6.2 Cuistance, 14, rue Sauval in the 1st, 01.40.41.08.08, closed Sundays and Mondays (Metro: Les Halles or the #85 bus) opened in April to rather good reviews and I've been holding it back for special friends for a special meal because I'd read that the chef was from the Fat Duck. Today I had my ideal victims - semi-jet-lagged, lovers of all food French, and fun to talk to. The place is in that unfortunate Bermuda Triangle of businesses surrounded by the seemingly 20-year reconstruction project of Les Halles but has a nice carte (see your Opthalmologist if you have trouble reading it) and when I got there my host announced since I was wife-less, the meal was on him and didn't I wamt to start off with a coupe?
I didn't but some white wine went fine until the Canon Fronsac Lariveau arrived. I had not seen anything on the firsts that called to me and planned on not ordering one - smart intention - but dumbly after Madame ordered some burrata, which was quite good, I joined M. in the corn soup with pop-corn. Pop-corn, marshmallows, hot-dogs, burgers, yikes - I'm tiring of this American-knock-off stuff. And the corn soup was not much of a much.
Then - after a horridly and unexcused wait (there were 2 other people in the place) Madame had the tagliatelles with mushrooms and parmesan that she considered over-done but I thought was/were simply wonderful; Monsieur had squid that were tender not rubbery with a flavorful fluffy sauce of shell-fish; and I had the weakest dish of all 3 - confited beef cheeks on a puree.
Now comes the zinger. (Pause, my friend, who says he likes to be anonymous, asks the wait-guy who the chef is - he says "Wait" - the chef, one Henri Serge Manga, an unassuming black dude from Cameroon who worked not only with Heston Blumenthal but in Japan, appears and we chat; nice guy). Now, really comes the zinger - dessert. For my friends a magnificent mango and coconut soup and for me a two tiered creme brulee on the bottom and cooked mirabelles on top - sublime!
So the bill? Really want to know? With 3 apero-wine&champagnes, 2 bottles of Canon Fronsac Lariveau and two coffees it was in truth 173E but for normal people juust having a bottle and a half of wine, it would come to 94 E a couple.
Go? Even with the banal and wait, I'd say yes.
