Restaurant 52 — Restaurant in Paris

The place had nice ambiance, the service was okay. It could have been better. The food was lack luster at best.. We ordered an appetizer and two entrees. The presentation was nice on all the dishes but the flavors were unbalanced. The hummus and leaks appetizer felt like an afterthought of flavors. The hummus and the nori and tapioca chip and togarashi and this mix just didn't work well. The cold hummus with the supposed to be warm leek didn't work. The tapioca chip got soggy on top of the hummus (this dish felt like a party appetizer gone wrong). The second dish I was not able to appreciate was the spinach, potatoes, yogurt, curry and cheese. I think it was a failed attempt of creating a deconstructed Aloo Palaak. This plate was a disappointing mess. Here the play of temperatures were off. What should have been hot was served lukewarm and the cold was just at room temperature. This dish did not feel like an entrée and more so like a appetizer. The four cheese sticks and four pieces of small potatoes with dallops of yogurt and spots of curry and spinach smear was just not worth 18 Euro. I wished the cook would have truly worked on the flavor balance on this dish. The curry dots and I say dots accurately, just clashed with the few pieces of vinegar onions. This dish made me upset to have ordered it. It did not transport me to a good culinary experience. The other entrée we ordered was the duck magret. This was the less disappointing dish of the evening. The duck was nicely cooked. The mush of mushrooms was not very pleasant. The spicy pineapple salsa clashed with the mushroom puree and then there was a chard and a turnip a potato and some leaf placed on the plate. I didn’t appreciate the overall disjointed approach to these dishes. They lacked a sense of cohesion and were mostly a dissonance of flavors, textures (or lack of), and, temperatures gone wrong. This meal was truly not worth 49 Euros. Food should nourish and elevate your mood not dampen it. For that, I wouldn't...

Returning to Paris after years of pandemic exile, I was most excited to eat at Restaurant 52, where I've had only excellent and inspired meals in the past. Tonight the pea hummus and paté campagne were interesting and tasty in every regard. The wines (Beaujolais and Cote du Rhone) were deep and interesting. As we waited for our plats principals I was anticipating continuing this momentum, but the lentils lacked distinction. The tuna was tough to cut and didn't cohere with its apricot glaze; then I bit down on something hard and plastic-feeling in the wheat that accompanied it. I switched my main plate to Cannelloni of eggplant with ricotta, which came cold, although that wasn't indicated on the menu as far as I could tell. As with the other two mains I tasted, the ingredients were of high quality, but the combination didn't elevate any of their individual flavors or textures.

There is a danger of nostalgic distortion in evaluating restaurants, when a merely good meal becomes a great one as memories are altered over time. I'm fairly certain this isn't the case with Restaurant 52, and that I did have much more balanced and inspired plates here circa 2016-18. Maybe it was just an off-night in the kitchen tonight. I don't think I'll be back to find out on this trip though.

I want to note that the service was quite nice if a little inattentive, and the tuna that I turned back after eating roughly 1/4 of it was not...

For an area which is quite downtrodden this may seem like an expedition to get to - but worth it when you arrive. This was one of the best meals we have had - the flavour combinations are exquisite, we had a courgette salad and asparagus with parmesan and citron for starters, and mi-cuit salmon for main course and both were flawlessly cooked, the flavours balanced and with novel pairings. The house wine (by the glass) was excellent as well, and very reasonably priced. The standout, however, was dessert - mouthwatering and again rare and succulent combinations - strawberry, tarragon and buttermilk sorbet; or chocolate genoise with marscapone and citrus shavings (that filled your palate with their scent before taking each bite). Friendly and attentive service, beautifully fitted out. Will definitely come again. PS one warning though, the menu is quite short (3-4 choices of starter and 3-4 main) - we were lucky to have multiple options to eat but it may be risky for committed vegetarians or those with...