Fermentation is becoming increasingly popular, with more and more enthusiasts experimenting at home, making their own kimchi, for example, or discovering the experiments of certain Parisian chefs who are having fun with different fermentation techniques, like chef Clément Vergeat at the fabulous Tracé restaurant.
Early last December, a restaurant opened its doors near theHôtel de Ville, on the quays of the Seine, advertised as being dedicated to the art of fermentation. What an experience! And that's precisely the name of this new restaurant, christened La Petite Expérience. Intriguing, isn't it?
At the crossroads of gastronomy and science, chef Gautier Mobuchon is passionate about culinary chemistry, and already owns the delicatessen Atelier Flamel, whose shelves feature a multitude of fermented artisanal products. With La Petite Expérience, he intends to create a veritable gastronomic laboratory that awakens all the senses. But does the magic really work?
On the menu, French cuisine revisited with products sourced from the Collège Culinaire de France. So far, so good. And what about fermentation? While we note the presence of kefir cheese, mead, kombucha vinegar and even fermented chocolate - some of these products are placed in a fermentation cellar in the restaurant's basement - fermentation remains too discreet for our taste.
While we might have expected dishes bursting with a thousand and one ideas that would surprise and even detonate on the palate, La Petite Expérience turns out to be more of a little neighborhood bistro - quite nice in itself - than a table that really shakes up the codes of conventional cuisine.
Far removed from the crazy experiments in fermentation at Noma in Copenhagen, La Petite Expérience actually announces the color in its name: a small experiment in fermentation, as a gateway for neophytes. A good point, since there aren't many such restaurants in Paris.
On arrival, plates include leek fondue (11€) with yellow curry and Corsican immortelle elixir; vegetal sourdough'empagnadasses'(10€) with button mushroom stuffing ; beet and radish carpaccio (12€) topped with a cashew nut sauce; and sweet potato and chorizo Parmentier (15€). There's no menu here, just small plates to share, with a more or less advantageous price/quantity ratio.
For dessert, the pumpkin waffle (8€) is a hit, topped with Corsican ivy honey, compote and nepita corn petals; the cardamom-infused crème brûlée (8€), biphasic and pale, a little less so.
In the glasses, fermentation becomes more present, with house elixirs (ginger-turmeric, black pepper) an integral part of La Petite Expérience's cocktails and mocktails, such as this Cherry Lipstick mocktail (Morello cherry purée, cherry elixir, kefir tonic, orange zest; 10€) or this Crimson Pig mocktail (black pepper elixir, tomato juice, smoked rosemary, dried tomatoes; 10€) in the style of a Bloody Mary.
Location
La Petite Expérience
76 Quai de l'Hôtel de ville
75004 Paris 4
Official website
www.lapetiteexperience.fr
