Didon — Restaurant in Paris

We had the privilege of eating at Didon last week, after a recommendation from both our excellent concierge, Sanjay Kalera at Hotel de Buci (a lovely Latin Quarter boutique hotel within walking distance from the restaurant), and also from a couple at a different restaurant the night before. That couple engaged us in conversation at the end of our meals at Hebe - another extraordinary restaurant in the Latin Quarter -- and told us about their own extraordinary meal at Didon the day before. They also mentioned that the Chef at Didon had told them that, although they had not ordered it, the “real star” on the menu was a charcoal grilled whole sea bass for 2, a favorite of ours. So we were hooked.

Didon is a smaller restaurant in Saint-German de Pres, located just off the Boulevard Saint-Germain at #8 Rue de Dragon. It has a very warm and inviting atmosphere – a modern look, with several extra tables upstairs, and a few out front as well. We were seated on the main level, and immediately served a vegan “amuse bouche” that was delectable.

We were not starving, so we decided to share an appetizer – in this case, a Potato and truffle vegetarian entree, with espuma and leeks vinaigrette, thyme, truffle cheese and potato crisps. It was pureed, covered with truffle chips and infused with some truffle oil, and served with a small basket of very tasty whole-grained bread. We consumed it before I had the presence of mind to take a photo. So light and tasty.

The whole sea bass was exactly as described by the chef to the couple we sat next to the night before. The fish itself was very sweet and delicious. The flavor was lemony and savory, with some overtones of French-Asian fusion. It was basted with miso, lemon, scallions and served with an Asian sabayon espuma, which can best be described as an innovative fusion take on a Hollandaise sauce. The fish had been almost completely deboned – only the head and tail had bones – and it was spectacular. We ate every bit of it, and all of the sauce as well. The photo does not do it justice. We also ordered a side dish of leeks, described as “vinaigrette grilled, mustard seed pickles, parsley aioli, mustard greens.” Tasty. The main course was more than enough for two, and I cannot recommend it more highly.

Again, due mostly to lack of appetite, we decided to share dessert, and we chose a vegan Coconut Rice Pudding with shiso, Timut pepper, kalamansi, mango espuma, coconut. The mango was both fresh fruit and maybe a sorbet of sorts, because we hit the colder part of that layer at some point and it was just an explosion of flavor. Not your mother’s rice pudding. Very creative and refreshing.

After dinner, we sat with the waiter/manager for about 10-15 minutes (they were cleaning up and closing the restaurant at that point) and we talked about Didon, the challenges of being innovative, the joy of succeeding at it, and all manner of life and culinary experience. A very thoughtful and charming young man. And we left very satisfied, and marveling at the extraordinary quality of the food and the experience of having eaten at Didon.

If you are looking for a traditional French meal, there are many excellent choices in Paris, but this is not that type of restaurant. If you want something fresh and new, which maintains classical chef technique but overlays innovation and creativity, while not sacrificing at all on taste, Didon is an excellent choice, one of the finest restaurants of this type that we have had the pleasure of dining at in Paris. Excellent service, wonderful atmosphere and delicious, creative “chef” cooking. Wow!

I should add that Didon has an excellent and extensive wine list, with many choices available by the glass, and that, while not inexpensive, it does not break the bank to eat there. With some fairly expensive glasses of wine, and with service included, the check came to $220 Euro. We kicked in a little extra for the waiter and kitchen staff, and left with one of the most memorable dining experiences we had in a 17-day trip full of memorable dining...

My wife and I went here in late March 22. We'd just arrived in Paris and were a little over excited given the wine we drank on the train(from Frankfurt) and the fact we were just out and about again post pandemic.

Firstly the service was pretty good, people were nice and very welcoming despite us being a bit too early. We had 2 glasses of the house Rose champagne, very nice (34Euros).Wine list was good and we took something really nice red that was recommended Dom de La Castillion @85euro. It was excellent and we had 2 bottles. At this point I'm declaring mea culpa.

We had the Duck main as a starter between us(20Euro) and the signature Cote de Boeuf for 2(95Euro) .

One side of the duck breast was a bit tough , we didn't order sides with it as it was a shared main as a starter. It was OK and nice and pink but nothing earth shattering. My piece was much nicer than my wifes but it was the same breast so it was strange.

Beef portion was mountainous. It was well cooked saignant to medium but again we felt it was just a little bit tough, no way for us to eat it all due to quantity. The chips were advertised as triple cooked and having formerly lived in Belgium and as we were now into the second bottle of red , and this was first carbs we had all day then our expectations were sky high on the chip/frites front.

They were however a bit of a disaster , not crispy and just a bit damp and a real let down after all that meat. We took particular exception to the damp and spongy offering that were the frites, fuelled I must say to some extent by the delicious red wine.

Now I'm the first to to hold my hand up that we did not guild the lily with the maître d' when he asked how it was. We mentioned the one side of tough duck, the beef was OK but we said the frites were a 'Disaster zone' or something more scathing(sorry).

We were pretty full by this point and not just on the food front. However we endeavoured to try the cheese and if we 'felt like it' we'd then have a sweet. Both shared.

Cheese arrived, it was nice Comte with honey , nothing fancy very nice(15 euro).

Then the sweet arrived, Rum Baba that we hadn't actually ordered but had only considered. It was drowned in rum in front of our eyes and like the monsters we were by this point it was too much temptation so we dived in. It was just pastry and cream and very strong rum. We couldn't eat it it was too 'deconstructed' and in any case neither needed it nor ordered it. We told the poor maître d' we didn't like it...Which we didn't and neither at this point did he likely like us..... This prompted another discussion about the frites, we expressed our disappointment and he exclaimed it wasn't the season for good frying potatoes. We were left puzzled with this and had another glass of wine.

The maître d' in an attempt to placidate the monsters we had become then brought us a chocolate dessert, unannounced. We never asked for it and sadly it was a bit rubbish too.....So we said we didn't like it......and left it.

We finished the wine, got the bill 335Euro (not charged for sweets nor chips), honour was satisfied. Staff tried very very hard and especially the lovely maître d' guy.

We actually had a great time, the maître d' tried his best but it just didn't sparkle for us, although clearly we sparkled a bit too much and for that we now offer an apology. I know he reads the reviews as he mentioned it to us that they have very high google reviews as we left and we again exchanged PG rated comments on the frites.

Worth a visit but just not for the frites, unless its the right season. I wish the lovely maître d'...

About the food. No menu, only a la carte. The price is not at the lower end for a bistronomique restaurant, so we ordered only a starter and a dessert to share, then a different main dish for each. Amuse bouche was hummus with a note of sesame oil. The acidity level is a bit excessive to our taste. Maybe it would have been more enjoyable if they had offered some bread along with this anyhow interesting amuse-bouche. We chose the mackerel for starter. Everything was kind of well cooked. The fish was trimmed and cooked very nicely; the smoked caviar aubergine was well seasoned; the fried or dried garlic was crispy and not bitter; the ratatouille tasted like pickles which was interesting. However we didn't really feel the harmony among all these elements with the dashi broth which is served at ambiance temperature, not hot not cold. For main dish, my first choice was the veal sweetbread. I only tried it once, to cook and to eat, at Le Cordon Bleu Paris during my cuisine course. From that day, I can totally understand why sweetbread is considered a luxury ingredient and is always among the most costly dish in many menus. Because it was... too delicious. So, maybe with a too high expectation, we ended up a bit disppointed with the sweatbread dish at Didon. To be fair, the garnishes which are beetroot puree, some beetroot pickles and the green sauce were good. But (yes there's always a but) the vedette of the dish which is the sweatbread was not really well cooked. I was expecting my favorite crispy crust on the outside of the sweatbread, the holy colorization that could elevate all the flavors, but it was not there. So the texture game is not very interesting anymore. There was also still a bit of the unpleasant smell of offal, not much but it was there. For the lamb racks, it was the opposite. The doneness of the lamb was fantastic, as you can see in the picture below the beautiful pinky shade when we cut the piece of meat. But (huh another but) the garnish was really poor, especially the sweet potato which is undercooked and very bland. Also it was a pity that the sauce/juice in the fancy cast iron Staub dish was mainly fat, so we didn't have enough peps to finish the generous portion of the lamb rack. We ordered the potato side dish as recommended by the waiter because there's not much garnish in the main dish portion. It was good. Our dessert choice was the peach as it was the season in France. Again we were confused with the temperature game played by the Chefs at Didon. The peach was grilled and super hot. The sorbet was of course cold. And the almond milk was served at ambiance temperature. So when we digged in, it was a bit dangerous game for the palet and more difficult to enjoy the taste. We personally prefered for the peach to be served cold, even after it was grilled. We appreciated the house made almond milk and the caramelised almond though, very tasty. And the ambiance. The dining room was smaller than what we imagined from online pictures. Service was correct, not...