Early June — Restaurant in Paris

cool buzzy gastrobar-esque restaurant in paris’ 10th arrondissiment. space is compact, cosy but packs a full house punch with diners from all walks and ages: the gourmand tourists, painfully hip young parisians, couples older and younger… all checked in for good food, good wine, good vibes.

dude helming the kitchen is an italian-born guest chef sebastiano campanelli (here til 13 june) who sports a stereotypical “chef bro” look complete with hipster forearm tats, stylishly groomed facial hair, tshirt and apron. but thats slightly reassuring, somehow, cuz he looks like prob came from michelin-esque pedigree (they all look the same?!) so the food miiight be good? thankfully it was. coupla dishes were middling at best but most of what we ordered was delishusss.

menu is compact (which reads focussed and realistic) and seems to change every week - im assuming based on whats fresh and available in the markets that week. we ordered almost the entire menu but skipped the desserts.

in the reviews you’ll see many commenting on how expensive it is to dine at this restaurant… i guess it is by parisien standards but as a gourmand myself, i appreciate and notice the effort that goes into each plate. the dish may look simple (partly by design, their plating style leans towards minimalism) but make no mistake there are several elements to each dish that makes it exciting and labour-intensive. a worthwhile effort cuz every dish was mindbendingly delish.

if you are a group of 4 or more i highly recommend booking a table way ahead. for tables of 2 and under only walk-ins are allowed...

Despite my rating, I really like Early June as the atmosphere is cozy and inviting, the service is always top notch, and the wine list is great. However, the food can be a hit or miss, depending on the chef they have at the time of your visit (which is hard to plan for because they don't have a schedule and you typically have to reserve ahead or just try your luck with walk-ins).

I've visited twice now, the first time was superb. Norwegian chef, we ordered the entire menu. All the dishes were delicate, well thought out, and well balanced. Wine paired well with everything and honestly a fantastic experience all around. I loved it, couldn't wait to come back.

The second time, it was a group of 3 chefs from Shanghai. Again, we ordered almost the entire menu. The menu had both classic Chinese dishes (cucumber salad, dan-dan noodles), and some interesting dishes that are less common (pork brain, pigeon). The more typical dishes were nothing special, and I felt a bit ripped off as the price of the dan-dan noodles was really high for just... well, a very small portion of regular dan-dan noodles. This time, it just felt like the menu was not well considered and the wine did not compliment the dishes. While I understand it can be difficult to curate an amazing experience every time (given some of the chefs only stay for 1 week or even a few short days), I am just slightly disappointed with my last visit and not sure if I can truly say that Early June is a "must try" in Paris due to the significant fluctuation in quality...

In coming to Paris, “everyone” said to eat at Early June and sample their rotating menu with a featured, traveling chef. April 2022 I was able to sidle up to the bar (after waiting out a preceding patron making his way through the wine list) to be eye-to-eye with chef Joel Aronsson. We discussed snowboarding in Idaho, and his mom’s dislike of the poached chicken skin he served me, as I sampled a sublime Swedish meal with fresh French ingredients. Spring vegetables dragged through an aioli, the aforementioned chicken poached in broth developed over days (and weeks), and a classic Swedish cheesecake which my Swedish barmate shared is common to all regions of the country, each with its own variation. This one had strawberries and whipped cream fraîche.

A friend on Instagram informed me Victor, one of the proprietors, is the nicest person in the biz. He was not exaggerating. Korean born, with an American accent from an on-base American education in Seoul, he and his team accommodated this traveler with warmth, patience and unbelievable wine pairings while sojourning through Paris.

I wasn’t able to end the evening with a digestif as I promised Victor, which means I might just need to return...