Lunch - our favorite new meal!

For whatever reason, we have had some fabulous lunches this trip, outshining the mostly excellent dinners. A few days ago we loved the lunch at La Gazzetta (see my prior blog). Yesterday, after starting our day with the fashion exhibit at the Musee d'Orsay, we made our way over towards St. Germain to Yen, a restaurant that had been recommended by a Japanese friend in San Francisco. The upstairs room to which we were shown was modern and sparse, a beautiful flower arrangement anchoring one end.

Often, it is hard to know how to order the first time at a restaurant; we picked two entrees, a "tofu des noix" and a sashimi sampler, then each ordered a different soba soup. It turned out to be a perfect amount of food. The tofu came as a large bronzed cube, silky and nutty, as advertised. The sashimi included slices of mackerel, tuna, squid, and two white fish (couldn't catch the french names), and were each delicious in their own right - as good as anything we've had in San Francisco. My soup was with baby scallops, sweet and tasty, in a smoky full-flavored broth. Two others had soba with tempura, and the vegetables and shrimp were light and greaseless. Our fourth had the soba with an ample amount of fresh oysters, poached in the broth. We ended the meal by sharing house-made ice cream, one ginger-flavored and studded with small pieces of ginger, the other a black sesame scoop, on the mild side. Both ice creams were a bit more of the icy sort than the creamy type, but it prepared us well for an afternoon of shopping the sales!

Then, today, we met our friends Sophie and Michelle at Beaucoups, the new restaurant in our neighborhood from the same people who own Glou. We had eaten well at Glou this summer (I apologize for my non-blogging that trip), though we've been told by others that it can be uneven. Anyway, it's modern French food - not dissimilar from the new wave of San Francisco eateries. And, Beaucoups could easily be in San Francisco - a long room with an open kitchen and wood-burning grill at one end, the long wall lined with soft blue banquettes.

As Sophie reminded us, it's usually smart to order one of the lunch specials, as those are often made with the freshest foods in the kitchen - and Beaucoups and restos like it also offer a very reasonable prix fixe lunch (and, dinner as well).  So we all ordered the braised cod, served on a bed of Beluga lentils, and garnished with a paper thin slice of lardo. We followed up by sharing (thank goodness) a rich dark chocolate tart, served over a bed of grated orange rind, the plate dotted with an orange sauce. A satisfying lunch - well prepared, nice atmosphere, great company!

Yen
22 rue Saint-Benoît, 6th arrondisement
01 45 44 11 18

Beaucoups
7 rue Froissart, 3rd arrondisement
01 42 77 38 47