French Restaurant Review: Hakuba, Paris

With the recent opening of Hakuba at the Hôtel Cheval Blanc, Paris now has one of the very best Japanese restaurants in the world.

Directed by the Cheval Blanc’s chef, Arnaud Donckele (who has three Michelin stars both at Plénitude in Paris and at La Vague d’Or in Saint-Tropez), Hakuba (white horse, in Japanese) is the result of a collaboration with chef Takuya Watanabe and the Cheval Blanc’s award-winning pâtissier Maxime Frédéric. The omakase (which means ‘leave it to the chef in Japanese) tasting menus served here change regularly according to the seasons and the catch of the day, but Watanabe’s skills with fish and shellfish are quite simply spectacular. For his part, Arnaud Donckele, who is renowned for his sauces, creates special ones to enhance the flavours of Watanabe’s dishes and punctuate the eating experience.

Dining at Hakuba is an intimate and intense affair, especially if you sit at the main counter, behind which Watanabe works. As a measure of respect, for both the chef and his superlative ingredients, one is expected to concentrate on each dish as it is served so as to fully savour it both from an aesthetic and gustatory viewpoint. For this reason, I would advise going to dine here with someone else who will instinctively understand the implicit request for one’s full, focused attention during the meal.

Our journey began with a spectacular jam of Nori seaweed and a superb bouillon, dishes intended to prepare the palate for the exquisite seafood that followed, including red tuna belly, conch, red prawn, red mullet and saba. Watching Watanabe make sushi was an experience almost as mesmerising as sampling the suite of broths, raw or caramelised fish, soba, and other ingredients that comprised our menu. This is a truly exquisite experience for well-heeled seafood lovers.

Cheval Blanc Paris Hotel, 8 Quai du Louvre, Ist arrondissement, Paris, Tel. (33) 01 79 35 51 20,

www.chevalblanc.com

From France Today Magazine