Gaya(44 Rue du Bac ,75007, tel 01 45 44 73 73 )- one more "spin off" of a celebrity chef. This time Pierre Gagnaire,not only worldwide famous cook, but also an artist known for the most incredible mixtures of products and flavors.I've dined in Pierre Gagnaire's three stars restaurant on Rue Balzac maybe six years ago and remember the extraordinary generosity and daring,even mad mixtures of tastes...
Coming back to the Gagnaire's new venture, after the "flop" of Sensing i was not so motivated to go to Gaya, another "cheap version" of a grand chef. But, as they say, "curiosity kills the cat", and here we were on a Friday night without even making a reservation in advance.
The two floor restaurant was full as always that night, but they still had two places at the bar.It was a kind of win-win situation as from the bar you could see the kitchen perfectly. (As you can see in the first image, there is a "window" in the wall , so the restaurant guests can see the cooking).
The sixties style interior reminded me the one of Sensing but was much more cosy and better thought of. (Often mirror walls and white plastic tables look cheap,but the interior of Gaya was quite chic.)
The service was more than excellent.And, again, i can't stop myself comparing it to the service of Sensing.If you read my post about the Guy Martin's Sensing , i mentioned how bad the service was. In Gaya, though, all the personnel used to work in the original Pierre Gagnaire's restaurant-they were very professional and with great sense of humor. So far -so good.
Everything got even more exciting when we saw the menu which was divided into 5 sections. "Mise en Bouche" ,"Huîtres","Insolites","Essentiels", "Marée Noble" and "Marée Modeste"... The menu, containing mainly seafood and fish dishes, sounded fantastic and i even started to believe that they will taste as good as they looked on the menu...
For the very first coure we had "Oysters served in shell, chipolata sausage,shallot sauce, and rye bread". Basically it was "fines de claires No 2" oysters that you could order by unit served with slightly fried chipolata sausage. Very simple,yet original. The oysters were very fresh...
The menu was so rich and interesting that it was not a very easy choice to make.... The entrées we chose were "crab meat with celery "rémoulade" and turmeric" and "fried oysters with crispy chorizos sausage, spinach with "Nantais" butter". The crab meat with celery "rémoulade" was simple , yet refreshing, while the fried oysters with spinach sauce was tasty but had way too much butter...
Finally the main courses arrived... "Brill with lime and cream of broccoli" and "wild sea bass slices, marmalade of slightly acid fennel"... While all what i had prior to the main dishes was very good,the way how the fish was prepared was interesting, but by far not delicious and even not eatable.The intensivity of the sauce (brill with lime) and of the condiment ( sea bass with fennel maramalade) simply killed the taste the fish...
My overall opinion about Gaya is very positive though... I didn't like my particular fish preparation, but there is plenty of dishes i would like to try. Gaya is worth a return...
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