At the Baillotte restaurant, “the marinade then the flame cooking transforms the mackerel into a Rolls-Royce”

Un “semi-gastronomic” restaurant, does it feel like it? Ugh. The term “semi” suggests that the promise of a “gastronomic” meal, that is to say elaborate, out of the ordinary, would only be half kept. However, this is how Baillotte is described on its website, an excellent Parisian restaurant that we would be wrong to ignore for its hazardous lexical choice.

No doubt it is a question of modesty, because the Japanese chef Satoshi Amitsu has made his career in starred establishments, officially gastronomic, therefore, and assuming himself as such. In Japan, he worked at L’Alliance (one star in Tokyo), he arrived in France in 2014, where he became sous chef at the Auberge des Templiers (one star in Loiret), then at Georges Blanc (three stars in Ain). In 2021, he joined the team at the Narro restaurant in Paris, run by his compatriot Kazuma Chikuda; two years later, the owners of Narro offered him a position as chef, and thus Baillotte was born, in the spring of 2023.

In the small rue du Dragon, which winds on the left bank between the crossroads of the Croix-Rouge and the boulevard Saint-Germain, its sign with the red awning blends into the classic decor of Parisian bistros. Nothing indicates that we are facing a nugget. And yet… You just have to sit down at one of the marble tables under the paintings celebrating women, nature and wine, and take a look at the menu to understand that something special is happening there.

A sour fever

Each dish description arouses curiosity and whets the appetite. Some because they play on daring combinations, such as this pan-fried foie gras and cuttlefish a la plancha, eggplant marinated in miso and damson chutney. Other dishes, on the contrary, seduce with their comforting familiarity, like this Jerusalem artichoke velouté, pan-fried scallops, truffle emulsion and Madeira juice, the sweetness of which you can guess just by reading.

But the portions are copious, you have to choose carefully. In an extremely pleasant meal, where the promises of the dish titles are kept every time, or even exceed expectations, it is the mackerel that will leave the most lasting memory. Marinating with rice vinegar, then cooking over a flame, transforms this cheap fish into a Rolls-Royce, lightly smoked on the outside, tender, barely cooked on the inside.

And it is shaken up by a host of elements which underline its flavor. Fregola sarda, these small spherical pastas, provide consistency and chew, just like buckwheat tiles. Beetroot in pieces and in the form of coulis offers a sweet roundness, raspberry vinegar excites the taste buds, a mission also fulfilled by green herb oil, lemon zest, dill gel or a few raspberries fresh as a summer memory. How many preparations on this divine plate to achieve this tangy fever? Enough, in any case, to give Baillotte the well-deserved title of gourmet restaurant.