Restaurant David Toutain, Paris

That day in Paris the sun had decided to hide behind the clouds and the temperature had become cooler, it seemed that the autumn would already show itself from a corner to remember that within a short time the summer will be over even on the calendar.
My reservation at the restaurant which has the name of his chef, David Toutain precisely, was set for 12.
From my hotel in the Opèra area, I took the subway and I got out at the stop Les Invalides and my attention was immediately captured by a small walking cart that sold sandwiches, drinks and coffee, what a Parisian view!

I sat on a bench in the park in order to change my shoes quickly and wear a couple heels, a little more refined than even comfortable sneakers (I was still in the process of dining in a star restaurant of the French capital) under the intrigued eyes of the passersby.
As I was heading towards Rue Surcouf, the Tour Eiffel appeared in the fog-shrouded distance, an atmosphere certainly more magical and mysterious than the one that would offer me a sunny day.
I push the glass door and enter the still empty restaurant: 5 minutes at 12, the time of my reservation.
I was warmly welcomed and accommodated in a table arranged, as I requested, near a window, in order to have a discreet light to shoot photos even on a grey day like the one in question.
The restaurant is a place of a certain elegance in its simplicity, furniture dominated by wood, no tablecloth and beautiful lighting that make the environment particularly welcoming.

After choosing the menu and being asked about any allergies and intolerances, I was kindly invited to enter the kitchen to meet the chef in person.
The kitchens of certain level restaurants are places that fascinate me so much, they are the point where the whole process of creation and composition of a dish begins and is completed; the concentration, the attentive glances and the rigor, you can perceive even in the quietest ones the great passion that motivates those who work for hours in a row, tirelessly behind ovens and cookers.


Chef David Toutain was very friendly although he was blatantly busy preparing the dishes that soon I would have found myself in front of my table.
A young chef, born in Normandy but landed as a boy in the French capital to work first at the Arpege, then as sous Chef for Marc Veyrat and later to increase his culinary culture working in other places also distant from France.
Until the return to the origins, in France, precisely in Paris, where he decided to give life to a restaurant of his own, with a precise identity, that finds himself in love for the land, in the use of vegetables, plants and flowers in his creations as a result of a continuous search for the flavour of the simplest raw materials but no less surprising.

I then came back to my table and started my tasting trip.
The first dishes were preceded by the arrival of a bowl with water and rose petals to be able to be free to rinse the fingers after tasting the finger food.
First taste: a tomato resting on a leaf with a filling made from ibiscus, practically a sweet little jewel.

The sweetness was contraised in a balanced way by another small taste, to eat everything in a mouthful, a snack made from oyster and raspberry

Amazing first dish.
A pass of peas and pine Douglas, delicious!
At the base of the green cream are found as small jewels the small peas, yummy.

The second dish was made up of duck eggs, cloves, piedmont hazelnuts and fig oil, delicacy and decision together.

I wanted to stand up and give my hand to the chef when I tasted the crab chips that hid red peppers, blueberries and pistachios, a perfect combination!

The sweets were finally applause.
Parsley Ice cream accompanied by a Mirabelle plum cake, great and complimentary couple.

One of the most delicious ice cream ever tasted: coconut flavour inside a cauliflower mousse, perfection!

Finally a small piece of art.
Figs and pecan hazelnuts in a composition that is a little artwork that you’re sorry to ‘destroy’...but it is worth it because in the palate there is a sweet explosion of flavors.

Chapeau monsieur David!