Alexandre Bourdas, a **2 star chef, has an outpost in Paris with a menu built almost entirely around a signature dish from his Normandy restaurant – the pascade. Best described as a giant sweet and salty Yorkshire pudding, Bourdas has taken this delicacy from his native Auvergne, and dressed it up to showcase his fresh, modern style of cooking. Pascade, the restaurant is Paris, is a great way of discovering this chef’s creativity, at a fraction of the price.
The set menu includes some excellent nibbles, a large pascade – laden with beautiful ingredients, and a dessert tasting board, with a variety of mini pascades. If you just fancy a sweet or a savoury pascade, the à la carte menu has plenty of options.
On his set menu, Bourdas often collaborates with well-known French chefs to conjure-up inventive themes for his main courses.
For our visit, the chef worked with Wolfgang Satis to develop a dish called “the plumber”, which played on words associated with the trade. Sitting in the large pascade was a “collier” of lamb, cooked with a herb crust. A neck joint, using the French translation for a pipe clamp. “Tubes” of asparagus, and a “drain” filled with Hollandaise sauce made-up the other principle elements of the dish. The strong flavour of the garlicy crust worked well with the richness of the lamb. This was balanced by the light acidity of the velvety Hollandaise sauce, which also created a classic combination with the tender asparagus. Playful and fun, the pascade was decorated with micro-herbs and segments of confit tomatoes to add some freshness. Balanced and vibrant – Bourdas has created a great concept with his giant pascades.
Dessert fans will love a trip to Pascade for the tasting board alone. Sweet pascades are filled with luscious toppings, including lemon meringue, mango and passion-fruit, lemon rum cream and a chocolate fondant. From light and fruity to rich and decadent – or – the other way around, this is a great progression of flavours.
Tucked in a side street, just beside Opéra Garnier, this is a quick, quirky and tasty experience, right in the heart of Paris. Something different for your next trip.
