After years of ups and downs, Alice Tuyet is finally seeing her dream come true: to give a big brother to her first restaurant, Plan D, a little stall dedicated to plant-based cuisine as gourmet as it is naughty, a stone's throw from the Canal Saint-Martin.
Far from the peaceful banks of the canal and rue des Vinaigriers, this address was born. This time, we're heading for the lively 10th arrondissement, on the equally bustling rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, to find out what it's all about.
Named Faubourg Daimant, Daimant Collective's restaurant has been 5 years in the making. And while Plan D was all about vegan sandwiches, this restaurant intends to assert itself even further, with a more elaborate cuisine that's half-canaille, half-bourgeois, circa 1900, but still animal-free!
"The granddaughter of a Vietnamese restaurateur, I'm a self-taught cook and creative director. After years spent reconciling with my desires, overcoming my shyness and pursuing a career path that ticked boxes, I created Daimant Collective and Plan D to show that another model is possible, that we can do catering differently. Certified in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University, I've been a vegan for 8 years and am obsessed with animal welfare," explains chef Alice Tuyet.
Open every day for lunch and dinner, Faubourg Daimant offers plant-based dishes that are as creative and sensual as traditional meat dishes. It's an ode to French bourgeois cuisine, where it's customary to saucer every last drop, and a good way to put an end to any misconceptions about plant-based cuisine. For here, sauces (glazed, brilliant, sensual) are the soul of the dishes.
On the menu, Faubourg Daimant's dishes are named in such a way as to suggest that they contain animal products. It's a way of helping the curious to imagine what they're about to eat, without prejudice, and to help them relate to flavors and dishes they know. Pretty clever!
Among the House's must-tries are the croquettes cochonnes (14€), indecent croquettes stuffed with mushrooms and smoked soybean paste, surrounded by a thin, crispy breading, to be dipped in a ravigote sauce (a must-taste!), and the caviar d'algues bretonnes (15€), absolutely stunning both visually and in texture - the grains of this vegetable caviar crunch under the tooth like real caviar.
For even more gourmet pleasure, it arrives on the table on a bed of raw cream on which to dip little crispy potato sausages.
The rillettes du Puy (9€), made from lentil flesh and filaments that have been marinated in fat for a long time, are also very convincing, with a strangely... meaty taste. Surely a trick of the mind. The carpaccio of flame-burnt eggplants (18€), very generously served, plays with sweet and sour, with a vinegary mayonnaise, pieces of dried apricot, pomegranate seeds and fresh mint leaves.
The big news of the new culinary season is also the launch of an unprecedented, ephemeral collaboration (from September 10 to 24, 2024) between Alice Tuyet and culinary author Cheynese Khachame. Given the success of this first four-handed dish, we've been told that other collabs may well be launched in the coming months.
At the moment, we're serving Peking-style oyster mushrooms, which can be eaten like a Peking duck: you pick a small wheat pancake, fill it with BBQ oyster mushrooms lacquered with hoisin sauce, add a dollop of aioli, toasted sesame oil, a hint of chili oil and thin slices of cucumber and spring onion, and you're ready to gobble it up with your fingers!
When it comes to prices, Faubourg Daimant also puts paid to another common misconception about vegan cuisine: no, eating vegan doesn't have to be more expensive! For lunch, expect to pay €20 for a main course, €25 for a starter/main course or main course/dessert, and €29 for a starter/main course/dessert. You bet!
Before leaving this naughty, plant-based address, there's just one thing you've got to try: the popcorn brioche perdue (13€), with its incredible light corn cream, miso caramel and crunchy honeycomb flakes. One of the best desserts we've tasted this year!
Location
Faubourg Daimant
20 Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière
75010 Paris 10
Official website
www.daimant.co
