Faubourg Daimant — Restaurant in Paris

Food descriptions that make your mouth water but food that is bland, joyless and leaves you dissatisfied

We went as a group of four for a friend’s birthday on a Wednesday evening last week. Having heard good things about the place, I was looking forward to experiencing some exciting French vegan food.

We arrived at 7pm and we greeted warmly at the door and shown to our table. Inside was softly lit with candles and simple but chic furnishings and decor that suited the environment. We were led to the conservatory dinning area which was more dimly lit and felt a little more removed from the restaurant atmosphere.

We were explained the menu and that we need about two or three plates each. Plates cost from €9 to €22 euros each. For drinks, I ordered a glass of red (the Quai á Raisins Syrault) but it wasn’t available, so instead I had a glass of orange wine (Domaine Nuemeyer, Cuvée L Macérartion). My friends ordered kombucha, a white wine and a Castiglione cocktail.

We all got our drinks served separately and two of the plates were even served before me and my friend were given our wines. My wine was very nice; zippy, rich and fresh and my friend’s cocktail was well balanced with a nice spice and citrus tang. The kombucha tasted like watered down sparkling grape juice and nothing like kombucha or any kind of fermented drink.

It was so dim at our table you couldn’t see the food properly when it arrived

The food itself was disappointing. The portions were tiny for the price and the plating looked a lot sadder than their pictures, with wilting garnishes and odd plate choices; the lentil pate came in a little tin on some baking paper and looked a bit like tinned meat.

Some of the dishes we had:

The plate I liked the most was the carrots with bbq style carrot reduction on almond ricotta and black tahini. But it lacked depth of flavour and sparkle. I make a lot of nut creams and sauces myself in my own dishes and this almond ricotta was a bit grainy and flavourless. I couldn’t taste the smoked salt at all.

The lentil pate served was meant to be served with pickles but they were so tiny they were barely a garnish (maybe a couple of slithers of sliced gherkins and 4 individual slices of onion that looked like they were shop bought). If there had been more pickles to balance the pate it might of been nicer, but to be honest it just tasted like blended lentils with some salt.

The croquettes were good but tasted like frozen oven cooked potato cakes.

The pommes dauphine su caviar were little balls of mash that tasted like powdered instant mashed potato. They were a bit sickly as they had a faux cheese flavour that stuck in your mouth. The caviar seaweed pearls had no flavour and the texture combination was weird in your mouth.

The Green Goddess Salad tasted like 80’s vegetarian food and the cauliflower with Vietnamese sweet and sour caramelised sauce was alright but need more salt and missed deep flavour. If you love Vietnamese food this dish isn’t for you.

For the price tag on the plates and the size of the portions you expect each mouthful to be an explosion of flavour but unfortunately most of the dishes were quite flat with some textures that really didn’t feel good in your mouth.

This restaurant is one of these classic ‘high end’ places that has clearly good marketing connections and the right language and look from the outside, but fails to deliver any real flavour, heart or soul.

We left feeling still hungry...

This is a lovely and lively restaurant that gets full fast and requires reservations. I was only able to get a second service dinner reservation (9:30pm) with same day notice so if you want to eat early make sure you book early.

They do let you wait at the bar for your table if you arrive at the restaurant a few minutes before your reservation. There is a nice gender neutral restroom with a lot of different soaps that smell amazing. It was perfect for washing up before dinner after taking the metro here.

The menu is creative and diverse. I love vegan versions of French food. The flavors have been perfect every time.

For starters I got a mocktail to drink because I don't drink alcohol. It was a really yummy tonic based soda drink. Then I tried the Not Butter Radish dish. It came out with some raw and fried radishes that I dipped in the vegan tartar sauce. The crunch, the slight spice, the texture were all really good for the radishes , but the tartar sauce is the overpowering flavor.

My next course I got the barbecue carrots. I really enjoyed the smokey barbecue flavor in the sauce. However I felt hungry still after eating this so I got one more course which was probably too much food.

The last meal I had was the ravioli. It was like a piece of ravioli dough laid on top of shredded celeriac, covered in a delicious sauce, and garnished with capers, croutons, and parsley. This was really filling after all of the other food I ate, but it was definitely comforting and had flavors that made me think of home made soup. It felt upscale and simple at the same time.

For dessert I got the Candy Apple. It is a soft baked apple slice that has been chilled, in the center is a delicious berry jam, on top is a layer of whipped cream that isn't overly sweet. It is garnished with hard apple caramel and a sugar decoration. The delicate sugar decoration is really pleasant to eat. The caramels were hard on my teeth, but were a very pleasant flavor. I enjoyed this dessert so much and I would recommend it to anyone. I was worried the whole thing would be overly sweet, but I found overall it was pleasant and light.

I think the carrots were my favorite, but I would have been hungry without the ravioli. The radishes were good, but I would try something else next time.

It's an expensive restaurant but if you are looking for a small meal to experience with friends this would be perfect. If I was taken here on a date I would be very impressed.

Pros: Lots of different options and flavors, Great service, Bottle of water provided at the table when seated, friendly to...

What can I say except it was perfection! First recommendation, be on time for your seating. It's best cause you then can really fully enjoy the ambiance and have more time to enjoy their amazing food and wine. We came with 6 friends. 2 are vegetarian, the others don't follow any diet and I'm celiac and severely lactose intolerant. I was happy to hear that all their dishes are plant based, but not faux-steaks etc like we can see in other places. Their cuisine is meant to make each ingredient shine and mix in terms of flavors and textures. Everything thought out to the last minute detail. What i had as a celiac: The butter... I honestly fell in love. Asked them if they had any in a box I could take home as I absolutely miss the taste of good butter. And this plant based one was better than even the milk based. They were also super kind enough to provide me with gluten free bread which was served warm and scrumptious. The broccoli guacamole was so delicious as well. Ther herbs. The smoothness and creaminess. The pickled Chilli giving a hint of soureness served with crackling buckwheat chips. A beautiful balance. My friends also had the caviar and couldn't stop raving about it. The Crimson salad was also such a beautiful surprise. Crunchy. With deep fried capers which added such a unique taste. Balancing the bitterness of the salad and the sweetness of the beetroot. I didn't get to taste the stuffed cabbage nor the Merguez bun but the whole table kept having foodgasms 😆 so I guess it was delicious. I finally had their pumpkin dish which also was deep, rich jumping from salty to sweet with their homemade praline and sour cream. (Plant based). For dessert highly recommend the pavlova if like me you overate. It was super light, bits of pavlova with a light vanilla cream and some grapefruit. Sour, flavorful and perfect to help digest (or i deluded myself into believing but hey...