Astrance — Restaurant in Paris

I was very excited to procure a lunch reservation to this renown three star Michelin restaurant. Astrance is known as a “foodie’s” Michelin restaurant, with great substance to its frills. This award winning dining temple was purported to be about cooking, and not pretension or show.

While everything we ate was excellent and tasted quite good, there were few “wows” until dessert. Our lunch was a veritable bargain at 95 Euros per person for a three star Michelin restaurant, but at this same price point, we have enjoyed better food in Paris at restaurants with no stars. La Condesa and Restaurant Louis, both in the 9th Arrondissement, come to mind.

The two floored, elegant space, is understated, but in a very refined manner, befitting its 16th Arrondissement location. The 16th and 17th Arrondissements are reminiscent of New York’s Upper East Side, old money, with no need to prance. Surprisingly, the majority of the patrons were young tourists in shirtsleeves and sneakers, with only one table of well suited businessmen conversing in French, my expected clientele. No offense kids, I found the shirtsleeves and sneakers tacky and almost disrespectful, but I’m “old school” that way. Service at Astrance was young, like its majority clientele, dressed in dark suits, conversing in multiple languages. Their manner was relaxed three star formal, if that contradiction makes sense. They joked with us, but maintained reverent when describing the food.

Portions were ample, and of the highest quality, but that expected “wow factor,” was missing. The gravest discord started the meal, a grapefruit, black truffle, amuse bouche, that simply did not taste good. Duck, salmon, etc. we’re all good, but I wanted to be blown away. That never happened until our last dessert dish, a whimsical meringue with colorful patterns that we looked at with utter amazement. “How did they do that?”

Great restaurants have left me in wonderment after every dish. Arpege struck me with culinary lightning years ago, as did the Jamin of old. That’s what multiple starred restaurants do. You dine on culinary magic that leaves a life long impression. I will never forget El Bulli, El Celler de Can Roca, Jean-Francois Piege, or Arzak. They served food with such artistry, I felt honored dining in these restaurants. L’Astrance did not astound me, and I was disappointed.

Paris is in the midst of a dining revival. Parisian chefs, with multi cultural identities, are cooking with passion, putting out dishes from their heart and not catering to any trends or bistronomic movements. Awards should not come easy. Astrance was coasting. They better look over their shoulder, because that isn’t good...

Had a great dinner here. After having a 7 course dinner yesterday we knew it was the wrong way to go and expressed it to our waiter. He suggested we go with the 4 course, the Saison for $175 per person. Started out with some cracker and mini bread. Both very tasty. Then it was off to the oyster, clam, snail dish. The oyster had some chopped celery on the bottom that made the oyster that much better. The snail was great. The clam was cleaned and chopped up and served in a half shell with juice. Very good. Then on the side there was raw fish on some thyme seasoning. Delicious! Then they served a piece of mini toast with shrimp integrated into it. Love the taste! Reminds me of dried shrimp. I didn’t take a picture of the bread they served with butter on the side. But the outside crunch was amazing and the aroma when it is in your mouth, fantastic! Next was Japanese rice in lobster soup. Could have been a little bit more flavorful, but good. It was sourced with some cucumber in a roll. Very flavorful. Next was lobster. It was a little under cooked. But if you eat it with the garnish, it is an amazing combination. Different flavors with each combination. Very good. It was served with a bowl of fresh coco beans in broth. They were good. The broth was heavenly. Next was a fish dish. The chef served this to us because of what we told him before about not being able to finish the 7 courses yesterday. So he made the decision to serve us something lighter, fish. The fish was very tasty especially with the sauce with a soy sauce base. They also served some picked vegetables on the side. The petal had a lot of orange peel taste. Time for the dessert, first the apricot was ok. The next one was fantastic! The pear on some kind of cookie. The combination was amazing! There is also a side of pear sorbet. So good! We were approaching our limit. Couldn’t finish. When we asked for the check they gave us another three desserts! Mini grapes! Super sweet! The red flesh peach, my first time seeing and tasting. It was bland after we had the grapes. The drink in the egg was really really good. Had jasmine flavor! Lastly a chocolate leaf. So good! What an experience. We go to meat the chef. He came out to talk with the customers to see how they are doing and how we like the food. I love it when the chef takes some time out to interact with their clients. Bravo. Highly recommend this restaurant. This was the best of all the 4 Michelin restaurants we went...

I was hoping to visit Astrance for my vacation and I made a reservation by agreeing to the term which said that they don't charge late-cancellation fee until 24 hours before the reserved time. I tried to cancel the reservation by clicking the cancel button on the confirmation email the next day (which was 10 days before the visit), but somehow the button didn't work, an error page popped up. So I called the restaurant to tell them about my cancellation and get confirmation, but the lady on the phone hung up on me, repeatedly. I assume the lady hung up because I tried to explain by speaking only English because among several calls, the lady listened to me the longest when I tried to apologize for not speaking good French, and asked if it was okay if I asked them in English, in French. Eventually I found a way out of it by contacting the reservation system service provider, and not by calling Astrance again.

If it is a English thing, I totally understand for not being able to communicate, and if it is a busy thing, I understand that too! But why was there no apologizing before hanging up or any word that you'll be hanging up? Although I still am curious about Astrance's great food, ambience and its people, it was quiet discomforting, to be hung up, many times before visiting the place for...