Luxury bistros or the cheaper versions of starred chefs is quite in fashion nowadays: Le Chiberta by Guy Savoy,Mon Vieil Ami by Antoine Westermann , Gaya by Pierre Gagnaire or, of course, the empire of Joel Robuchon who started all these trends.
And here again, there is Sensing by Guy Martin (19 Rue Bréa ,75006, tel 01 43 27 08 80 ), the celebrity chef that is behind not only his three starred Le Grand Véfour but also the menus of Air France "l'Espace Première".
So, of course, as soon as the restaurant opened, Sensing was the "number 1 " on my wishlist. And my wish happend to come true yesterday when i called to reserve and to my big surprise there was place. At 9 pm sharp i found myself in front of the mirror door that led to a mirror lobby with a mirror bar. We had a table upstairs and on the way we had enough time to enjoy the cutting edge interior, which, i must say, is impressive. The contemporary design and modern art makes you feel as you are in a restaurant in New York.
But then , the bads signs started to appear. The waiter didn't come up only after the few times we called him- there were three of them upstairs, but only one who had a right to take the orders. The menu proposed little choices with "snackings", entrées , main dishes and desserts.For my entrée i combined three snackings that included "tuna tartar and curry emulsion", "foie gras and "pomme mélisse" ", mussels,radish tartar, emulsion" . The tuna tartar was very good, but the snacks of foie gras and mussels reminded me the "amuse bouche" that you get in conferences.
Then there were main courses. I had the "sea bass with shellfish" while my friend had "veal in crust of herbs and macaronis of mushrooms".The main dishes were ok, but not really savorous.
Finally, for the desserts we had "Pear Belle- Helene"( i didn't take its picture) and "Griottes on "sablés" , white chocolate and pistachio ice cream". The chocolate that was poured over the pear tasted more like thick cocoa, while the griottes on sablés dessert seemed as if it was prepared way in advance. The pictachio ice cream was heavenly though.
Apart of the tuna tartar with curry emulsion, i didn't eat anything i really liked. (Of course, its a question of taste !) For me,Sensing is one more example of a restaurant with great design but disappointing food where a famous chef creates the menu and then lets it go. In my humble "amateur gourmet" opinion, up till now Joel Robuchon is the only one who has succeeded to democratize the "haute cuisine" and create delicious , every day food at the same time.
The food is as pretty as the place, but there still a long way go to become an established address.
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