.
Our little daughter, Ceylan Handan Milor, loved them so much that she agreed to drop her tablet for over a minute to pose for a picture with her father.
I would like to give my special thanks to Madame Grattard for preparing some specials for a very selective 12 year old who is hard to please and who eats very few things.
The cheese course is a delight at Yam’Tcha. It has only one cheese, selected for quality and ripeness.
In May it featured farmhouse Stilton, melted inside a yummy brioche and served with liquour marinated cherries. Quinta Noval Tawny Reserve Porto obviously worked well with it.
June is a good time for goat milk, and the cheese impressed me: chevre du Tarn, served with good honey, olive oil, and a steamed bun. The 2013 Sancerre Croq’Caillotte from Emile Balland also made an impression with its balance and stoney-minerality, and I am already counting Emile Balland, a producer I did not know, among my favorite Sancerre producers.
The dessert course is not an afterthought at Yam’Cha. She prepares modern, but not trendy, and very seasonal desserts. In this sense there is no dichotomy or rupture between her savory and sweet courses. I also appreciate the fact that she does not do overkill with the desserts (as most multi-macarooned Michelin restaurants do) and shows restraint. It is much better to have a cheese and a dessert than having two desserts.
In May she offered a rose Pavlova with ripe strawberries and rasberries. She served it with a rhubarb and sorrel sorbet.
In June she served an excellent cherry clafoutis (which had the texture of a pain perdu) with shaved fresh almonds on top. A refreshing sorrel soup with orgeat ice cream nicely paired with the clafoutis.
I had never tasted the northern Piemontese Brachetto before. 2012 Briguetto d’Acqui from Sant Evasio is fresh, lightly sparkling and even a child can identify its rose scented summer berry aromas and flavors. Most importantly, it is light on its feet and does not take itself too seriously. Consequently it worked with these two desserts and left a happy impression.
Talking about the child, Ceylan opted for the tea pairing, more than expertly provided, courtesy of the gentleman who is Madame Grattard’s husband and a certified tea sommelier. To our astonishment Ceylan loved the The Noir “Pu Er” which had been aged for six years and had a strong-complex tannin structure.
This should go well with the beef consommé!