Racines 2

J’ai passé un délicieux moment dans ce restaurant .
D’abord le cadre est joliment décoré, avec sa cuisine ouverte, ses murs de pierres et de briques et ses tabourets industriels .
Et surtout les mets étaient raffinés, une cuisine vraiment bien maîtrisée, une bonne carte de vins .
Le seul bémols? les prix qui reste un peu trop élevé, mais je n’ai pas regretté ce bon moment passé chez racines 2.

9÷7÷15: As we quickly found out in France, most good restaurants require reservations, even if it’s just a casual café. At this point we were really tired of getting booted out of restaurants after being asked, «Booking?,» over and over. And again and again. So after being kicked out once more we called this place and they said come on over! – really?! And here we were. Clearly fancy schmancy, but I think at that time they were just starting to seat people, and French seem to all come late and all at once, and hence our good fortune to find a seat…
No doubt, there was a clear effort to make this place the trendy kind of fancy. The lighting was ultra dim, and as your eyes start to adjust, they plop a large blackboard in your face. What? – what’s this thing? Ah… the menu. It was actually pretty funny – they would seat people at this huge table, community seating style, and then they put this huge board on top of the table between parties, using the hanging lamps to prop them up. Never seen anything like it. Well, the French people seemed to enjoy it.
We each got the Decouvre notre formule degustation en 4 mets, their 4 course prix fixe, for 55 EUR each. Below I’ve included individual prices for your information, but they were all part of the set, except of course the wine:
1. Bordeaux, Cotes de Francs, Château le Puy, 2008 — J.P. Amoreau 60 EUR: I know 60 EUR in the world of Bordeaux wines really isn’t that much, but to me that’s a lot of money to spend on drinks. But this is France, and I can’t come all the across the world to the country making the world’s most famous wines without having a real Bordeaux right? So we bought it. And savored it, the sweet liquid gold that it was. It was great. I can’t give you tasting notes, but I just know it was damn good. ⁸⁄₁₀
2. Bread: Excellent, as expected for any bread served in a high-​end French restaurant. Crusty and delicious.
3. Amuse-​Bouche (complimentary): Unfortunately I’ve completely forgotten how this tasted, except that it was good.
4. Tataki de thon rouge, purée choux fleur, wasabi, concombre 15 EUR: This is fish tartare wrapped in cucumber. Quite refreshing and the tastes complimented each other well. Not heavily seasoned so you could taste the fish nuances well, but my gf thought it might be a tad bland. I liked it though. Looked beautiful too. ⁸⁄₁₀
5. Salade de tomates de plein champs, nectarines, mozzarella 13 EUR: Nectarine and heirloom tomato salad. Very fresh and the tomatoes were particularly special. Wonderful salad. ⁸⁄₁₀
6. Filet de merlu, poche? a l’armoricaine, salade de courgettes, curry 23 EUR: This is fish served with grilled squash and specially prepared zucchini. I can’t remember how the fish tasted, but the accompaniments were really what made this dish. The grilled squash on top of the fish was great, but those little curled up green things (see my pictures) were thinly sliced zucchini rolled up and mixed with toasted nuts. Those zucchini things were AMAZING! And they looked really cool too plated. ⁸⁄₁₀
7. Crème tendre au chocolat manjari, tuile gruecamo?, nuage café 9 EUR: This was some kind of chocolate mousse on top of a candy sheet. Something was on the bottom but I don’t remember what. The candy was too hard to eat, but there was a softness and crunchiness juxtaposition that worked really well. ⁶⁄₁₀
The food was great. Service was awesome (they spoke English well!) And… they welcomed us after many chased us away. Thank you Racines. What more could you want?
⁴⁄₅
#french #france

Romantic dinner for two. Yes, please. And boy did they serve it up… at least 6 courses. I lost count. My fave was their untraditional take on the carbonara (you’ll have to find out for yourself). I’m a New Yorker so I had to adjust to the relaxed pace between courses and found myself relishing instead of inhaling my food. Service was superbe!
Oh, when you make reservations, make sure you go to the right location since there are 2. Bön appetit!

The food was amazing, you can see how the food is being prepared cuz of the open kitchen. The ambiance is great and the staffs are really nice. ;)

Racine 2 was wonderful random discovery. I got attracted by the look of it, simple, unpretentiously modern and of course the menu looked good. Dived in without reservation although based on the staff conversations it seems they were booked later for the night. The restaurant space is divided in three parts, opened kitchen, long high level community table and space facing the kitchen with small bistro type tables. Unfortunately I ended up being with my back to the kitchen, but customers on another table looked hypnotized by what is happening there.
The food menu is presented on a small blackboard that is brought to the table and the personnel will answer all the questions you may have. The parsnip velouté was out of this world, the star of the dinner. The mains were yummy and filling. My fish and risotto were delicious, but I guess I really missed something green on or around them. Wine list was a long challenge and somehow my white choice without recommendation turned out to be citrusy delicious. I only regret I was too full for dessert. The service was a little bit disorganized in the beginning, but in the end we ate well. Strongly recommended!

Malheureusement la carte n’était pas à la hauteur de nos espérances avec seulement 3 plats principaux, Cochon, veau ou maigre de ligne … Mouai… Bof … Les plats né sont pas mauvais c’est vrai (bien que le Porc de bigore et les cocos de paimpol étaient vraiment banales) mais chers,
Trop chers pour ce qu’on avait dans l’assiette.
Le cadre est sympa, original, la grande table est magnifique et les serveuses sont de bons conseils.
Rien d’extraordinaire pour les papilles.

Je n’avais jamais entendu parlé de ce resto, jusqu’à ce que des amis m’y emmènent hier soir. Ouh la bonne surprise !
Déjà le cadre est sympa et original, entre l’immense table haute commune, les quelques tables individuelles, les murs en moellons et la lumière tamisée…
Dans l’assiette, ça suit la tendance actuelle de mise en avant du produit, mais sans tomber dans le simpliste.
J’attaque avec des artichauds barigoules aux petits légumes et jambon cru (une tuerie, tout simplement!), je poursuis avec du cochon de lait accompagné de petites pâtes rondes sardes cuisinées comme en risotto (elles remplacent les cocos de paimpol annoncé à l’origine sur la carte) et je termine avec un vacherin minute à la framboise.
Vraiment une très très bonne surprise !
Seul bémol, le prix des bouteilles de vin est scandaleux ! A part les beaujolais/​bourgogne (dont je né suis pas spécialement fan), il faut pouvoir dépenser plus de 40 € la bouteille (voire plutôt 80 !!!)

Fantastic dinner at Racines 2. We ended up here by mistake but couldn’t have loved the meal more. It’s right near the Louvre on a small street that has several great restaurants. The interior of the restaurant was grey and sleek. They have outside seating as well.
I started with the artichoke salad that was served with iberico ham, a poached egg and the most delicate artichokes. My husband had the clams cooked with cream and they were unbelievable. We were licking up the sauce with pieces of the bread.
For our mains I ordered the duck and my husband had the veal. The duck was not my favorite as I really didn’t like the bitterness of the sauce it came with. However the veal was tender and succulent and so juicy.
We also had a cheese plate and dessert, because it’s Paris and you’ve got to live it up! I enjoyed a chocolate pudding of sorts with a cookie crunch. I have been thinking about this dessert for three days. It was that good. Cheese plate wasn’t the best, so go for dessert over cheese. All this paired with very friendly service and an excellent Sancere wine. One of our favorite dinners in Paris.

J’adhère au concept.
Derrière ce petit côté minimaliste, on trouve une grande profondeur de saveurs.
Le service est excellent, ça change pour Paris.
Le tout n’est pas donné, il faut se préparer à une addition salée.
Même si tout semble préparé dans la belle cuisine ouverte, que les produits sont très bons et les vins bien choisis, on paye à mon sens un lourd tribu comparé à d’autre endroit.
Je compte bien y faire une contre-​visite juste pour être sûr que c’était très bon !

After a long day of walking about the Montmarte neighborhood, my wife and I found ourselves returning to the Louvré area in search of dinner options. After failing to get into «TBD», we rounded the corner and found ourselves pulled into Racine (2).
Between the intimate and relaxed atmosphere, the phenomenal service and both the great appetizer, main and dessert courses and wine selection, it was a phenomenal and memorable dinner.

Une belle surprise pour un restaurant qui vaut le détour. On y déjeune très bien: au menu du jour, poularde à tomber par terre et, en dessert, cheesecake crémeux juste comme il faut sans être trop sucré. Un régal. Réservez si vous voulez être sûr d’avoir une table !