An Exceptional Evening at Plenitude*, Paris

Looking back on dining at Plenitude two weeks ago, my excitement about the meal remains the same. Being the restaurant’s first night back from a three week vacation, I had several questions entering the night – would the staff be rusty after some time off? Was I about to experience a restaurant operating at the top of their game? How good could a sauce really be?

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The experience kicks off with a warm greeting from the hosts before being offered a tour of the restaurant and wine cellar, it being our first time dining at Plenitude. The space is open, elegant, and inviting. The staff is observant and energetic, taking subtle queues from each other while not missing a beat. The brief restaurant tour concludes at your table where you are guided through the Symphony tasting menu or an option to compose your own menu, as well as the various beverage options. We opted for the Symphony menu and split a premium wine pairing.

The meal kicks off with three bites – a grilled oyster with cucumber, champagne, mint, and algae, a chickpea tuile with raw mullet cured in salt, raw lime cream, seaweed jam, and shaved bottarga, and lastly a crispy potato and seaweed tartlet with fatty tuna tartare and caviar. The oyster was very plump and tasted a bit briny for my liking, but the other two bites were delicious. While a tart with some form of fish has become tried and true across amuse bouche, it often becomes difficult to distinguish the components or even distinguish across bites. However, the mullet / chickpea and fatty tuna bites here captured deep, layered flavors and textures in the tiny bites. (16.5/20)

These bites gave way to a bright green vegetable broth before the rest of the courses began. This had notes of celery and tomato and was basically a chilled vinaigrette. Nice freshness but don’t think this was entirely necessary. (12/20)

First course was Gambero Rosso, or a large red prawn, served with broccolini and yuzu. The sauce was made from the stock of the prawn, as well as grilled prawn oil and prawn vinegar. The dish incorporated Asian flavors into the sauce with thai basil, sansho pepper, and the yuzu that were all perfect with the sweetness of the prawn. Everything about this dish felt delicate and pristine while somehow still inviting you to lick the sauce off the plate. (19/20)

Next course was a grilled sardine with fennel and marigold. The light green sauce was velvety and captured notes of chili peppers, vinegar, lemon, and mustard. They bounce around different herbs that make these varying levels of sweet, peppery, spicy, and citrusy in each sauce dance across your palette. I can assure you sardines have never tasted this good. (18/20)

This was followed by a puff pastry tomato tart and was the point in the meal where my friend and I realized the chefs in the kitchen were operating on a different stratosphere. I had (at least) two distinct nostalgic reactions to this dish. First I thought of my first time trying a grandma pizza with a fresh tomato sauce growing up in New Jersey. Then, this was layered with a reduction of shallots, vinegar, chopped truffle, tomato water, celery, and an endless assortment of vegetables and herbs. It strangely took me back to eating my mom’s aji sauce I had growing up where she added a ton of fresh tomato, peppers, and celery. It’s a combination I never could have dreamed of and still doesn’t entirely make sense to me in how good it was. This was all topped with a light Italian cream sauce that simply tasted of butter and basil. Words cannot do this dish justice. (20/20)

Then came the red mullet (replaced langoustine course) served in a broth that I needed refills of. This one was particularly fun to drink the sauce of before eating the dish. Looking back, I can’t help but laugh reading the ingredients that made this such buttery deliciousness – fish stock, merlot, cognac, shallots, fennel, celery, potatoes, uni, red mullet liver, tangerine oil, basil, fennel, and that’s not even all of it. I can’t even begin to imagine how many renditions of this sauce existed before settling on this one. I would eat dirt if it was coated in this sauce. (18.5/20)

Quick break in the meal where the staff brought us into the kitchen for a palette cleanser. This was tasty enough, but I was really distracted by the kitchen and sitting in this booth that looked out on the kitchen. I couldn’t help but notice how happy the chef Arnaud Donckele and the rest of his staff seemed. Having had my fair share of kitchen tours now, you normally see a range of quiet intensity to energetic passion to even uncomfortable tension. But here, it was the genuine smiles that came through. They were proud of their work, and it came across in every staff member, front or back of house. I used to laugh off my mom for saying you can taste the love in the food when it’s right, but it never made more sense to me than here (and in my mom’s kitchen).

Last main course was rabbit with chanterelle mushrooms and almonds. I was craving a slightly gamier meat following the seafood masterclass, and as expected, they delivered. The rabbit was excellent and the jus was superb. But the crispy rice served on the side? Oh my.. My mom used to make me “cocolon” growing up where she’d get the rice super crispy on the bottom of a pot and we’d sneakily eat all these crispy bits together before she even served anyone else dinner sometimes. Who knew experiencing “cocolon” and dipping bites into a jus of rabbit shoulder, white wine, smoked bacon, and candied shallots would take one of my favorite food memories and make it even more special? With a bite of the rabbit and some chanterelle mushrooms on top? Near emotional dish. (19.5/20)

The meal ended with a peach tart of sorts, with peaches in various different forms. The dessert had a restrained sweetness with these chalky meringue components that were lovely. I remember there being a “honey” component that I misheard as “uni” when trying to understand a staff member’s accent. Not tasting any uni, the staff member and I kept repeating “honey” and “uni” and nodding to each other until we both realized we were saying different things and then non-stop laughing. Alas, I digress! (17/20)

As good as the desserts were, the highlight of the desserts was actually in the service. I had voiced before ordering the wine pairing how I recently had tried this sweet wine Chateau d’Yquem that blew my mind and was curious if they had it. The staff smiled and let me know I was in good hands. With dessert, they proceeded to bring over two bottles of this sweet wine. The 2018 bottle was part of the pairing but I saw them holding a 1986 bottle as well. Terrified of the price tag, I had to ask the cost per glass when they excitedly told me how I “must compare the two.” They laughed and said how all they could ask was that we enjoy the two glasses and let them know what we think. My cheeks hurt from smiling too much at this point of the meal.

It was also at this point I realized we’d been at this meal for four hours. The restaurant was clearing out when a member of the front of house who we spent the most time with that evening asked us if we had a few more minutes. He guided us to the elevators and said he just wanted us to see his favorite view of Paris before heading off to our night. He brought us to the rooftop where we chatted through the meal and our other favorite meals across the world while enjoying Paris lit up at night. Felt like a perfect end to a night where the staff clearly just takes the extra step to make you feel special, like you were the only table at the restaurant that night.

Plenitude was the best meal I’ve had in my life. I found dishes to be as surprising as they were spectacular. The service was as whimsical as it was brilliant. As someone who too often puts too much pressure on the meals I plan, from reading about the subtle notes to capture in signature dishes to thinking through what I would say when meeting the chefs I admire to writing down every bit about dishes I love in my phone notes, anxious that I’ll forget a savored moment, at Plenitude I found that I was able to shut it all off. Every detail was accounted for, every ingredient placed just right so that I was often left blissfully speechless.

Thinking back on my questions going into the meal, I could answer them as easily now as I could during the meal. Would the staff be rusty after some time off? Not even close. Was I about to experience a restaurant operating at the top of their game? Without a doubt. How good could a sauce really be? I guess I’ll be forced to go back and dine there again to remind myself.

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Wines
* Champagne Marie Courtin, Efflorescence 2016
* Buisson Renard, Dagueneau 2019, Pouilly-Fumé
* Hermitage Blanc 2013 Jean-Louis Chave
* Chassagne Montrachet 2014 Caileret, Lamy Caillat
* Côte du Jura 2020 Montferrand Ganevat
* Chambertin Clos de Bèze 2017 Drouhin Laroze
* Château d'Yquem 2018, Sauternes
* Château d'Yquem 1986, Sauternes