Le Neuvième
“It is true that I put a certain amount of effort into my trimmings, and as for feathers, everyone wears them; what would seem extraordinary would be to wear none,” Marie-Antoinette, 1775.
Paris, the city of cafés and restaurants, where there’s always room for one more. The latest addition to the 9th Arrondisement is Passionné, immediately south of St Eugène and St Cécile’s Church in what was once a Jewish quarter. This is the real city, just far enough away from Gare du Nord and les Anglais. Le Magnum Bar on Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière with its cat silhouette sign is typical of the area: chic understatement. The bar backs onto the 95 metre long Rue Ambroise Thomas which is terminated by a rusticated stone wall. You can always catch a performance of Carmen or Lakmé at the Palais Garnier (after all this is Opéra Arrondisement) further to the south again but this part of the Haussmannian grid – Rue Bleue, Rue du Conservatoire, Rue de Paradis, Rue Richer – is slightly off the tourist track.
The 4th Edition of the Michelin Guide was published in summer 1960. It contains pointers for visitors to the 9th Arrondisement: “The Rue de Rivoli and the Rue St Honoré draw women in great numbers, for many elegant shops are in these two streets.” And reiterating the message, “The elegant shops of the Rue St Honoré from the Rue de Castiglione to the Rue Royale are the great attractions for the ladies.” Ladies (and some gentlemen) like to lunch and Passionné had barely opened its discreet doors when it received a Michelin star.
Discreet – make that very discreet. The charcoal grey exterior fronts onto the genteel Rue Bergère and sides onto the gated Cité Rougemont. Translucent window blinds give nothing away. The only clue of an exclusive restaurant’s presence is a brass name plaque beside the entrance door. Inside, it’s all about good looks. Good looking interior: designer Kuniko Takano has created a cocoon of darkness in the city of light. The midnight blue walls could be an advertisement for the 2013 film Blue is the Warmest Colour (like Adèle Exarchopoulus’ blue cardigan; Léa Seydoux’s blue hair; Stéphane Mercoyrol’s blue jacket; the blue disco light; the blue protest march smoke; Baya Rehaz cries, “I love the colour blue”).
Good looking staff: Vanessa Paradis and Jérémie Laheurte types (all assassin black suits and killer cheekbones) deliver concise explanations (“Take one bite because inside it’s liquid!”) and precise instructions (“Eat the dishes in this order!”). Bread is constantly replenished; glassware and cutlery continually renewed. The ground floor service bar and basement kitchen are kept busy. Good looking clientele: goes without saying, birds of a feather.
Les mots du Chef: “Passion is at the heart of our gourmet and seasonal menu. I am delighted to welcome you to our restaurant for an extraordinary culinary experience. I source all the ingredients myself and express my passion in making dishes. I also want to express and honour the French terroir with a selection of delicious vegetables. Hokkaido where I was born and raised is a region of Japan close to the same latitude as Paris. My cuisine is where Japanese spirit and French passion come together.”
Lunch is the Menu Carte Blanche and the Prestige Sept Étapes can be wine paired with Évasion (trois verres) or Prestige (cinq verres). For the truly oenologically curious, start with Philipponnat Champagne, the imbibed equivalent of caviar. And then there is caviar, plenty of that too. Chef Satoshi Horiuchi creates colourful edible artworks in an array of contrasting flavours and textures (beetroot and oil for starters). There may be no feathers but there are plenty of trimmings, some edible (flowers), some decorative (steaming shells). And foam – this is Michelin dining. Courses arrive in baskets, in boxes, on rocks, on pebbles and on smooth or textured crockery. Tablescape as topography.
Ian Nairn (Nairn’s Paris, 1968) calls the French capital, “A collective masterpiece, perhaps the greatest in the world.” Abbott Joseph Liebling (Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris, 1986) calls it, “A city of colonnades.” Jonathan Meades (The Times Restaurant Guide, 2002) features just one restaurant in the 9th Arrondisement, Charlot Roi des Coquillages on Place de Clichy. It closed in 2017. Jonathan stated, “The suited service is charmingly urbane.” A tradition that continues on Rue Bergère. Paris, the city of love, where there’s always room for more romance. And a restaurant living up to its name, Passionné.
